Mr. Mike's Media Madness

Chillin!

2012-01-28T09:45:00.000-08:00

No real reason for it, this week parts of Brenda Russell's quiet storm classic "Piano In The Dark" has been on my mind. It's a nice song to be sure with a relaxed mood. I've even seen it performed live, back in the late 80s I saw Russell open for Chicago while this was still a hit. It's a chill song. Chillin!

Read wiki on Russell, I did not know she wrote "Get Here" which was a big smash for Oleta Adams.

Tunnel Of Love

2012-01-25T23:04:00.000-08:00

The other day on the treadmill this song popped up on my Ipod. I hadn't played the track in a long while, sounded great. The Boss takes the obvious metaphor of the County Fair Tunnel Of Love ride for a relationship and works it into a detailed journey of jealousy and doubt. So many great lyrics like "Fat man sitting on a little stool, takes the ticket from my hand while his eyes take a walk all over you" and that's just the start of the song!

"Tunnel Of Love" is interesting to me in a music trivia sort of way too, since I've assumed the song is written about Springsteen's first marriage to actress Julianne Phillips. The album Tunnel of Love was released while he was married and has wailing background vocals by his mistress / future second wife Patty Scialfa. In 1988 I saw Springsteen play in support of this album, it was after the tabloid pictures had broke making Springsteen / Scialfa's relationship public. Maybe because of the press my strongest mental image from the show was the two of them harmoninzing face to face at the microphone in the center of the stage (I think that was during "The River"). Their romantic chemestry was visible from where I was standing. With Scialfa singing a lot at the end of "Tunnel Of Love", it sort of makes an unintentional statement that Springsteen's tunnel of love starts with Phillips and ends with Scialfa. Or maybe I just read too much into trivial stuff.

Speaking of Julianne Phillips, the woman who I will always remember as the girl in 38 Special's "If I'd Been The One" video, I think I remember her being on a tv show in the late 80s called Sisters. It had Swoozie Kurtz in it too. Anyway, I used to like that show.

What's A Dawes?

2012-01-21T08:30:00.000-08:00

I was reading best albums of the year lists a month ago on one of my favorite websites Popdose and they recommended a group called Dawes. They said it would be perfect for someone who thinks good music stopped at 1972 or something to that effect. Anyway, I checked out the album...aw crap, I can't remember what the album is called. Just the same, it turned out to be just as good a disc as they said it would be. 70s styled California rock, really nice stuff. This song in particular was the one that got me hooked on the disc, "Time Spent In Los Angeles".

A Surprising Angle

2012-01-19T12:15:00.000-08:00

Earlier last year The Strokes released their 4th album Angles, which I was kinda ho-hum about. I liked the first three albums, yet it had been so long since the previous one that I wasn't too enthused about new music from them. And the reviews I read were on the fence and the lead single "Under Cover Of Darkness" didn't sell me right away so I put off getting it. After Christmas I got Angles and have found it to be an addictive listen including that same song "Under Cover Of Darkness". I liked how The Strokes were able to mix some 80s sounds into their familiar brand of sloppy indie rock. I've had this album play on my rotation regularly for weeks now.

Saint Sammy Strikes Again

2012-01-16T23:18:00.000-08:00

Finally got around to listening to the recent Chickenfoot disc III, it's strong rockin stuff and surprised me with the best socially conscious rock song I've heard in a long while. "Three And A Half Letters" has Sammy Hagar reading what I assume are fan letters to him explaining their inability to find work and how it's leading to rising homelessness in America. The screaming desperation in the chorus nails the point home perfectly. I like how the song rumbles while Hagar intensely reads the stories before launching into the chorus. "Three And A Half Letters" really captures a feeling there.

Tramp Stamp

2012-01-16T00:14:00.000-08:00

So Van Halen has released their first new song since...I can't remember exactly when that Sammy Hagar took place but it was a long time ago. It is definitely their first release with Diamond Dave since 1996. Tough to listen to this track objectively given this info. My kneejerk impulse is to declare it the best thing ever with exclamation points!!!

At the same time, I'm a little cool on the new song "Tattoo". It has that big slow groove VH loved to do in the Sammy Hagar days which takes time to grow on me. The song hook ("Tattoo Tattoo" refrained in an offhand way) isn't an instant grab. But to be fair, it took time for "And The Cradle Will Rock" to grow on me and in a roundabout way "Tattoo" reminds me of that track. Great to hear EVH's solo though. Too soon to tell if I'll love this (or the new VH album) yet I am so totally psyched to hear more.

...This is my rewrite

2012-01-14T00:04:00.000-08:00

2012, time to start posting in the new year. I haven't posted a lot lately and I think it's because I've pretty much ran out of things to say that's new. When I'd try to post things I'd find I was writing the same stuff over and over. Like the Boss once sang "I'm so tired and bored with myself". Not to say I'm like Bruce Springsteen. On top of that, a lot of my interest has boiled down to individual songs. So I'm going to try posting just individual songs I like for whatever reason and explain what I like and so on. See if it leads anywhere.

To kick off this is Paul Simon's "Rewrite" from last year's excellent So Beautiful So What disc. It has a nice mellow vibe and an amusing "internal voice" sort of vocal. I think the song is about moving forward with an optimistic view of the future. Anyway that's my take away.

Married With Child

2011-12-15T21:21:00.000-08:00

Most of the new tv season shows haven't meant much for yours truly, they all seem to clog into a haze of hype and half baked ideas. One show has stood above the rest and to my surprise it's Up All Night. Seeing the average life expectancy of recent Christina Applegate projects I thought this would be the latest in a line of nice tries. And then the guy was that dude who is married to Amy Poehler. But I was bored one day and thought I'd give it a try.

Despite having a tough sell on it's premise (Applegate is a tv producer of a daytime wanna be Oprah talk show starring self absorbed ex teen r&b singer host played by Maya Rudolph while ex-lawyer Mr Amy Poehler is now a stay at home dad) the characters are likeable and the stories are simple enough to get across to an audience. Up All Night is a nice show with warmth and humor. The best new show I've seen this season.

Famous Amos

2011-12-15T20:43:00.000-08:00

It's been a looong time where I have gotten totally hooked on an artist, but a few months ago it happened. I decided to check out some Amos Lee, I had heard one song on a sampler a few years back ("Keep It Loose, Keep It Tight") and liked it. Then this year Itunes gave away free tracks off the Mission Bell album every few weeks so before I knew it I had amassed a decent selection of Lee. I gave these songs more play and thought he was really good. Got that awesome raspy yet smooth soul voice while laying out tasteful folk pop. Mission Bell became a regular in my car cd player rotation and I thought it was hella dope.

Amos Lee has a cool tone to his music, it has a feeling of weariness mixed with a searching sentimentality. Here's a few of my favorite tracks of his I've been listening to:

Freakin Sweet Art

2011-12-15T20:24:00.000-08:00

As Joe Pesci would say "Ok OK Ok" I have a lot of catching up to do. So let's cut the crap and get down to it with an old fashioned multi post fest. I have had a lot of posts on me mind but haven't bothered to type them out, so here goes.

Matthew Sweet released an album called Modern Art that I downloaded about a month ago. And it is a really good album. Probably the most addictive one of original material for me since Blue Sky On Mars. Sweet pretty much said his approach to the music was a little more organic and it shows with delightfully quirky touches and loose ends surrounding his sturdy power pop stylings. As a result Modern Art has a broad palate containing Sweet's fave influences that includes White Album era Beatles ("Ivory Tower"), Brian Wilson precious melodies ("Modern Art")and Neil Young ragged chug a lug rock ("Ladyfingers").

Unlike the prior solo release Sunshine Lies there are some stand out cuts. The ghost story "She Walks The Night" has a bangin hook while the midtempo "Baltimore" finds Sweet in his forlorn zone. My favorite track is the music geek out "Late Night With the Power Pop".

This is Matthew Sweet's best work in a long time, so I give it a

The Dream Carries On

2011-11-24T07:19:00.000-08:00

Oops,haven't posted in a while. Happy Turkey Day everyone! Today's review is an album I've been listening to for a while, Dream Theater's A Dramatic Turn Of Events.

I purposely sat on this one a bit because the last few albums from them I liked a lot more when I initially got them and then less over time. In particular the last disc Black Clouds And Silver Linings fell off quickly and I eventually only found half the album enjoyable. So I waited until the newness wore off on this disc this time out.

The album's title refers to obvious events in the DT camp, founding member Mike Portnoy exited the band after he failed to convince the others to take an extended break. The Portnoy / Dream Theater saga hit soap opera proportions as fans sided with one person or the other. Once the dust settled, Dream Theater went on a search for a new drummer before selecting Mike Mangini.

And the change has done the band good from my point of view. Dream Theater sounds like a band out to prove it's still vital on ADTOE, unleashing barrage after barrage of their trademark riffage and noodling. Portnoy's absence brings a welcome change in their dropping that nu metal growling / melody style in favor of a more classic approach (which I'm really really happy about. Systematic Chaos gave me a literal headache at times). New guy Mangini has a drum style notably less heavy but no less dexterous than Portnoy, allowing a lot more space for bassist John Myung to groove.

There are some songs on ADTOE that I flat out love, and funnily enough my favorite is the slightly nu metal flavored "Build Me Up, Break Me Down" with it's "Owner Of A Lonely Heart" keyboards, churning guitar riff and stellar chorus. The band locks in to prog nirvana on "Bridges In The Sky" as they pile on the solos until things get almost jazzy. The rest of the disc is filled with high points in almost every song and even surprises by showing a bit of restraint on the closing track "Beneath The Surface".

Despite doing just about everything right, I don't care for the album as a whole. Part of the problem is I didn't like most of the ballads, the power ballad "This Is The Life" felt lie it should have had a better melody. The whole track builds up to this flick your bic moment and then the chorus hits and it's kinda a let down. And while I like vocalist James LaBrie generally I found the Phantom Of The Opera tone to "Far From Heaven" a bit much to take. Speaking of choruses, many of them seem to follow a similar pattern on ADTOE so it takes a while to differentiate the songs from each other.

After having A Dramatic Turn Of Events for a month I find I'm still going back to it repeatedly so while it's not perfect I like it a lot. Dream Theater proves they are still plenty awesome.

Rating:

More Quick Movie Reviews

2011-11-07T13:56:00.000-08:00

And the latest serving from my movie watching habits are:

Tron: Legacy - A movie as cynical and pre-programmed as the subject (an electronic world existing inside a computer network). It lacks the innocent adventurism of the original, though does improve on cgi special effects (naturally) and pacing. A perfectly functional, rational sequel to the computerized original. But not any more than that.

Scott Pilgrim Vs The World - I wasn't planning on watching this but I had some time to kill. Big ups for the director, I haven't read the comic/graphic novel/whatever this was based on but the flying words and whiz bang scene transitions really captures that comic book feeling. As for the story, I was surprised it worked pretty well as a starry eyed video game enhanced exagerration of your usual teen angst/romance. Normally don't care for this type of genre, what I think of as the fantasy pile-it-on genre where anything goes and every five seconds something new and random gets thrown on screen (thinking Adventures Of Buckaroo Bonzai as an example). But I mildly liked this flick. Never want to see it again, but liked it for what it was.

Tangled - Disney used to make animated movies like this all the time but in the modern age it's all computerized. A retelling of Rapunzel, Tangled isn't spectacular but is instead a solid earnest entry in the Disney fairy tale catalog. The story is told with zip and unlike many other similar films shies away from modern pop culture references for laughs. The characters / voice actors are nicely drawn (probably helps I'm a fan of the tv show Chuck since Zachery Levi is the main guy in this film) and the film is effective at hitting all it's targets (mushiness, sadness, gleefulness, romanticness, dramaness, any other kind of ness). The songs in this film aren't memorable but not offensively bad either.

Of these three I probably liked Tangled the most followed by Tron then Scott Pilgrim. Too lazy to rate these, so I'll leave it at that.

Sing For The Day - Tom Petty "Refugee"

2011-10-31T22:38:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween! To celebrate the day, is there anything scarier than Tom Petty? Just joking, though when I was in High School I would have been scared because I did not like Tom Petty's music. Didn't get it one bit. Petty's music wasn't commercial enough or polished enough or excessive enough to get me going. He was one of those artists Rolling Stone magazine would insist you had to like if you had any "taste".

Fast forward to the late 90s, after having a copy of his first Greatest Hits album I became a fan. I like his music a lot now. After watching a Classic Albums program about the making of the Damn The Torpedoes album including an extensive breakdown (baby baby Breakdooowwwn)on the making of "Refugee" it's been on my mind. What a great song.

One last note, until Melissa Etheridge covered "Refugee" I didn't know Petty was saying the word "Have" in the chorus. I thought it went "You don't, hey hey, like a refugee". The word "Have" came across like a Buddy Holly vocal hiccup thing. Though I admit the song makes more sense with the word "have" in it.

"Refugee" was from 1980.

And since it was so educational the Melissa Etheridge version too

Quick Movie Reviews

2011-10-29T23:11:00.000-07:00

Here's a few brief dvd reviews:

Just Go With It - has beautiful scenery

Black Swan - kind of a surprise with all the critical hype it was sort of David Cronenberg style horror not what I expected, but good.

Pirahna - as bad as you'd expect and then some. Hey, that's what happened to Elizabeth Shue!

Sing For The Day - Foo Fighters "I Should Have Known"

2011-10-28T23:27:00.000-07:00

While on the treadmill tonight I was walking off the pound this song came up on my Foo Fighters playlist. It's funny, even though the quality of the treadmill speakers wasn't as good as what's in my car the bass line popped more there which reminded me of ex-Nirvana bassist Krist Noveselic playing on that song.

Despite the obvious meaning to "I Should Have Known" due to it's dark mood and mournful/rueful lyrics Foo leader Dave Grohl insists it's not about Kurt Cobain. But with Noveselic and Nevermind producer Butch Vig involved it's hard not to take it that way. Even as a general song without the Nirvana ambiance it is an emotional stand out moment on the Foo Fighter's recent Wasting Light album.

Lindsey Buckingham - Seeds We Sow live and on CD

2011-10-26T15:03:00.000-07:00

When I first started buying records and tapes, listening to music intently beyond just what was on the radio, one of the first bands that I got a lot of was Fleetwood Mac. My best friend's parents had bootlegged HBO off a satellite dish and I asked them to make a recording of the Mirage tour concert for me. They did and I became a Fleetwood Mac super fan.

That taped concert made a huge impression on me on what I thought rock music was. Lindsey Buckingham in particular had an impact because he was the lead guitarist and singer (and later I'd find out producer, songwriter, artist, and so on). The way he played guitar (no pick), the herky jerky body language (like the air humping thing he does when he solos on "I'm So Afraid")...I just thought that was what all rock stars did. I didn't realize it was something unique to him.

Now decades later I've learned that Lindsey Buckingham is a unique talent and I've been a fan of both his solo work and Fleetwood Mac. This was my first time seeing Buckingham live on his own. I got held up at work and was late for the show, so the set list from what I saw was:

Go Insane / Trouble / Never Going Back Again / Big Love / Under The Skin / All My Sorrows / In Our Own Time / Illumination / Second Hand News / Tusk / Stars Are Crazy / End Of Time / That's The Way Love Goes / I'm So Afraid / Go Your Own Way
encore: Turn It On / Treason / Seeds We Sow

Napa's Uptown theater was pretty much a sold out crowd and they were pumped for a rock show. So pumped there was dancing in the aisle and random shouts of "Yeah!" during the acoustic first half. Buckingham wisely front loaded his hits at the start. Performing alone with his guitar and Art Garfunkel haircut, Buckingham was able to reveal added levels of desperation and wistfulness to his familiar tunes like "Trouble" and "Go Insane".

After "Big Love" a three man band joined Buckingham on the stage to allow for more of a band performance. With a lot of momentum built up the set list alternated between his pure solo stuff and remaining Mac hits to make sure no one got bored. Not that boredom is an option at Uptown, the small converted movie theater makes for a more intimate setting where people can yell things at the performer and actually get a response (like when some guy yelled "How many guitars you got?" between songs and Buckingham replied "Too many").

"All My Sorrows" was a major treat for me, Out Of The Cradle is one of my all time favorite albums by anybody anywere. It was nice to drink in the languid tone and pretty melody during live performance. His new disc Seeds We Sow was strongly represented with six songs performed live and in a switch from the norm, the audience seemed to enjoy new material. "In Our Own Time" in particular thrived with Buckingham stooping down for his jagged little guitar fills. Also away from the norm, the crowd seemed to appreciate the artist's abilities beyond being a human jukebox, revelling in Buckingham's intricate guitar work (so intricate he has to shake his hand loose before many songs. Repetetive motion injury?) and howling vocals.

That appreciation is probably why the place went ape shit when Buckingham went full throttle into a classic rock smash like "Second Hand News". It was one of those perfect concert moments where the audience and performer feed off each other as Buckingham's insistent "Do it! Do it! Do it!" in between "bom bom bom bom"s increased in intensity. Buckingham reached out to his fans now, pointing at some dancers and shaking hands with the front row. The extended solo at the end of "I'm So Afraid" gave us the guitar God moment, ending with women literally grabbing at his legs. And how could "Go Your Own Way" not go over well?

After firing off all his major hits I wondered if there would be an encore and if there was would it include "Holiday Road". The answer turned out to be yes and no. Got another treat in form of the Out Of The Cradle track "Turn It On" before discovering a new appreciation for "Treason" off the Gift Of Screws album. Buckingham ended the evening solo acoustic on "Seeds We Sow".

Concert Rating:

Lindsey Buckingham's new disc Seeds We Sow arrived with some minor buzz around it a few months ago. Most of that buzz was about it being self released and sounding under produced. When I first played the album, I thought it was under produced too initally but have found Seeds We Sow to be a -wait for it - slow grower. Where Lindsey Buckingham's work can often be described as lush or layered, Seeds We Sow has an approach closer to Fleetwood Mac's Tusk where the music was stripped down to guitar, bass, voice and drums.

After playing this in my car a few weeks, the each of the songs started to resonate more. On initial listen I enjoyed the 80s pop flavored "Illumination" and the speedy "One Toke Over The Line" influenced "One Take". The electric version of the title track (an Amazon bonus cut) also sounded great. It was the slower numbers that took time to appreciate. "End Of Time" has become one of my favorite Lindsey Buckingham songs, beautiful chorus matched with just enough lush accompanyment to make it shine. And the jerky rhythms to "In Our Own Time" cannot be done by anyone other than Buckingham. The spare sound becomes refreshing over time and actually becomes one of the album's strengths.

If I reviewed Seeds We Sow a few weeks ago I would have given it a seven. But now, I'll bump it up to

Album rating:

Midnight Madness - Steve Jobs Edition

2011-10-09T10:48:00.000-07:00

Steve Jobs passed away this week, as he's been eulogized since then there is no doubt he has done so much to lead Apple through great advancements in technology and marketing. So I'll take up this tiny bit of cyberspace to give my respects to the man.

Love Me Do - Paul McCartney is married again?

Not much of a gift - Is it me or does the premise of A Gifted Man rub the wrong way? A surgeon is haunted by the ghost of his dead ex wife to run her inner city clinic. Sounds more like a breakdown than an uplifting show. Someone needs closure, seriously.

Love To Love You Baby - but Donna Summer is eligible for Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame? Why? Oh yeah, because the selection process for the Hall Of Fame sucks. I think we need to steer into the skid here and vote only for non rock artists, next year I think I'll campaign for Seals & Crofts to be entered. Is there a write in vote? Summer Breeze 2012 people!

Mr Burns lives! - and his name is Rupert Murdoch. At least that's who I'm blaming for putting the squeeze on The Simpsons talent forcing pay cuts to continue the show. I normally don't feel sorry for multi millionaires making less millions, but it's not like The Simpsons isn't a money maker just Fox wants more money for itself. At least that's what my uninformed half assed opinion is.

Manic Nirvana - Nirvana Nevermind's anniversary was celebrated all over the web and I didn't. I'll have to get around to some Nirvana in the near future to fix that. Once I get off my Foo Fighter's binge, a band I actually like more than Nirvana. I know, blasphemy right?

Great Scott - American Idol winner Scotty McCreery's debut is selling well. Could AI have it's first success story in ages? Will this be the ulitmate feather in the cap of the new judging panel? I'm asking a lot of questions today aren't I?

Are you ready for some hatred? - Seeing how the political atmosphere is with the President being compared to Hitler and the GOP feeding on their own over religion, I think this upcoming Presidential race will be the ugliest one in my lifetime. People are gonna hate hate hate.

TV Quick Hits - The new tv season is here and I'll give my snap review of what I've seen so far.

Wolverine anime - Is all kinds of awesome. Finally get to see Wolfie do some real damage to opponents and the storyline reminds me of that first Wolverine comic mini series. Real good stuff.

Iron Man anime - Shell head is pretty good, unlike Wolverine the storytelling is less focused.

2 Broke Girls - Kat Dennings is funny as hell.

Whitney - OK, the show stars Whitney Cummings but she plays straight man to her boyfriend character. Don't get that.

How I Met Your Mother - still love the show, blew me away with the appearance of Victoria. This season is hinting at some serious changes for the McClaren's bunch.

Community - is as off the wall as ever and love it. "You're acting like a spoiled kid and not in a hot way". Classic.

The Big Bang Theory - the characters are great but nothing truly memorable yet this season.

Family Guy - getting some edge back, though Peter telling Cleveland they were never friends was cold.

The Office - I like Andy, still miss Michael Scott. Even as they make Andy more Scott like with the tattoo thing.

And that's where we're at, Chuck hasn't appeared yet so waiting on the final season of that. The last episode with Morgan getting the intersect turned me off but I've been watching past seasons on DVD and getting psyched again.

A Foreigner's Journey Into The Night

2011-10-06T21:48:00.000-07:00

Last nite got to see the all killer no filler triple bill of Night Ranger, Foreigner and Journey at the Sleep Train Pavilion. It had been raining hard and often over the past few days, but last night there was no rain. The show had a start time of 7pm, the pavilion was still sparsely populated when Night Ranger promptly took the stage.

Night Ranger set list:
Lay It On Me / Sing Me Away / High Enough / When You Close Your Eyes / Don't Tell Me You Love Me / Sister Christian / (You Can Still) Rock In America

Night Ranger opened with a heavy rock track from their recent Somewhere In Californa disc "Lay It On Me" which was a brilliant choice considering the crowd's hit heavy mood. Throw the new song on at the start before the audience has time to realize they don't recognize it! As bassist/vocalist Jack Blades, guitarist Brad Gillis and more recent addition guitarist Joel Hoekstra scampered, spun and tandem posed for the fans it became clear Night Ranger still worked a high energy attack. At least for guys their age.

Jack Blades made clear the Bay Area roots of the band while mentioning the last time they played this venue was in 1987 when they headlined with opening act Tesla (funny enough that was the last time I saw Night Ranger). This led to an enjoyable run through their early pop rocker "Sing Me Away". Then Blades said he was on the phone with Tommy Shaw the other day and Shaw insisted Night Ranger play Damn Yankee's power ballad smash "High Enough". Although I liked Gillis' guitar solo (it was great and nothing like Ted Nugent's original) the fact is that the song needs a high pitched singer like Shaw to pull it off. And it seemed kinda lame to include "High Enough" when Night Ranger had all those hits from the 7 Wishes record that wasn't played at all (including the Top 10 "Sentimental Street"). But they played it. Oh well...

Blades reminisced more about when Night Ranger played Day On The Green supporting Journey in '83 before bouncing into "When You Close Your Eyes".

It was time to rock again as Night Ranger barn stormed through their classic "Don't Tell Me You Love Me". Guitarist Joel Hoekstra started to wow me at this point with his blazing playing and easy camaraderie with Gillis. Blades told everyone they would be singing along a lot this evening and worked a little bit of The Eagles' "Hotel California" in the middle of "Don't tell Me You Love Me". Drummer Kelly Keagy got to walk out from behind his kit for a little - singing lead on that other power ballad classic "Sister Christian". That definitely got the sing along crowd, um, motorin, so the band broke out the red, white and blue guitars for "(You Can Still) Rock In America". Couldn't have been happier hearing Night Ranger dish out their best jams in rapid succession.

True to their rep, Night Ranger delivered a great set. Yet their opening act status meant no encore. Bummer.

After the normal stage reset for the next band on the bill, Foreigner jumped on stage. A lot of the audience had arrived by now and were ready to rock.

Foreigner set list:
Double Vision / Head Games / Cold As Ice / Waiting For A Girl Like You / Dirty White Boy / Feels Like The First Time / Urgent / I Want To Know What Love Is / Hot Blooded
encore: Juke Box Hero

I had read online that band leader and only remaining original member Mick Jones had not been touring due to his health. This meant a serious shortage of star power for Foreigner as both Night Ranger and Journey boasts three originals (defining original as being from the 80s lineups of these bands not necessarily founding members) to Foreigner's none. Zero. Zilch. Not even an original bass player (though ex-Dokken bassist Jeff Pilson is always great). The responsibility for driving this whole thing rested squarely on vocalist Kelly Hansen's shoulders.

Now lucky for me I saw Foreigner last year, so this time around I was prepared for Hansen's Steven Tyler stage presence and adapted to it easier. And I have to say Hansen pulled it off, leading the band with energy and powerful vocals. Even when Hansen's mic cut out during "Dirty White Boy" he handled it like a pro, going to the side of the stage to trade out mics and then picking up where he left off in the verse. Equally impressive, on one of the fast songs (don't remember which) Hansen sang a verse section while running a lap around the inner seating section without getting winded.

Foreigner also had the best staged show out of the three. Their usage of the background video screen was impressive with flashing lights and dynamic use of colors (except of "Juke Box Hero" where they decided to employ computer graphics from 1993 to show people with stars in their eyes). The dizzying box images on "Head Games" or the flames for "Hot Blooded" really got me. And for "I Want To Know What Love Is" the group brought out a local choir to handle the background vocals.

It was because of these factors that Foreigner got over the most with the audience. By the end of the set it was nearly a packed house (save the row in front of us, more on that in a minute) who were all kinds of Foreigner crazy. For me, the lack of original members of any kind was noticeable (I've seen Foreigner in '85, '99 and 2010) so while the performance was good it was hard to shake that tribute band feeling (maybe if they played something off Can't Slow Down it might have felt less that way). But I didn't feel like anyone else noticed, or maybe just didn't care. Thought it was funny some in the audience were bemoaning the lack of Steve Perry with Journey but nobody missed Lou Gramm. Why no love for Lou?

Another stage redress and Journey were on their way!

Journey set list:
Separate Ways / Ask The Lonely / Send Her My Love / City Of Hope - Only The Young / Faithfully / Guitar Solo / Stone In Love / Escape / Lights / Wheel In The Sky / Keyboard Solo / Open Arms / La Do Da / Be Good To Yourself / Lovin' Touchin Squeezin
encore: Any Way You Want It / Don't Stop Believin'

"Separate Ways" always makes a good set opener as Journey split the cool night air with that familiar synth intro. Guitarist Neal Schon literally kicked things off with a kick to the sky. Singer Arnel Pineda hit the stage and was still in good voice (although some of his high notes were boosted with an echo effect). They kept things rolling with an excellent take on "Ask The Lonely" as bassist Ross Valory mugged for the camera.

A nice set list surprise with the quiet ballad "Send Her My Love", it's been so long since I've heard it live I didn't recognize it at first. Pineda dug into the haunted sentiments and displayed an open sensitivity not seen since the Perry days. It was the musical high point of the evening for me.

Keyboardist Jon Cain addressed the crowd and did the usual "Are you ready to rock?!" stage patter garnering a strong audience response until he asked if we were ready to hear some new music. Think I heard some crickets chirping after Cain asked that question. "City Of Hope" was introduced as being about Manila in the Philippines, it's a pretty good song. Too bad the audience wouldn't even do the "tolerate the one new song" courtesy most bands get, they were stone dead silent throughout save for a guy two seats down from me booing. It was like watching a band perform in a vacuum. Journey must be getting this reaction a lot because "City Of Hope" cuts into "Only The Young" without a break in between.

Pineda got the lead vocal nod on "Faithfully" which was nice, I was expecting the mic to pass to drummer Deen Castronovo (who sounds more like Steve Perry than anybody) at this point. In fact Castronovo got no lead vocals this show, the first time I can remember that happening since...Arrival tour? It was good to see the vocals center on one guy again.

Neal Schon's guitar solo I can't recall exactly where it was in the set so I'm guessing it was here. It was as spectacular as always. "Stone In Love" amped up the fans, Castronovo's ability to beat the hell out of his drums really came across here. Also Arnel Pineda's familiarity with the material from touring is paying off as he came across earnestly during the all important "I've got dreams I'm livin' for" segment of "Escape".

"Lights" got the audience swooning in a waving sea of cell phones and bic lighters (I guess the stoners were good for something after all) before they crushed "Wheel In The Sky". Schon freshened up that charged guitar riff he kicks into towards the end and Cain showed off some likeably sloppy harmonica adding a bluesy charm.

Jon Cain then handed in a marvelous piano solo, probably the most extravagantly classical keys solo I've heard since Rick Wakeman. Predictably this led into "Open Arms".

Journey then blew my mind by pulling out one of my all time favorite songs of theirs that I've never heard from them live, "La Do Freakin Da". Well, really "La Do Da". This is late 70s rock at it's face melting best. Then it was back to the "dirty dozen" with "Be Good To Yourself" which was memorable because someone distracted Arnel Pineda to the point he missed the start of the second verse. I think he was laughing at someone in the front rows. Though it was technically a goof, the humor added to the positive messaging of the song.

"Lovin Touchin Squeezin" closed out the main set, a song I recently found out was inspired by a Sam Cooke song (thank you wikipedia). Just a bit of trivia I never knew. Na na na na boo boo, stick your head in doo doo.

I make it a point to leave before the final encore to beat the traffic. There was some opening guitar parts that sounded like the start to "Lay It Down" before they snapped into "Any Way You Want It". I heard that and "Don't Stop Believin" on the way to the parking lot. From the crowd noise those two went over big and sounded great.

Night Ranger rating:

Foreigner rating:

Journey rating:

You Really Can Still Rock In America

2011-10-04T07:58:00.000-07:00

To a smaller audience, but yes you can. A few weeks ago I got the most recent album from Night Ranger, a Bay Area band I've been a fan of since their debut Dawn Patrol way back in 1982-83. After a three album hot streak of killer rock and flick your bic power ballads the band seemed to lose direction - going all synthesizer, then firing the keyboard player, then turning into a power trio before doing the whole reunion thing in the 90s. Despite their best efforts, Night Ranger was not able to recapture that spark they had early on - they rocked yet lacked that hyper adrenaline manic edge of their early days. I thought maybe that edge could only be captured in the studio by the late producer Pat Glasser since he handled the first three albums. When last we saw our "Sister Christian" heroes, they were searching for a new sound that would fit in with the 21st Century. The guitars were lower (think the term is "downtuned"?) and an emphasis on alt rock style melodies dominated Hole In The Sun. Sun turned off the fan base and the quick dismissal of long time axe slinger Jeff Watson didn't help.

So here we are in 2011 and Night Ranger is making a 180 from Hole In The Sun. They're going back to the 80's - the early 80's, to recapture their original sound. And unlike so many bands who have done this same maneuver only to prove you can't go home again, Night Ranger pulls it off on their new disc Somewhere In California. Those high flying choruses, barrelling grooves and twin guitar attack have sting again. Rockers like "Growin Up In California", "Bye Bye Baby" and "Rock And Roll Tonite" are dazzling spectacles of AOR perfection. When the band hits that guitar solo build up part of "Lay It On Me" I'm in rock heaven. And the power ballad quota is met with the decent "Time Of Our Lives". Somewhere In California front loads the best songs in the first half, the second half is good but not as memorable (save "Tonite" and a rampaging cover of AC/DC's "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap" as a bonus track). This disc shows off a revitalized band who I hope to see live tomorrow (weather permitting).

rating:

Sing For The Day - AC/DC "Big Jack"

2011-10-02T09:05:00.000-07:00

At times I hear a song or think about a song...anyway, a song comes to mind and stays in my head for whatever reason. So when this happens I'm gonna start just writing about that song and in honor of the almighty Styx I'll call this Sing For The Day.

The other day I ran into this guy who is a huge Ac/DC fan. While talking we found we both agreed that one of the best songs off the last album (Black Ice) was "Big Jack". The guy plays guitar and told me a bunch of musical stuff about 5 chords and pletcorums and pull offs that I barely understood, but I still enjoyed the conversation. Later the same day I met another guy wearing an AC/DC shirt, it was just an AC/DC kinda day.

So what does "Big Jack" mean? Is it related to their earlier song "The Jack" which was about some sexual disease? Not a lot of interpretations on the internet, KGB Agent website says it's about a tough guy who plays pool. Okay, I've read the lyrics now. The great thing about AC/DC is it seems to me 99.99999% of their lyrics are cheap sex metaphors and it's no different here. I think the song is about the big O if you know what I mean. I can see why the KGB guy thought it is about pool since there's a brief part about racking balls and stuff. But the chorus talks about how "it's only natural" and that "he's the only one with a full sack". Ac/Dc, always so raunchy it's funny. If these guys didn't make it as musicians they'd probably be the only fifty somethings in Australia still writing dirty limericks on Men's room walls.

But hey, with Ac/DC it's always really about the monster groove. So enough words, here comes "Big Jack".

Midnight Madness - New TV Season Edition

2011-09-24T06:12:00.000-07:00

It's that special time of year when new tv series make their over publicized debuts and returning favorites make another run for ratings gold. Actors and actresses pushing their mugs onto the screen screaming "watch me!". Like how many times do I have to see Maria Bello's pretty face all bruised up as she rattles off tough cop nonsense? She's a good actress but this ad campaign doesn't ring true for me, seems forced. Her show could be great for all I know yet I don't have an interest in her program now.

Haven't posted in a little while so there's a bit of old news that doesn't really need addressing...but I'm goin' for it anyway!

Slippin The Secret Salahi - Wow, it's a real worlds collide moment when the guitar player of my favorite band gets involved in a real Real Housewives Of... moment by stealing a former RHWO D.C. cast member for himself. One of the crazy ones no less. On the upside, it's the most press Journey's gotten in a year or two. Downside? At best Schon comes off as an insensitive horndog. And then there were rumors Salahi was riding Steven Tyler's elevator too.

New Adventures In Hi Fi -is when R.E.M. should have stopped in my opinion, even though I enjoyed Accelerate and Collapse Into Now. I was offended that they kept going after Bill Berry split because they made a big deal beforehand about how if one of the four left the band would end and then it didn't. Not so offended I wouldn't listen to them, just thought R.E.M. was one of those "men of their word" kind of bands. Anyway, they've called it a day now. When they return hope Bill Berry is back. Didn't Berry go into farming or something?

X Factor - is booorrriiing

New Girl Now - watched the Zooey Deschanel tv show, she was as offbeat as ever too bad they made the supporting cast like male versions of her. Show has potential if it makes the guys more normal to make it less of a tightly focused personality fest (one guy is macho aggressive, another douchey and a third hyper sensitive). Oh wow, 2nd episode in and the aggro guy has been replaced with a more grounded character (was that Damon Wayans?). New Girl don't waste no time!

Rock Em Sock Em Robots - is what I think when I see commercials for Real Steel.
50/50 shot - my wife told me what she thinks this movie is about, still I gotta say this is the suckiest ad campaign for a film I've seen in awhile. All I get out of the tv adverts is a bunch of testimonials about how funny this film supposdedly is while all the scenes shown have a drab dour tone. The 3rd rock / Inception kid shaves his head and I don't get what's funny about that. Either this movie is so incredible that an advertisement can't convey what it's really about or it's about nothing of merit. A real 50/50.

Harvester Of Sorrow - the first sounds of the Metallica and Lou Reed team up have hit the net. And in honor of Spinal Tap all I can say is "Shit Sandwich".

Dreamin' - lovin the new Dream Theater video. truly awesome stuff.

Wake Up Sunshine

2011-09-16T21:53:00.000-07:00

Last night at what the tour shirt calls "Napa Valley" I saw the long running horn rock band Chicago. As I've written before, I was a big fan of Chicago in the 80s. Those Peter Cetera / David Foster ballads were works of art to me. During that decade I saw Chicago a total of 5 times (well, one was in 1990 so technically 4 times) and they often delivered a polished set of slow songs and mildly energetic rock. Not having seen them in twenty years I went into the show with modest expectations. These guys have been on the road just about every year for almost as long as I've been alive, figured they must be tired by now. I had a slight fear they might do what I saw on the Chicago 19 tour and lazily phone in their performance (they covered some horn parts with synthesizer that night!). But it was a show at a local intimate venue called the Uptown so it sounded like it might be an enjoyable night.

We had great seats in the third row. One thing about the Uptown, when it gets crowded it gets warm in there and I was pretty exhausted from the week to start with so I got a bit drowsy. Opening act Dave Sheil hit it off with the audience delivering a warm set of friendly James Taylor styled soft rock. I personally can't give an objective opinion of Sheil's talents since I cannot stand James Taylor's music. But I will say what he does, he seems to do well and won the crowd over with his earnest personality.

About a half hour later Chicago took the stage with a noticeable change in positioning the players from any other time I had seen the Chi-town pop rockers. Their normal set up throughout the 80s was bassist/vocalist center stage, horn section kinda off to the side, drums rear center flanked by keyboards on both sides. Here the horn section stood front and center at the opening and the bassist/vocalist was moved to the right. The audience was more excited than I had seen for any other Chicago concert I'd been to. I didn't pay close attention to the set list so the order of these songs were probably a little different than what I'm writing past the first few tunes. So what I remember went:

Ballet For A Girl From Buchanon (includes Make Me Smile and Colour My World) / Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is? / Dialogue Pts 1 & 2 / Alive Again / Call On Me / Old Days / Along Comes A Woman / Wake Up Sunshine / If You Leave Me Now / I've Been Searchin So Long / Christmas Tree Song / Baby What A Big Surprise / Hard Habit To Break / You're The Inspiration / Beginning / I'm A Man / drum solo / Street Player / Just You N Me / Saturday In The Park / Hard To Say I'm Sorry - Get Away / last part of Feelin Stronger Every Day

encore: Free / 25 or 6 to 4

I've only heard the full "Ballet" live once, on the Chicago 17 tour, and I loved it. So I really liked that they played it with all the different sections. The switch to moving the horn section to the front instantly paid off as woodwind / sax man Walt Parazaider worked the crowd more than any of the band's front men ever had. Tag teaming with trumpeter Lee Loughnane (who took a surprisingly good lead vocal turn on "Colour My World") the horn section stepped ahead of the singers in firing up the audience with dynamic stage presence and constant directions to clap your hands.

I figured there would be more emphasis on 70s material than when I had seen them last, Chicago did not disappoint following up with "Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?". Keyboardist / vocalist Robert Lamm has an unbelieveably healthy head of hair for his age, I was like "Damn!". His voice has held up surprisingly well too.

"Dialogue Pts 1 & 2" was next, there was one semester of college where I played this song a lot (around the time of the first Iraq War) so I dug it. Because he was included in the group photographs I thought trombonist James Pankow would be there but instead it was a guy I think he was named Antonio Velasco. Or maybe it was Alberto. Anyway, in addition to doing a fine job there was a noticeable change in the horn section dynamic. Velasco liked to clown around which fit in with Parazaider and Loughnane's get down and have fun approach.

Finally got to hear some late 70s Chicago live with "Alive Again", bassist/vocalist Jason Scheff finally getting a lead turn. During this and "Dialogue" his voice didn't come through that well and I thought maybe he had lost it (Scheff would sound better later in the show). Not that it mattered too much 'cause now the man has groupies, women bouncing and grinding begging for his attention. I had no idea Scheff had gained such a following. And I was surprised Scheff could see them, with a switch to a wireless headset his physical approach to singing seemed different. His eyes shut tight, Scheff would concentrate on his vocal while rocking back and forth like a man on a roller coaster.

Other songs I had not heard live before were the mid 70s hits "Call On Me" and "Old Days". Always liked "Call On Me" and the bongo attack gave more attention to the "pixie" like percussionist Drew Hester. Watching this guy in action was sort of like watching a mix of Glee and Puck from A Midsummer Night's Dream. To say he was fired up is an understatement. The newest member Lou Pardini got the lead vox nod and I gotta say he is a real good singer. Nails that rough soul voice perfectly. "Old Days" gave guitarist Keith Howland a shot at lead singing (like Journey, Chicago has become a big pass the mic kinda band).

After stating to the audience that you would hear a lot of music, the 80s made their first appearance with "Along Comes A Woman". It was hard not to miss Peter Cetera as this is such a Cetera kind of jam and I was surprised that the set list had only one post Cetera song (and that was a Christmas song). In fact, every original song from the Jason Scheff era was ignored including Top 10 hits "Will You Still Love Me", "I Don't Wanna Live Without Your Love", "You're Not Alone", "What Kind Of Man Would I Be" and the #1 hit of 1989 "Look Away".

The band went deep for an album cut, the pleasant "Wake Up Sunshine". It's funny, with all these hits it's this song that is stuck in my head afterwards.

Robert Lamm gave an explanatory monologue for the next part, seems you can go to Chicago's web site and bid in an auction to sing with Chicago. A lady who I had heard won with a $1500 bid walked up to sing "If You Leave Me Now". No need to criticize the lady, she was just "living her dream" and for laying out that kind of cash why not?

The band went into "(I've Been) Searchin So Long" and Jason Scheff hit his vocal stride here. He dug in deep to hit the gospelish ending with some authority, inspiring the groupies to grind and bounce away. Lamm plugged the band's upcoming Christmas CD (I think their second one) as Howland took lead vocal again on a rockabily tinged "Rockin Round The Christmas Tree".

It was a Cetera era big ballad trifecta starting with "Baby What A Big Surprise" next. Watching trumpeter Lee Loughnane blare his instrument around Scheff while he sang was pretty funny. Scheff and Pardini made a good combo on the power ballad classic "Hard Habit To Break" and guiarist Howland got to shine on an extended solo at the end of "You're The Inspiration".

Robert Lamm seemed to spend a lot of time in the background so it was noticeable when he took center stage for his warm fuzzy classic "Beginnings". Then the band got into serious jam mode as they motored through their cover of "I'm A Man" culminating in an awesome drum / percussion solo with Tris Imboden and Hester. The audience started to go nuts at this point...until Chicago pulled out their forgotten disco miss "Street Player". As a fan I got a kick out of hearing live the song that was said to cause the band such embarassment back in da day. But it stopped the audience dead in their tracks.

The sunny 70's continued with "Just You N Me" and "Saturday In The Park". In a long standing set list tradition (at least what I recall in the 80s) "Hard To Say I'm Sorry" closed the main concert part out with a lead in to the ramped up "Get Away". "Get Away" shifted into the last part of "Feelin Stronger Every Day" with Howland again getting lead singer nod on that part. The audience was psyched now leading to a brief break before encore time.

One of my favorite Chicago songs is "Free" so it was a pleasure to see the encore lead off with this jam, even if it was played a little slower. Then it was time to close the show down with "25 or 6 to 4" burning away.

The other five times I saw Chicago the closest they had to this type of intensity was on the Chicago 17 tour just as "Hard Habit To Break" was climbing the charts. But I had never seen them like this, the old guys threw down. As Parazaider did his one handed sax solo while high fiving the front row it was clear that Chicago tours like a never ending retirement party. If it wasn't for the absence of Cetera, it was the best Chicago concert I had ever seen. One last note, thank you for the pictures to my wonderful wife.

Rating:

Star Warts

2011-09-05T07:19:00.000-07:00

The latest news is that George Lucas is doing a remix job on the original Star Wars trilogy...again...including adding a "Noooo!" when Vader tosses the Emperor off the platform during Return Of The Jedi. As outrageous as this is in the face of, I guess good taste, Lucas is determined to redo these movies over and over again so we may as well accept it. That's part of the healing process right? Denial then acceptance? With this in mind, I would like to add my own wish list of original trilogy revisions. Not because the changes I propose would improve the films, but to make them worse. If you can't beat 'em, then join 'em!

1. Replace Sir Alec Guinness with Dos Equis Man
2. Make Han Solo the son of Chewbacca, making it a father and son team. And make Greedo his half brother. Because everyone in Star Wars has to be related to each other.
3. Whenever the Emperor or Obi Wan Kenobi calls Vader by name, replace "Vader" with "Annie". For example, "Only a master of e-vil Annie!"
4. Give C-3P0 a sex scene so people can stop questioning what his sexuality is.
5. Change the cantina band song to 2Pac's "California Love"
6. Add five extra minutes to the launching into hyperspace effect sorta like the 2001 A Space Odyssey scene
7. This isn't a suggestion but just wondering, why does it take so many people to run a moisture farm? Aren't you just driving up to a machine and taking a tub of water out of it? Do you really need Luke and extra hands to drive a car sorry land speeder and lift tubs? Don't those machines make the already dry air dryer?
8. Have the snow creature that captures Luke on Hoth voiced by Gilbert Godfried. (in Godfried voice) "Oh my God you were just hanging off the ceiling-ouch you cut off my arm that's so painful"
9. Completely replace the astroid chase between tie fighters and the millenium falcon with all new digital effects and add an mascot astroid alien somewhere.
10. Have Leia kiss first
11. Amidala's force ghost should appear somewhere, maybe she talks Vader into saving Luke at the end of Jedi.
12. Change R2-D2's speech to english so C-3PO just repeats whatever R2 says like he's translating.
13. Replace Yoda with Qui Gon Gin and shoot all new footage. Let's see Mark Hamill run through the trees of Dagobah with Liam Neeson on his back.
14. Give Vader's mechanized voice auto tune
15. Add scenes of Boba Fett without his helmet talking to the decapitated skull of his dead father in his Hawaiian accent. "This one's for you pop!"
16. Have the millenium falcon blow up with the Death Star 2.0 at the end of Jedi so it makes sense when Han Solo says "I don't think I'll see her again".
17. Bring back the original Jabba The Hutt, that guy that looks like a left over from Conan The Barbarian.
18. After the end credits of Jedi, have one armed / one eyed Samuel Jackson show up to say "Luke, I'm forming a team..."

In the end, we're going to have almost as many different versions of Star Wars as we do Blade Runner. With that in mind, I say "Stay thirsty, my friend".

Nothing Gets Between Us And Our Calvin Kleins

2011-08-29T09:46:00.000-07:00

My wife was shocked when she heard this Old Navy commercial appear where Salt N Pepa's old school rap hit "Let's Talk About Sex" has been converted to hocking pants.

I was surprised too, how could they, the almighty powers that be, use a controversial song from the 90s in this way? Then it made more sense when I heard another commercial on tv use some version of Duran Duran's "Girls On Film" to sell something too. A song that instantly recalls the classic "night club" version of the video (and I think most people in my age group knows what I'm talking about. "The Chauffeur" too, all arty and black and white.) So that's where we're at in advertising land, they're going to use songs with slightly taboo memories to get our attention now. 'Cause sex and mild controversy sells, as you can tell I still remember the 'ol Brooke Shields jeans campaign. I have to admit it works, I'm writing about it aren't I? And I don't have kids or shop for clothes.

For me it's just another sign of getting older. People my age, most of whom are probably parents, will snap their necks to look at the screen when one of these clips hit the tv. And their kids will sing along to the hook, completely unaware of the original connotation of what they're singing. It's funny how time erases controversy in music, like when I was growing up I never heard Ozzy Osbourne on the radio (he's Satanic and eats animals!) but now can see him on tv whenever and hear "Crazy Train" while shopping for groceries. It's probably how the generation before me felt when they started hearing "Louie Louie" at Johnny Rocket restaurants. They're playing what!! As Johnny Carson used to say, weird wild stuff.

So what's next? George Michael's "I Want Your Subway Sandwich"? Madonna's "Like A Volvo touched for the very first time"? C'mon corporate america, hit this old man with your best shot.

Steve Miller - You Got Me Dizzy

2011-08-28T08:59:00.000-07:00

Just a song that keeps repeating in my mind this week. From Steve Miller's 2010 album Bingo.

I Love It When A Plan Comes Together

2011-08-26T22:48:00.000-07:00

I pity the fool that doesn't like The A-Team! It's a formulaic action movie based on a formulaic action tv show. The movie acts like an oversized version of the original source material, loud lunkheaded fun with even more explosions. It's well done stuff, nicely cast and delivered with a ton of zip. Although not the headline star, The Hangover's Bradley Cooper gets plenty of "face" time. And don't ask me how he did it, but Liam Neeson has neatly slid into all those middle aged badass roles left vacant by Mel Gibson's career implosion. Most impressively, former teen actor Brian Bloom nearly walks off with the whole picture as the ruthless bad guy. Bottom line, as far as a cash in on an old 80s tv show goes The A Team ain't bad.

Rating:

Kaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!

2011-08-23T21:20:00.000-07:00

While in Las Vegas we caught Cirque du Soleil (a name I will forever get confused with Punky Brewster) Ka at the MGM Grand. It's the first Cirque du Soleil thing I've seen. Going in, I wasn't even 100% sure what it was about. I thought it was about the elements fire, water, air and so on. My wife said she thought it was a love story. We both expected a lot of stunts. For the most part, Ka was a blank slate in terms of expectations.

So when you walk in the auditorium there are some striking things about the set design right off. The main stage is a pit that spews flame balls upward at random, the front lip of the stage is wide enough to stand on. The main stage is flanked on both sides by something like Star Wars Ewok Village. The ushers are dressed like a cult and will repeatedly address you as "friend". We had 2nd row seats which were pretty awesome, close enough to touch the actors if we wanted to.

I don't want to give away too much of what Ka is because I felt part of what made it exciting was I didn't know jack about it. So a broad explanation I could give is it's like Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon meets Disney meets Avatar. Or a live action Hiyao Miyazaki movie. The story is about royal twins who are separated by an attack on their clan and forced to flee. They are split up and adventures ensue and so on. At least that's what I got out of it since none of the characters (save the narrator) speaks english.

The stunt work in this show is amazing, the timing of their movements were impressive. Hanging from tall heights, martial arts fights with weapons and enough wire work to fill a second Matrix trilogy left me in awe. I had to go to the bathroom half way through but didn't because I was concerned my movement might throw off the performers. Acting was first rate, the fact that these performers can flip and dive and kung fu then hold a convincing facial expression for their character was fantastic.

Again, don't want to give away too much. When George Lucas made Star Wars, he said something like he wanted it to be similar to a foreign movie that starts in the middle and makes you decypher what is happening. Ka is like that. A visual feast for the eyes that retains the thrills of circus acrobatics and adds an emotional layer of epic storytelling.

Rating:

What Happens In Vegas Stays On Blogger

2011-08-21T01:33:00.000-07:00

Just came back from my first trip to Las Vegas. What an incredible trip it was! Three days of fun shared with my wonderful wife. And how else should I commemorate the trip than create a playlist of memories, another Playlist of Pooh!

Gram Parsons - Ooh Las Vegas

To get psyched up for the trip I thought I should listen to Ac/Dc's "Sin City" or ZZ Top's "Viva Las Vegas" but I never did, instead I played this song on my Ipod repeatedly in the week leading up to the trip.

Journey - Raised On Radio

We listened to the radio on the way to the airport, I had no idea that Steven Seaweed and his Hot Lunch program was still on the air. In high school I loved listening to that show on the now defunct KRQR radio station. The weed man wanted folks to call in requests with "radio" as the theme, I would have called this in if I had time to hear it before arriving at the airport.

The Beatles - Ticket To Ride

It was a long wait for our flight at the airport, it was delayed by about two hours. I have an extreme fear of heights and flying, so even though I watched plane after plane take off the runway without incident I was still going nuts. I tried to think of how many of my favorite entertainers have spent decades flying all over the world without problem. Or the other times I had been on planes and safely gotten from one place to another. Unfortunately, all these rationalizations didn't help much so my wife bought me a magazine about The Beatles to distract me.

Asia - The Smile Has Left Your Eyes

Our trip to Vegas was off to a bad start, the flight was delayed and then it took another 30 minutes for our shuttle to leave the airport because they were waiting for other passengers. Except they didn't tell us that, they sat us in the shuttle and left us there to the point we considered just walking to the hotel. Our hotel was The Luxor, a pyramid shaped place that reminded me of the Asia Alpha album cover.

Ohio Players - Love Rollercoaster

Once we dropped off our stuff in the room we decided to walk around. The New York New York section nearby so we went on the roller coaster. It was a great coaster with huge drops and loops throughout. Easily the best roller coaster we had been on in ages. My only problem was I rode the coaster wrong. How do you ride a roller coaster wrong? On this one you have to keep your head flat against the headrest or else it bounces between two neck bars like a ping pong ball. I didn't know that going in, the sides of my lower jaw are still sore. But what a great ride!

Sammy Hagar - I Love This Bar

We had a drink at a bar, I think it was called Diablo. There are tons of restaurant / bars on the Strip including Sammy Hagar's Cabo Wabo and another owned by Toby Keith. I was sort of interested in going to Cabo Wabo since Sammy Hagar is as close to a prophet / philosopher that I can think of in the world. But when I heard their music system pumping new wave music I thought "ehhh". In Sammy Hagar land there should only be Saint Sammy's jams on the speakers!

Quarterflash - Take Me To Heart

The next morning this song was running through my head for no apparent reason. Just seemed to fit the mood of relaxing opulence at The Luxor.

Bruce Springsteen - Atlantic City

Vegas is all about tourism, for many living there it is working in the service industry but for others it's sales and promotion. There is this place under construction called The Grandview which will eventually be 20 towers tall but only has six built right now. The Grandview has hired an army of blazer wearing folk to offer package deals of show tickets and gambling money in exchange for going through what I assume is a lengthy presentation to get you to buy into a timeshare at the new establishment. While the sales people are perfectly pleasant, they're planted like ant farms all over Mandalay Bay, The Luxor and The Excaliber making their repeated "Do you have any plans for a show this evening" or "How long are you in town" queries irritating beyond belief. I actually preferred the porn peddlers waving their leaflets in my face up and down the strip to The Grandview reps. At least those guys and gals understand my shaking my head and hands at them means "no" and don't try to overcome my objections. It doesn't quite fit, yet "Atlantic City" came to mind when dealing with these people. I don't blame the salespeople themselves they're just people trying to earn a buck just like me, but damn...

Bella Notte

We had a nice romantic gondola ride through an indoor area that is designed to be like Venice, Italy. The...I guess maybe they're called Gondalier? Anyway, the guy that moves the boat with a pole was friendly and an excellent singer. One of the songs he sang he prefaced as being from The Lady And The Tramp which was this tune.

Ray Lamontage - You Are The Best Thing

While spending time with my wife looking thru the mall stores, this song came on which fit the mood perfectly.

Kool & The Gang - Too Hot

Did I mention it is hot in Vegas? The temp was over 100 degrees every day until when we left, when it was a cool 97. Even at night you feel like you walked into a broiler. After walking much of the day we were exhausted and took a hasty cab ride back to our room for some rest. Then we met with some of my wife's relatives for a very pleasant dinner.

Queen - Body Language

Won't go into too much detail, I'll just say seeing provocative dancing to this song was the first time I enjoyed hearing this forgotten track. Thought "Body Language" overdid the dance angle of the band following "Another One Bites The Dust" in terms of Queen's music, but in this context it was the perfect tune.

She And Him - You Really Got A Hold On Me

In a rare quiet moment in this very exciting city, I sat down with my Ipod and listened to some She & Him while reading the hotel magazines. This song really popped when I heard it.

Duffy - Mercy

If there is a song The Luxor likes, it's definitely "Mercy". Heard this play throughout the hotel multiple times every day. It's amazing how these hotel / casinos are designed, they're like mini cities within themselves with tons of food, shopping and entertainment at your disposal (at a high price of course). Oh, if you're ever in The Luxor I recommend having the fried rice at Rice & Co. upstairs, it is insanely good!

The Heights - How do You Talk to An Angel?

It's my wife's birthday! We had a delicious breakfast at the Mandalay Bay, it was a fancy place with a great view of other buildings and palm trees. I had a Norway Benedict while she had smoked salmon with bagels. It felt like the setting for a scene in a tv show with rich people, like 90210. A wonderful time with my wonderful, beautiful wife.

Styx - Mr Roboto

After breakfast I took her to The Fremont Street Experience. The magazine in the hotel room promised shopping and art and a good time. What actually was there was old Las Vegas, the original Strip. The Fremont Street Experience was fascinating, a sort of land-that-time-forgot. A place that emphasizes the "loosest slots in town" and offer prime rib dinners for $4.95 on posters. The older casino / hotels retain much of the 70s style sense of glitz with tons of light bulbs flashing on signs everywhere. Signs you could easily imagine having held the names of legends like Sammy Davis Jr or Dean Martin at one point in time. There weren't many people there when we went, adding to a ghost town effect. When I told my wife the magazine said Fremont Street was 80s themed this year, she jokingly said that was the reason I took her there. The topic came up when "Mr Roboto" blasted on the Fremont St audio system while we looked at a kiosk selling 80s t-shirts saying something like "Vegas says Relax" (for those too young to remember, the 80s had a lot of "Frankie Says Relax" t-shirts. Right up there with oversized "Choose Life" shirts).

John Waite - Going to The Top

My wife has always wanted to go to France, so I took her to the Eiffel Tower in the Paris section of Las Vegas Blvd. The view was really awesome, I just wished my fear of heights could have subsided so we could have enjoyed it more.

Elvis Presley - Viva Las Vegas

In the early afternoon we made our way back to the Bellagio / Ceasar's Palace part of the Strip. It was there on a private balcony we witnessed the famous water fountain show at The Bellagio. Done to the tune of "Viva Las Vegas", it was truly a spectacular show. So glad we got to see this.

The Simpsons - Monorail

We rode the monorail back towards our hotel afterwards. I love monorails!

Black Crowes - Share The Ride

That evening we saw Cirque Du Soleil Ka which I will write a separate review on. Once that ended we tried to catch a cab back to the hotel, but the cab stand line was too long so we footed it. Before Vegas, I had taken maybe two taxi cab rides in my life. In Las Vegas it was a daily necessity. It is so hot outside you have to find other ways to get around. Most of the taxi drivers were friendly and amiable, others not so much.

Nearer My God to Thee

The next morning we went to see the Titanic exhibit at the Luxor. On the one hand, it may not have been a good idea to delve into one of the greatest disasters in modern travel on the same day as catching a flight. On the other hand, it was a well done exhibit. It is solemn, informative and involving. To see the personal effects of the travellers and remaining pieces of the ship is so sad. The recreation of the grand staircase is impressive. But what really stuck with me is the facsimile of the side deck at night, it makes you feel like you're really on a ship. A feeling of calm and beauty, unaware of the disaster looming before them. Violin music played in the background, which I believe included this song that may have been performed while the boat sank. After Titanic we walked over to the Shark Reef to see an impressive display of animals and sea creatures.

Gym Class Heroes - Cupid's Chokehold / Breakfast In America

To cope with the flying I had to drink a lot before the flight. While downing a beer this song played in the background at the bar, my wife hadn't heard it before so it caught her by surprise. I had to break the news that yes, even Supertramp is not immune to sampling. Can't say I dislike this tho, it's Supertramp with a modern beat.

Led Zeppelin - Fool In The Rain

We sat in rush hour traffic through San Francisco to get home. The radio played three Led Zep songs in a row, after "Fool In The Rain" we talked about our trip matching the cadence of the verses.

Smokey Robinson - Being With You

Thank you for the trip honey, I loved being there with you :)

Weezer - Memories

While driving to get some food today, the radio was all advertisements so I threw in the Weezer cd I had in the car. This song was perfect for the moment. All the memories make me want to go back there...

Midnight Madness - Dokken Edition

2011-08-12T19:46:00.000-07:00

I've spent the week trying to put together a review of the Dokken show I saw at the County Fair last Saturday. I wrote it out, posted it for a second, and then thought maybe I was being a little too harsh on Don Dokken so I took it down. Don Dokken's voice isn't quite what it used to be. The best I can say about the show is that I can check Dokken off the wish list of concerts I hadn't seen before. And my wife takes nice pictures, which I'm including in this post.

Heaven isn't too far away...- Sad to read Jani Lane was found dead at age 47. While I'm not a huge Warrant fan I liked their music generally. R.I.P. Jani Lane.

Footloose - is every movie I saw in the 80s going to be replaced with a new one? Since when did film memories become like Windows upgrades?

Destination Unknown? - It's a time for the most over advertised movie on tv this week, Final Destination 5. I've never watched any of these Final Destination movies, does anyone ever survive these movies? I take it that death is never represented other than maybe by Candyman, are these characters always killed by an unseen force? Guess I'm saying I don't understand the point of these movies.

A little bird told me - I am totally hooked on Angry Birds on my phone. Damn those pigs!

Some Kind Of Monster - lots of speculation going 'round that Metallica and Megadeth will form a new group together. You can't ever say never, yet I can't see this happening.

Weatherman says it's going to be hot tonight - Heather Locklear, yes Stacy Sheridan herself, is engaged to "All I Need" Jack Wagner. Locklear seems to be getting a lot of good press lately thanks to the engagement and the promising modeling career of her daughter. After a lot of news stories in recent years portrayed Locklear as falling apart at the seams, nice to see her rebound.

Did I Do That? - I am diggin' Jaleel White's appearance in the new Cee Lo Green video. Didn't realize how much I missed Urkel.

Those Memories Come Crashing Through...

2011-08-05T23:18:00.001-07:00

In 1982 I went to my first concert of a real band, Air Supply. Yes, those wonderfully sappy purveyors of Carpenters style balladry that came to define adolescent images of romantic love in the early 80s. For a two year period they were unstoppable, casually lobbing one carefully crafted soft rock ditty after another onto the radio. Then the 80s really took hold and Air Supply had run out of oxygen, unable to compete with the macho power ballads flooding the airwaves. By 1986 Air Supply couldn't even muster a minor Top 40 hit.

Last night I wondered how Air Supply would fare 29 years after I had first seen them. Could Russell Hitchcock still belt out those soaring sustained high notes? Would they sound tired of playing the same 'ol songs for nearly three decades? Does their appearance at the Solano county fair signal the end is near for the Australian group?

It was a strong turn out for them in terms of crowd, the largely Filipino audience eagerly awaited the beginning of the show. Then the group hit the stage to deliver their message of love. And after a quick smooch between principal songwriter / guitarist / singer Graham Russell and vocalist Russell Hitchcock the band went off to the races with this set list (at least what I remember of it):

Even The Nights Are Better / Just As I Am / Here I Am / an upbeat song / Chances / The Power Of Love / A Little More Time / I think an upbeat song here / The One That You Love / Lost In Love / I think a song I didn't know / Every Woman In The World / Making Love Out Of Nothing At All

encore: an upbeat song something about a Big Idea / All Out Of Love

Air Supply kicked off with a rocked up take on their final Top 10 single "Even The Nights Are Better". Hitchcock seemed in clear voice, retaining a surprising amount of power considering how long they've been around. Right from the start Hitchcock's stage mannerisms started with pointing at the crowd and blowing kisses at them, he had not lost a beat since the last time I saw them. The band was energetic and filled with talented musicians, yet they had trouble throughout the night trying to pull off some hairpin turns in their arrangements.

Giving "Nights" a heavier rock edge made more sense as they led into "Just As I Am" from 1985 - a time period where Air Supply tried to rock harder (I use that phrase modestly, Air Supply never rocks hard). One of my favorite Air Supply songs, even though my most lasting memory of it was attending a youth group meeting senior year of high school and sitting in a circle on the library floor while "Just As I Am" blasted on the tape deck as our touchy-feely theme song.

The hits kept comin' with "Here I Am", more memories of borrowing my best friend's Mom's two Air Supply records back in the day. "Here I Am" also featured a big Air Supply tradition: milking the big note. When I saw them way back when they would stop playing before the big vocal note and not continue until Hitchcock felt he had enough audience applause to do it. Well, they still do that on almost every ballad. In fact, the pause was so long on this song that when the singer paused on "It's just no good without..." the audience began yelling "You! You! Yooouu!" before they resumed. Air Supply likes them some applause.

Graham Russell addressed the crowd, asking them if they were ready for a night of love. The word "love" is invoked with near religious reverence in the Air Supply lexicon. He then made one of several comments thru the evening of how beautiful a place the audience lives in. Next up was some upbeat song, you know the Supply gotta have those so it's not just one long ballad fest. At this point I was really impressed with the professionalism of Air Supply, these guys commit to putting on an entertaining show. Graham Russell does his waddling boogie dance, Hitchcock works the crowd, they give their supporting band numerous shout outs and let them strut their stuff. I was impressed by their guitarist with the Mike Reno headband, he wasn't a bad axe man. Nailed those soaring solos.

The highlight for my night was "Chances", a song I heard the first time when I saw them in '82 (it latter was released on the first Greatest Hits Lp). Such a great song. They followed up with "The Power Of Love" which is probably best known in the U.S. as a Celine Dion song although it was a remake of a Jennifer Rush song. Supply had covered this in '85 so they had a credible reason to perform it and it was rendered nicely. Their version is the one I like the most anyway.

I hit the head at this point and came back in time to see Graham Russell stand up straight like a soldier to a military style marching beat. My wife filled me in that Russell had performed a moving song about a soldier's wedding he had performed at. The soldier was later killed in action and the widow said their last words to each other was "A little more time".

Pretty sure another upbeat song happened next. Then Air Supply made a move that caused the crowd to go nuts. Hitchcock and Russell walked through the seated lawn area while performing an acoustic take on "The One That You Love". Cameras and throngs of people surrounded them as they slowly made their way around. Women were crying and shouting "I Love You!" right to their faces. Yeah, that sealed the deal. Air Supply owned this audience.

It was time to score some insurance runs, so Air Supply followed up with "Lost In Love". While I find it personally humorous, the concept that someone is "lost" in "love" like a person would be lost in a haze trying to find a way out, it is undeniably a monster in the soft rock catalog. And so many great 80s movie soundtrack memories to boot.

I don't remember if there was a song between "Lost In Love" and "Every Woman In The World", I was just going with the flow of the concert now and not keeping track of the setlist closely. It might have been band introduction, where we were told the names of Mike Reno headband wearing guitarist, Jersey Shore drummmer and keyboardist Amir. "Every Woman In The World" is another treasured Air Supply song that went smoothly. I really like the Love Boat / Fantasy Island view of romantic love this song has.

To close the set, Russell Hitchcock started a capella with "Making Love Out Of Nothing At All" before launching into the full band version. This was the only song where Hitchcock's vocal skill couldn't overcome age as he had to take a lot of breaths to get through the long windy Jim Steinman penned verses. To be fair, Jim Steinman songs are built tough, tough enough to make Meat Loaf faint. For a reason I couldn't quite figure out, they did the 2nd verse twice. Didn't seem like an accident, maybe to stretch out the song? The band wound up the show and trotted off stage.

Shortly after, the group returned for the encore. An upbeat number ensued, something about a "Big Idea". Followed by band introduction #2 of each member 'cause Air Supply likes to get their props. Apparently Graham Russell really liked his 2nd introduction because he then gave Russell Hitchcock a kiss on the cheek. Then Graham Russell said this would be the last song of the evening, that they could not leave without playing this song.

"All Out Of Love" rolled out, the bands biggest and baddest hit. Yet another wave of gooey soft rock swooniness took over the audience (during this show I saw enough swaying arms in the air to fill a season of American Idol) and all was right with the world until...UNTIL...BLAM! A big ass drum solo by the Jersey Shore looking drummer two thirds of the way thru. The band left the stage while the drummer who I will now refer to as The Situation blasted through a thundering solo which was fine for what it was, by why in the middle of "All Out Of Love"? It was your standard epic rock concert drum solo that crushed all the sentiment out of the song, it was like watching someone paint a mustache on the Mona Lisa (OK, that metaphor was overboard but you know what I mean). The Situation then went to the front of the stage to throw his sticks out to the audience, like we're going to impress other people with a stick from the drummer of Air Supply (sorry, if you're not the original drummer Ralph Cooper I don't care). Like I'm supposed to say "Yay, you destroyed 'All Out Of Love' good job!"

As easy as it is to ridicule Air Supply (and it is easy...) I am at heart a fan of their music. And as a fan I have to say Air Supply delivers a good show, committed to creating an energetic environment to which people can feel their brand of ...er, love. I guess you can say (please, don't say it) they made love...out of nothing...at all...

Rating:

Cowboys And Aliens And The Crystal Skull

2011-08-05T22:01:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I watched Hollywood's latest attempt at creating a big budget kitsch classic with Cowboys and Aliens. The movie definitely has a head turning title. Despite the nutty premise, the film has big stars (Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, Olivia Wilde and lots of other actors where you go "Oh yeah it's that guy!") and is directed by Iron Man Jon Favreau. My guess was to anticipate a fast paced plot, lots of running and shouting with explosions, you know the usual action stuff. I went in with the intention of not thinking about what I'm seeing and enjoying the ride.

To make a film like this work, it needs to have some kind of creative angle or sense of edgy humor to make the thing zip along. You can't buy into the story with any sense of realism, the central idea of the project is basically a Syfy channel movie on steroids. So it's too bad Favreau didn't get that memo, 'cause he directs this popcorn flick like it's Saving Private Ryan. The tone is mostly serious, nobody looks like they're having fun on screen (well, except maybe Harrison Ford but that's 'cause he's so awesome). Aliens don't get much screen time until the ending, most of what you get is the bickering of the townspeople who have gathered together to try to rescue their loved ones from the mysterious demons of the sky. Since the bulk of the film plays like a standard Western, the aliens aren't just intrusive they seem pasted on like the marketing tool that they are. It's like Favreau couldn't get the money to do a full on Western so he settled for making 4/5ths of one.

The Western part of the movie is solid, thanks in large part to that great cast. James Bond / Daniel Craig is no stranger to portraying the badass with no name bit and fits in fine. Harrison Ford is a blast as the hardened cattle rancher / ex war officer with a soft spot for little kids. Ford seems to relish playing this character and is the only character to generate a strong emotional reaction. Sam Rockwell's sensitive barkeep also registers strongly. Yep, all the actors pull their weight except for maybe Olivia Wilde. I couldn't tell if her acting was good or not since her character was so hokey I couldn't envision anyone doing it well.

Since the movie was more drama than fun, I had lots of time for my mind to spin its wheels. I began to wonder how Olivia Wilde's character managed to wear so much makeup in the old west, make up that doesn't run after getting soaked in water no less. Or how she got such a tight fitting frontier woman's dress, it was like the Tron outfit in a skirt. And why were the Aliens stuck with the generic outer space invaders playbook. Alien weapons that humans can only use in the presence of the aliens themselves (District 9). Creatures that capture people to "study for weaknesses" in the human race (every damn invasion movie but mostly thinking of War Of The Worlds). People kept in a zombie like state packed together in a room (The Matrix). A scurrying army of green armored creatures that can jut out attack appendages (Aliens, Starship Troopers).

Cowboys And Aliens isn't an all out bad movie, it just misses the point of its own existence. One that makes promises of epic battle storytelling and then bores you with the tales of the long trip it took to get there. Sort of like telling a friend you went to Disneyland and then spend the next 90 minutes detailing your car trip with pee breaks as the high points. Thankfully, Indiana Ford is there to bring back fond memories of Raiders Of The Lost Ark...or at least Indiana Jones And The Crystal Skull.

Rating:

Mr Mike's High School Record Collection: April Wine - Power Play

2011-07-31T18:51:00.000-07:00

I've been watching MTV30 on VH1 Classic this weekend which has been fun, except I was expecting to see music videos (since that is what MTV used to show). Instead they are showing mostly clips from their various non music shows mixed in with VMA music performances. It seems the memory of the channel itself has removed video clips from their past. I was going to do a post on my favorite music videos from the MTV glory days (and still might) but while looking for old clips to rave about I stumbled across a forgotten album: April Wine Power Play. So that's the theme of today's post. Let's see how many wine metaphors I can pour into this bota. Oh yeah, I know nothing of wine and don't like the taste of most of them. Master Of Wine I am not.

1. Anything You Want, You Got It

One of my favorite opening tracks to any album ever, this hard charging rocker is designed to light up arenas from coast to coast. The ultimate aperitif, it was easy to envision a field of raised fists held high when Myles Goodwin would ask "Do you want it?" and the audience would reply "Yeah!" I imagined this was an awesome concert opener, too bad I didn't get to see the Wine in action when they were in season.

2. Enough Is Enough

The Bordeaux of Power Play, this was the song most people heard from this record. Funny though, I didn't buy this album for "Enough Is Enough" but for the song after it. Still loved this song once I heard it, particularly the guitar part underneath the "You fill me up until I get enough" line 'cause it reminded me of pumping gas into a car. Oh sorry, I think I meant to say the decanting process. Anyway, the video is a fine tribute to early 80s variety with the band trucking and shouting on the CB for girls. Remember the CB craze? When we used to wear trucker hats and talk jibberish ending with a 10-4 good buddy or a cackling Burt Reynolds laugh? Glad I rewatched this video, all these years I thought the solo was by Brian Greenway (one of three axe slingers in classic April Wine) but it turns out to be Gary Moffet. (the third guitarist? Myles Goodwin. He sings. He dances. He does it all!!!). You know what would have made this video better though? An orangutan and seven gorgeous lady truckers. Left turn Clyde.

3. If You See Kay

The song I bought this for, a song whose video I saw on public television no less. They sounded out a dirty word, how could I not buy this?? My friends tried to tell me this group was plonk, I ignored them and was sold on the song / video that easily fit in with the Caddyshack / Fast Times At Ridgemont High varietal. Hard to believe this and Bryan Adams "Cuts Like A Knife" was considered racy by todays standards. When Britney Spears released "If You Seek Amy" my mind screamed "stop ripping off April Wine!". I say my mind because if I screamed it aloud I would 1) be considered crazy and 2) probably asked what an April Wine is. April Wine what's that? It's a Canadian rock band with a drummer that looks like one of WWF's Bushwackers led by a curly haired dude but that's not important right now.

4. What If We Fall In Love

It's important to let Wine breathe, so we get a nice ballad here not too far off from their big hit "Just Between You And Me". I like the song yet thought it was a verse section too long, sort of like a fine wine aging into vinegar. Good place for a ballad though, gotta play up the romantic side at least once when the other songs are about possessiveness and lust.

5. Waiting On A Miracle

This upbeat rocker I've been indifferent to so I'll use this space to talk about some other things April Wine. Like the album cover to Power Play. It shows a kid playing a video game (that for some reason reminds me of Tempest on the side of the box) of April Wine with Myles Goodwin on screen arms outstretched in rock and roll victory / ecstasy. So wait, you're telling me there is a video game and rock music together in the same place? (I used to love Tempest, wasn't very good and usually died a lot once the spikes appeared. Early round victories where you get to spin the control and watch the Tempest spin all over the grid on the way to the next grid was the best though) April Wine, you're talking my language. Oh, and one other visual note I'd like to say I was pissed when the fancy April Wine logo was discontinued on the following record (the mediocre Animal Grace disc).

6. Doin It Right

OK, I'm wore out on wine phrases. You win April Wine! Now they're doin it right...on the wrong side of town. Side 2 of the cassette took a little while for me to get into. So much work involved with flipping a tape over, you have to push eject and rewind and then play - I can't handle all this manual labor. Power Play was released when record companies were trying to push cassette tapes over vinyl records, so it was made in nifty blue plastic and emphasized the emblem XDR which meant expanded dynamic range. This is just before record companies went bonus track crazy in it's final effort to bury vinyl (bet those record boys regret that move now.) Oh yeah, back to "Doin It Right". Typical mildly rebellious rock and rollers bragging about rocking in a semi dangerous situation type anthem. It works, I like this jam.

7. Ain't Got Your Love

This song is cool, nice struttin piece of hard rock. This was my favorite song on side 2, just had a good groove and energy to it. You know as much as I like April Wine, I don't know much about the band members other than their nationality (Canadian). So lets see what I can find out about these guys that's of interest. Well, one thing right off lead singer/guitarist/songwriter Myles Goodwyn spells his name "Goodwyn" not "Goodwin" like I've been writing this entire post. That's good info! Guitarist Brian Greenway is said to be a computer enthusiast on the April Wine site and seems to respond on their message board. Did not know that either. Can't find any info on Gary Moffet, but hey I just found out he did the solo on "Enough Is Enough" does that count? Bassist Steve Lang according to the April Wine message board is a rich man working a corporate job. According to wikipedia, drummer Jerry Mercer (the Bushwackers looking guy) he had been both a cattle rancher and IBM computer programmer. That's some versatility.

8. Blood Money

"Blood Money" is one of two tunes I don't remember now. I'm playing it now to see if it's familiar, I might have fast forwarded past it back in the day. I think I did. I don't remember this song at all.

9. Tell Me Why

A good amount of time went by, decades maybe, before I realized this was a Beatles cover. This version is so slowed down compared to the original that I didn't recognize it. And that's not a bad thing since I like April Wine's take better than the Fab Four's. Has more of a I wanna say Everly Brothers feel to it, a pensiveness that I like. I hadn't seen the video before today, it's pretty funny, Nice slow burn joke even though you see the end coming. She's got the jack :)

10. Runners In The Night

Song two that I don't remember. Playing now...it's a decent hard rocker. Guess I was hoping for a fast paced whiplash guitars big finish.

Too bad I had jumped on the April Wine train just in time to watch them fall apart. The next album had the awesome "This Could Be The Right One" and that was about it. By the time we got to Walking On Fire there really wasn't a band anymore. There was however this video for "Rock Myself To Sleep" that tries to distract you from the lack of band members with some Heather Locklear inspired "sexy" dancing and extreme closeups of Myles Goodwyn's noggin.

April Wine was an awesome band, I think they might still be around with Goodwyn and Greenway so I'll say is an awesome band.

Ten Reasons Why T.J. Hooker Is Awesome

2011-07-24T21:56:00.000-07:00

Lately my wife and I have gone back to watching reruns of the classic William Shatner cop show T.J. Hooker. T.J. Hooker, the 80s tv show created with the idea that people like me wanted to see Captain Kirk in a patrol car, ran for more years than I remembered (like three or four) entertaining with one self righteous speech after another. Hooker was the toughest cop in all of L.C. (L.A.) fighting for the rights of the innocent and taking down the scum that plagues society. He used to be a detective, but after a controversial shooting he went back into blues. Not that he was busted down, he asked for the streets! Where he can make a difference! After watching several episodes back to back, I've decided to list ten reasons in no particular order why T.J. Hooker is so awesome.

1. T.J. Hooker is so cool that everyone in the fictional city of L.C. knows him and only refers to him by his last name.

Hooker has contacts throughout the city, everyone who is not a criminal knows Hooker and is on good terms with him. He relates to all walks of life and is revered by them for being the living God he is. Almost all criminals know Hooker too, they're just not on good terms with the man. To be accurate, all snitches know Hooker and can't handle the heat when TJ leans on them for information. Only occasionally does the criminal of the week know Hooker, because obviously he did know Hooker the punk would be too scared to commit a crime in L.C. Along with his fame comes a cache of cool, so everyone calls TJ Hooker by his last name. His partner Vince Romano calls him Hooker. Other police officers. Community leaders. Even his ex wife. Only his kids don't call him Hooker, but maybe that's because he's never around home. Too busy fighting crime to raise his kids.

2. Sub Plot Stacy aka Heather Locklear

Heather Locklear was working double time appearing on both TJ Hooker and Dynasty. Her character Stacy Sheridan started as the desk / dispatch clerk and is the daughter of the police chief. She later becomes a street beat cop with Moondoggie James Darren where she morphs into sub plot Stacy. Whenever a kid or civilian woman needs to be watched, wherever a beautiful young woman is needed as bait, or if a cop is going to be taken hostage by bad guys Stacy is there to do it. Locklear fills in her role as eye candy nicely which is just as well since she's never once believable as a police officer (she looks 90 pounds and has no attitude). It doesn't help her that the Sheridan character is made out to be so naive that she is disarmed and taken hostage more times than I could count. It's as if Sheridan carries a gun so she could arm the criminals that capture her. Part of the fun of sub plot Stacy is to make fun of her character's stupidity in service of the story, plus you get to make Tommy Lee jokes and view possibly the corniest exotic dancing to hit the airwaves. Work those shoulders and snap them fingers baby!

3. Vince Romano is a Vietnam Veteran

I feel bad for Adrian Zmed, his career had such promise. After Grease 2 and TJ Hooker it seemed like he just disappeared. Zmed did a really good job as Hooker's eager young guy on the make sidekick Vince Romano. Completely believable as a rookie cop, completely believable as Hooker's partner with a different acting style, believable in his action scenes...but totally not believable as a Vietnam Veteran. I'm sorry, Adrian Zmed looks like he's in his mid 20s during this show - maybe he looks young for his age? His character is portrayed as a guy in his mid 20s too, which makes it ridiculous to claim Romano is a Vietnam Vet. It's not like they referenced this once and let it go, Romano's Vietnam past is brought up multiple times in the series (including flash backs). It's said Romano went to 'Nam faking his age to join the war, but what was he 5? A 5 year old faked his way into the army? Really?

4. 80's L.C. (L.A.) is a beautiful thing

Remember the old Kentucky Fried Chicken sign? Or when you could buy a new truck for $5999? Or gas for $1.11? You get to see a lot of the ol sights and sounds of Los Angeles. Just watched an episode today that opens with a robbery at Venice Beach. Watch the background, you get to see old company logos ( TJ Hooker makes a speeding left turn through an intersection next to Safeway in many episodes) and businesses that don't exist anymore (1st Interstate bank I think was one). The settings and backgrounds are a nostalgic treat. I hadn't felt that nostalgic since playing Grand Theft Auto - Vice City.

5. TJ Hooker drinks and drives

Particularly in the early seasons Hooker would often frequent bars after work. Then he'd down a few drinks, mull over the case he's working on, flirt with a girl then DRIVE HOME. And we can also assume still carrying his gun too. If a major tv character did this today people would be up in arms I tell you. But again, because he's TJ Hooker we can assume as well that he is immune to the intoxicating effects of alcohol.

6. Worst Car Chase Cops In The Biz

Hooker and Romano are the worst cops to put in a car chase. 81% of the time they lose the bad guy due to traffic or wrecking their vehicle in a fiery explosion. Only if the villian crashes his own car in a fiery explosion do they get caught. Hooker has destroyed so many vehicles not to mention private property (like entire gas stations) that L.C. should be bankrupt from the liability claims on this guy. The general rule of TJ Hooker is this: if the car chase happens within the first half hour, it will end with the criminals getting away and Hooker punching the car while shouting "Damn!" Second half hour, somebody is gonna get caught.

7. The Shatner 2000

It's no secret that the Shat wears a rug. Or has plugs from what one co-worker once told me. In any case, the Shatner 2000 (so named from a classic Night Court episode) lives up to it's hype. A pure masterpiece of false follicles, there are times when I think the 2000 covers not just the top but the front side burns as well. Speaking as a bald man myself, that's impressive coverage.

8. Recycled guest stars and pilots for shows that never came to be

TJ Hooker made two attempts at spin offs that funnily enough did not feature any of the regular cast. The most noticeable one was Sharon Stone - yes, that Sharon Stone - as a tough female detective working the Hollywood beat. She's tough...but she's sympathetic too because she cares (awww...). Stone herself is pretty bland here, no hint of the ice pick wielding psycho she'd successfully portray a few years later. The second spin off attempt wasn't much better, it was a blatant Beverly Hills Cop rip off set in Chicago starring a guy working overtime trying to match Eddie Murphy's manic brilliance and coming up short. And trying to rip off the Pointer Sister's "Jump" as background muzak for a foot chase scene. Classy.

For other guest stars, there is the predictable Star Trek link with Leonard Nimoy making an appearance. Not to mention Ike Eisenmann from ST II ("he stayed at his post, when the trainees ran..."). And I suppose I can throw in Marcy Lafferty (ST:TMP) though that's cheating since she was married to Shatner at the time. I'd also use that to justify her playing two different characters on Hooker (one a murderous thief and the other a psychic) except they did that with actors who weren't married to Shat as well. Clarence Williams III was an armed robber twice and not the same character. Lynne Moody was a doctor one day and then a police clerk in Chicago the next. Most notable was James Darren who first played an illegal street racer before making series regular as Jim Corrigan.

9. TJ Hooker rides the hood of a car

This moment in tv history was so indelible that decades later it became a joke in a Robert DeNiro movie. So here it is, revel in the glory.

10. Danny can't hear!

TJ Hooker tried hard to be sensitive to people in need, but in typical Hooker / Shatner fashion that sensitivity is delivered loudly and clumsily - which is pretty awesome once you get used to it. Nowhere was this more evident than an episode where Hooker berates a gang member / crime suspect until he realizes the punk has a hearing problem. Hooker does a complete 180, trying to get the gang banger a better life and medical operations(!) because (Shatner dramatic pause) Danny can't hear! Hooker goes on and on about how this kid could have been a lawyer or doctor or whatever but because he can't hear (and the kid's brother is a junkie) the kid HAD to join the gangs to survive. Danny...he could have built a rocket ship to the moon, cured cancer, brought world peace but no, he had to join the gangs because...Danny can't hear!

And those are just ten reasons why TJ Hooker is so freakin awesome. But don't take my word for it. You can watch a brief version of one of my favorite TJ Hooker episodes below. And just to give a shout out to a website, www.tj-hooker.com provides tons of info on this beloved tv show.

Midnight Madness - Comic Con Edition

2011-07-24T20:24:00.001-07:00

It's On Like Comic Con - the latest nerd mecca is in full effect right now! Maybe someday I too will join the throng of sweaty geeks begging for an autograph from a supporting actor on a cancelled syndicated sci fi show. A man can dream, can't he?

Mr Mike "Likes" This - saw The Social Network on DVD and it was pretty good, an interesting tale of modern greed and cutthroat ruthless business acumen implemented behind probably the biggest online meeting place ever. It's directed by David Fincher so of course everything looks dark and smudgy. Fincher does a good job of keeping the story moving while the actors are convincing throughout - Jesse Eisneberg does a good job of adding an intellectual coldness and social awkwardness to his usual jabber jaw persona. So it's a good flick with a fascinating message - that the people who invented the website that connects so many folks to others don't know how to get along themselves. And that the main archetect of Facebook decided he needed money more than friends. If it wasn't for the very last part at the end I'd rate this as a near classic, as it is The Social Network gets:

Yet More Drama - decided to give Yes' 1980 album Drama aka the first one without Jon Anderson a spin in my car this week. Have thoroughly enjoyed going back to songs like "Machine Messiah", "Does It Really Happen" and "Tempus Fugit".

Fire! Fire! Fire! - heard the news that Beavis and Butthead are making a comeback. Huh huh, cool.

Out Of Touch - why is it whenever I am in line at the grocery store I see that Teresa person from the New Jersey Real Housewives show on the cover of In Touch magazine? It feels like she's been on the cover for months, I don't read the mag but like to read the headlines of the gossip rags while waiting to have my Pepsi and chips scanned. Does she have some kind of exclusive contract to be on the cover forever? And I remember one of those headlines saying something about she can't stand all the exposure she gets. Yeah, right.

But I'm An American! - have had fun watching National Geographic's Locked Up Abroad series. Real life stories of westerners who have travelled to foreign lands usually to deal drugs and get arrested. The re-enactments are well produced and potently mixed with the real person's voice over. Most of the stories go - person goes to foreign country, sees opportunity to get rich (usually off drugs / alcohol), makes money / feels invincible dealing, gets arrested and finds out third world prisons / justice systems are no joke. The blind arrogance of these people who likely wouldn't dream of committing similar crimes in their own countries is palpable.

Back To Black - this weekend the sad, seemingly inevitable close to the Amy Winehouse saga came to be with her passing. Despite her numerous personal issues in life I did enjoy her Back To Black album a lot. Seems fitting to close out with this track from Winehouse's last disc.

Midnight Madness - Money In The Bank edition

2011-07-17T00:28:00.000-07:00

Today's WWE Money In The Bank PPV is not going to be ordered by me (costs too much), although I'm pretty curious about what's going to happen. I watched this week's Raw and part of Smackdown tonight and saw some exciting stuff happen. Big Show vs Mark Henry is sporting some pretty big spots (smashed cages and tackles off the entrance stage), there are multiple ladder matches (as 'ol J.R. would say, look at the carnage!) and the CM Punk / John Cena feud is the most engaging one I've seen in the 21st Century (mainly due to Punk turning shoot (a parenthesis within a parenthesis, another level of the dream world (shoot is wrasslin lingo for going off script and speaking truthfully) here's the kick out of the second parenthesis) into a meta angle all to itself). It's a rare spike in WWE energy we're seeing here. Looks good.

Don't Talk To Strangers - Or police officers, Rick Springfield was recently charged with a DUI and not charged for allegedly threatening to kill the officer's family. It's hard to tell what's sadder, that the aging teen king is still (allegedly) wasted on drink or that a murderous threat from him is so feeble the police don't bother to do anything about it.

World Start Turning - For you Springfield fans, you may notice I used a RS song title here. Almost by accident I got into watching The Core, that disaster movie by numbers flick from 2003 starring The Next Karate Kid Hillary Swank. It was a surprisingly watchable Armageddon rip off. Being a Bay Area guy I did find the destruction of the Golden Gate Bridge segment a bit insensitive imitating the Loma Prieta earthquake. Between the San Francisco fictional disaster depicted in the movie and the film title, I found my mind wandering to Eric Clapton's "The Core" and "Mean Old Frisco". It's all Slowhand's fault. Damn you Clapton, you're supposed to change the world not end it!

J.Lo and Marc Anthony split up - I'm not a huge fan of either one nor dislike them either, have the impulse to write something sarcastic about this but I actually feel bad for them.

Harry Potter and the something something something dark side is in theaters - and since I've seen none of these movies, I'm glad the series is ending. No more billboards or tv commercials clogging up my eyesight. Since I haven't seen any of these flicks who knows, maybe I missed out on the story of a lifetime. But I doubt it.

How I Met Your Stoner - Kai Penn is lined up to be in the upcoming season of How I Met Your Mother. Will they go for the obvious "eating sandwiches" gag?

Owner Of A Lonely Heart part 20: This Time It's Personal - Yes has released a video for their new single "We Can Fly". Enjoyed the song, the vid clip had a vision that waaayyy exceeded it's budget. It was reminiscent of their famous "Owner Of A Lonely Heart" clip except with the look and feel of a made for Syfy movie like Megapython vs Gatoroid. Still this is better than no video.

Midnight Madness - Debt Ceiling Edition

2011-07-13T22:25:00.000-07:00

Uh oh, looks like the sky is falling and we're all screwed. Guess I better throw in a new post!

I Must Be Dreaming - I saw Inception and I've gotta say it lived up to the hype. It was intense,confusing yet I couldn't stop watching it. Makes me wonder what writer / director Christopher Nolan is like, all his movies have to do with a search for identity while grappling with a skewed perception of reality. Bet he's great at parties,all brooding in a corner playing with memories that may or may not be his. I was expecting this sort of wanna be The Matrix and there were definite similarities, but Inception had enough of it's own identity (ha ha) to live the dream.

The Reflex - I liked Duran Duran's lead single "All You Need Is Now" it's just too bad I can't say the same for the whole disc. The sound is nicely polished and there are parts of bass lines and keyboards that call back classic Duran, just taken as a whole it's kinda eh.

Portions For Foxes - Years after they fell off the face of the earth Rilo Kiley has broken up.

Nobody Messes With Niko Belic - working on my Niko imitation after playing a bit of GTA 4. Which of course sounds like a bad imitation of Borat. "I steal car now, you like?"

Don't Look Down!- I've gone back to listening to my favorite Lindsey Buckingham album Out Of The Cradle and finds it's still plenty awesome.

Swan Dive - Seems like someone's working overtime to make sure we know there's a new movie called Friends With Benefits coming starring Mila Kunis and Justin Timberlake. It wasn't that long ago we were inundated with commercials for a movie with Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman in what sounds like the same plot - two friends try to have a sexual relationship without romantic feelings. It's like they're going to keep making the same movie with different people over and over until we give in and watch the damn thing. Which is an even bigger waste of time when you realize we can see Kunis and Kutcher get together for free five times a day in That 70s Show reruns.

Full Speed Ahead Captain - I lost interest in Thor after it came out (maybe because it doesn't look like the Thor I know, where were the red wrist sweat bands for example?) though Captain America looks promising.

By George, I think he's got it - this commercial for Bacardi throws me each time I see it 'cause it sounds like someone copied George Clooney's speech mannerisms. It's like one of those things I never thought of, Clooney has a specific style of speaking, until I heard it in this context. I am aware of his whole "I'm staring at you when I talk" thing that I find annoying, it's like "C'mon guy at least blink or something instead of delivering dialog as if you're in a staring contest with a dog". Not to say he isn't a good actor or anything (place Batman & Robin cheapshot here) I'm just amazed someone copied the way he talks.

Proof That Chris Cornell Likes The 4th Of July

2011-07-04T15:41:00.000-07:00

I've come to the conclusion that Chris Cornell likes the 4th Of July for the following reasons:

1) Soundgarden has a song called "4th Of July"
2) There are a lot of fireworks in the Audioslave video "Cochise"

I rest my case.

Happy 4th of July!

Rolling Away

2011-07-01T23:59:00.000-07:00

Rating:

Man, I was bummed that Raphael Saadiq's new opus wasn't better than it was. I've been looking forward to this album for a good month or two before it came out. The song "Good Man" is easily my favorite song so far this year, a brilliant combo of retro soul with a hint of modern day hip hop. And the song "Stone Rollin"? Awesome blues groove that any artist would love to lay claim to. Saadiq definitely has good taste, his ability to channel classic R&B passion with sturdy songwriting and present day spirit can generate strong results like 2008's The Way I See It. So it's a shame that beyond the two songs I love the rest of the material on Stone Rollin comes across as impressive yet hollow sonic experiments. Particularly "Go To Hell", "Daydream" and "Over You", those songs are just plain forgettable. The rest goes down easy and have catchy bits but still pass by inconsequentially.

Play With Me

2011-06-30T22:58:00.000-07:00

Rating:

Watched Toy Story 3 last week, I liked it a lot. So many things were great, the animation, the story, the voice acting, blah blah blah. Even though I enjoyed it a lot, can't work myself up to say a lot about it. If you liked the first one, this is a must see. I'd say first two, but I've never seen Toy Story 2.

The Dream Is Still Alive!

2011-06-29T23:12:00.000-07:00

Dream Theater has released their first song without founding drummer Mike Portnoy. I was hoping with Portnoy gone they would lay off some of the nu metal edge they've had lately and if this songs an indicator, they have a little bit. While I wish "On The Backs Of Angels" would have had a stronger melody, it's still plenty good with a nice dose of proggy splash.

Rush Says It's Time

2011-06-27T21:10:00.000-07:00

Rating:

They say the third time's the charm - last night I successfully sat through an entire Rush concert. The other two times I saw the band were marred by alcohol and bad luck, so I didn't see (or remember seeing) a full show from the long running Canadian power trio. I wasn't interested in seeing them this tour because I figured something would happen and I'd miss a big part of the show but my wife insisted I should go. She was right. Thank you honey :)

So for the third time we made our way out to the Concord Pavilion (I know it's called Sleep Train Pavilion but it'll always be Concord Pavilion to me). The weather was warm, pleasant. We got good VIP parking. The pre concert music over the PA was a dream mix of classic prog - King Crimson, U.K., Genesis, etc. Had some time to people watch, and some of the crowd's antics bled over into the actual concert (more explanation in a moment).

This show was said to be sold out and judging the crowd size during the show I'd say that's about right. The mix of people there I would probably best describe as what you would see at a big city park. You've got your families with small children there for a group outing, couples there for a night out, homeless looking folk with unkempt appearances and stoners puffing the hell out of their hash pipes. When night fell some took to hiding in the bushes and trees to do whatever, probably more drugs. A fight almost broke out in my seating section because this young wanna be tough guy kid and his girl insisted on standing when everyone else was sitting and shouting at them to stop blocking their view. If he didn't look like a skinny teen kid in over his head trying to look badass in front of his loudmouth girl, he probably would have got beat down.

It was still daylight when Rush hit the stage, it was kinda cool how they nonchalantly walked out there once the opening comedy video ended. The videos showed the band's fake history in a comic light and were pretty amusing. At the end of the first video was the opening to "The Spirit Of Radio" which the full band then started live. The set list went:

The Spirit Of Radio / Time Stand Still / Presto / Stick It Out / Workin Them Angels / Leave That Thing Alone / Faithless / BU2B / Freewill / Marathon / Subdivisions
intermission
Tom Sawyer / Red Barchetta / YYZ / Limelight / The Camera Eye / Witch Hunt / Vital Signs / Caravan / Drum Solo / Closer To The Heart / 2112 / Far Cry
encore
La Villa Strangiato / Working Man

Rush opening with "The Spirit Of Radio"? Can't go wrong. One of their biggest hits, blam! In yo face. To say the band sounded tight goes without saying, when doesn't Rush sound tight? The only negative point I can make is it's the end of the tour and G goes well with the whole time machine theme. "Presto" was eddy Lee's voice sounds like it. He had to really push his voice to try to hit notes and at times would lose enunciation as a result. But hey, these guys aren't exactly young and he has been on the road for a year so I cut him some slack.

I purposely didn't look up the set list before going so things would be a nice surprise. So I enjoyed the trio serving up 1987's "Time Stand Still" from the Hold Your Fire album. Kindaa real left turn, I hadn't heard that one since I first got the Cd. It was around here the fight almost broke out in my seating section. "Stick It Out" continued the song's timeline progression from 1987 up thru the 90s culminating in 2007's "Workin Them Angels". While the band sounded fine the drama of the potential fight mixed with some pot heads lighting up next to me made it difficult to focus on the music.

"Leave That Thing Alone" allowed the band to push forward some of their instrumental magic, ending with Geddy Lee tearing it up on his bass. Even though I like "Faithless", I started to feel that the Snakes And Arrows album was getting a bit over represented. Oh well, it was one of my favorite tracks off that disc so I lived with it.

The band then previewed one of two tracks for their in progress new disc, the song was called "BU2B". It reminded me a bit of the Snakes And Arrows approach slightly more developed and even more guitar heavy. So like that album I'd have to hear the song a few times to get how it really hits me, as it was I thought it was just OK. I was impressed that the band would included unreleased material in their main set, it's been ages since I've seen anyone do that. That was cool.

With the lack of big hits being played the audience was respectfully appreciative until they kicked into "Freewill". Maybe they were pumped by the crowd response or just hitting their groove, but 1985's "Marathon" became positively transcendent. The lyric "Like a streak of lightning that flashes and fades in the summer sky" as the sun began to set on the outdoor venue made for a perfect concert moment. A planned mid song explosion gave the crowd a jolt. Then Rush closed out the first half of the show with "Subdivisions". 'nuff said.

During intermission I entertained myself reading the text message board underneath the upcoming concert announcements. My favorite text from the evening? Somebody sent in a Rick Roll "Never gunna give you up Never gunna let you down". Too funny.

A lot has been made of Rush performing the entire Moving Pictures album this tour which is fine by me, it's my favorite Rush album (even though I haven't owned it since the mid 80s). Once they began the second half with "Tom Sawyer" I knew what I was in for. It's "Tom Sawyer", let the air drumming begin! Even though it's largely regarded as a Neal Peart showcase, I really enjoyed how Alex Lifeson switched up some of the guitar solo a little. Not a lot, but just enough to make it stand out as different from the record. And Lee had intermission to rest his voice so he was able to push his vocal a little harder on the band's definitive song.

True to album sequence "Red Barchetta" roared up next. Followed by that beast of an instrumental, "YYZ". I freakin LOVE "YYZ". Always have. So to say I marked out to this jam is an understatement. It was just too bad I had to rely on the video camera coverage to see what drummer Neal Peart was doing. His drum kit is so tall that the only thing visible to the naked eye was his left arm hitting the snare drum or when he tagged the cymbals up top. Still, things couldn't get much more perfect with Geddy Lee hopping all over the stage playing off Lifeson and Peart. Oh yeah, "Limelight" was next so I guess it could get more perfect.

Now I haven't owned Moving Pictures since about 25 years ago. That's how long it's been since I've heard anything from side 2 of that esteemed album (except for when I wrote a brief review of Moving Pictures a few years back, I played snippets of the songs online to job my memory). Although I remembered some of the keyboards on "The Camera Eye" I had forgotten how awesome a piece of music it is. A long form prog piece, "The Camera Eye" was damn good. "Witch Hunt" pleased the hardcore fans, as the voices that sang along with the band got noticeably less but clearer here. And "Vital Signs". Totally forgot that one. Maybe because the band knew they were playing lesser known material at this point in the show, the lighting mechanism lowered down over the band and moved it's mechanized arms up and down like an electric octopus.

With the sold out crowd in rapt attention following the Moving Pictures part, Rush threw out their second unreleased song "Caravan". It was slightly better than "BU2B", the song was a touch more memorable and the instrumental break killed. Neal Peart's drum solo was up next. It was epic. Peart is one of the best rock drummers of all time, his solo started on his massive regular drum kit before it rotated to a smaller kit. It finished with a big band part displaying Peart in his element.

Had to take a whizz and missed most of "Closer To The Heart". "2112" got fans fists pumping as Rush continued to dig into their 70s catalog. The band announced this would be the last song before returning to the Snakes And Arrows era for "Far Cry".

We left during "Far Cry" to dodge the traffic so I didn't see "La Villa Strangiato" and "Working Man". Fortunately, "Working Man" is one of the songs I recall from the first two concerts so I can say I've seen it.

I'm happy to say I've seen Rush in concert now without feeling like it needs an asterisk next to it. Saw it from start to finish. Their performance was near perfection. And all of Moving Pictures? Can't put that down. Sure I can quibble on Geddy Lee's vocal more or on having too many songs from Snakes and Arrows (3) but when all is said and done, I loved it.

Buggin!

2011-06-25T07:47:00.000-07:00

Old catchphrases get revived all the time so I'm putting my vote in for Buggin'. As in "Why you buggin'?" I just always liked that phrase.

Knight And Day You're Not The One

2011-06-22T22:51:00.001-07:00

Rating:

On How I Met Your Mother there is an episode where a character has her past work ridiculed by co-workers at her current job. Her friend advises her to "steer into the storm", in other words be the first to make jokes at her own expense. It's this type of thinking that I believe is behind Tom Cruise's decision to star in the fluffy Knight And Day movie. Everyone say's you're crazy? Play a character that other characters consider to be nuts.

The trailer promised lightweight spy comedy fun with Tom Cruise playing a nutso government agent gone rogue and Cameron Diaz as the girl next door caught up in the danger. All cast and crew do their best to give life to this run of the mill action rom com, they just fall short. The air of predictability strangles Knight And Day in a vise grip of mediocrity. Winning performances by the two leads isn't enough to keep the momentum going no matter how likeable they are.

Meaning it's no better or worse than the Mel Gibson / Goldie Hawn action rom com Bird On A Wire from years past. If you watch the intriguing trailer and compare it to the finished film, the difference between the two becomes as obvious as...wait for it...night and day!

A Witchy Woman Ages Gracefully...

2011-06-20T20:37:00.000-07:00

Rating:

Stevie Nicks...likes...ellipses...so it seems fitting to write this review in her style, little one. The original witchy woman (who is not the subject of the Eagle's hit) has released her first solo album in a decade. And it soars on the wing of a white winged dove(which means it's good). The stars aligned to unleash her best written work since '83's Wild Heart record. And it gives...a portrait of...a woman aging gracefully...sitting in the corner of a crowded room...like a shadow of a shadow...like a dream...or a Jane Seymour movie... Like the album title In Your Dreams suggests, Nicks lays on the mystique thick invoking exotic locations and the dead (even undead). Dave Stewart's gauzy production enhances the dark mysterious mood while keeping a spotlight on Nicks' fortune teller presence. In fact, if Nicks wasn't so authentic (and wealthy) I'd say "Wide Saragasso Sea","New Orleans", "Moonlight (A Vampire's Dream) and "Italian Summer" were inspired by surfing basic cable tv. But this is Stevie's world baby, so we stay with her awhile. Part of the fun of a Nicks album is deciphering what she's talking about. In Your Dreams is the most romance novelish thing she's done yet, with themes of passion and hope amid a shifting sea of mortality and maturity. Sort of Anne Rice minus the goth. Which works well...in concept and execution...And so...the story goes...

Midnight Madness - Clarence Clemons Edition

2011-06-15T23:45:00.000-07:00

Sad to read about Clarence Clemons having a stroke over the weekend. I certainly hope the best for his recovery. He always comes across as a pleasant guy and I think anyone who cares to know is already aware of his many musical contributions. Update: Clarence Clemons passed away today Saturday June 18. RIP Big Man. Thanks for the memories.

Tears Are Falling - in less critical bummer news, looks like Shannon Tweed and Gene Simmons are gonna break up on his reality show Gene Simmons Family Jewels. Even though I thought a decent portion of the show seemed scripted in recent years, I thought they did a good job of appearing genuinely affectionate of each other. Guess not.

Yes They Can - as hypocritical as it is, I can't say I was terribly psyched when Yes replaced singer / lyricist Jon Anderson. Which is funny considering how many bands I still follow from the 80s that have changed singers more often than underwear. So I was only mildly interested in their upcoming CD Fly From Here until I saw Trevor Horn was producing. Making this a roundabout (wink, wink) way of following up 1980's Drama album. Damn you Yes, you got me psyched again!

How Super is Super 8? - the flick has good buzz and nice advertising which has me thinking it might be pretty good yet not wanting to run out and see it immediately. Or am I just resistant to the invocation that this might be classic Spielberg by proxy? 'Cause I find it hard to believe anything can be that good.

Stone Cold - it's sad and aggravating people were prepared to rob and kill singer Joss Stone. I assume she was targeted for being rich only, I don't remember anything controversial about her that would piss people off to the point they'd want her dead. That's some cold blooded stuff.

Attack Of The Reruns - in rerun season, relying on new eps of Tosh.0 and The Avengers for tv viewing survival.

It Was A Good Day - Between playing Grand Theft Auto IV and hearing Music Choice on occasion I've heard this Isley Brothers song a lot. "Footsteps In The Dark". It's really grown on me.

Journey Makes Believers Out Of All Of Us

2011-06-10T21:50:00.000-07:00

"Don't Stop Believin" has had an interesting life, in the 80s it was an dominating rock anthem that many a Class Of '81 graduated to. But in the grungy alt rock 90s the song disappeared from view. The rock critic elite that had trashed Journey throughout their career was all too happy to see them go, until a sign of life flickered in 1998 thanks to an incredible string version used for the film The Wedding Singer. Since the turn of the century "Believin" has returned to its former glory, referenced by sports teams, movies and television series alike. It's become the theme song to a nostalgic view of modern optimism, maybe made more complex by chance than design but still there it is. And everyone wants a piece of it, in the last decade or so "Don't Stop Believin" has become a standard like "Strangers In The Night" or "If I Had A Hammer". So I spent tonight subjecting myself to a variety of cover versions so I can take a look at the song past Journey or Steve Perry.

There are a couple of basic ways to cover this song, I'll start with the best known one.

The Musical Take

What if all those streetlight people that were holding on to that feeling were to sing in unison while performing complex choreography? That question seems to weigh heavily on people's minds because two of the most popular cover versions of "Don't Stop Believin" is exactly that. The tv show Glee has the best known cover, going all High School Musical with zippy production and emphasis on a capella to accent the groove. It's not bad for what it is, I'm indifferent to it myself other than it brings recognition of the song to the young generation which is nice. The Broadway play Rock Of Ages uses the song as well for the big finish to their show. In both Glee and Rock Of Ages the tune is used as a sweeping gesture to bring a bunch of characters together to allow their moment to shine. While the musical take draws a lot of the rock muscle out of "Don't Stop Believin" I guess it isn't too different than hearing 25,000 fans in an arena screaming along with three or four beers in them. The Glee cover has caught on like wildfire with similar versions coming out from as unlikely places as Big Brother. Though when you get to the point where one or two people are making covers of the Glee cover, that goes a little too far. By the time you get to Alvin and the Chipmunks (who are autotuned to death, who thought of autotuning what is already understood to be a studio manipulated vocal?) it's game over.

The Full On Cover

Who dares to challenge the greatness of Steve Perry? Other than everybody with two turntables and a microphone? Can anyone sing this song better than the originator, he who gives life to magic, Steve Perry?? Don't give me no back talk, no. But a lot of people try and some do really well, even those that aren't officially sanctioned by Neal Schon and Jon Cain to do so under the Journey name. He who was nearly Steve Perry's replacement in Journey Kevin Chalfant does a good job of getting some Perry Power into his version. Tribute band singer Hugo has made a lifetime career out of being Steve Perry so ditto him as well. Plus the tribute band Evolution has this guy who even mimics the dress and mannerisms of Sir Perry. Where it gets interesting is Starship's Mickey Thomas covered it too, I always enjoy Thomas' vocals and got a kick out of his version. Wish I could say the same about American Idol's James Durbin tackling the arena rock classic, I enjoyed his performances generally but on tv he was to distracted by playing to the crowd to nail his vocal. Fans of Durbin must have felt the same as he was voted off the next night. Eric Dover (of Slash's Snakepit) had an OK take with his voice but the backing track seemed thin. His You Tube posting said he would go after anyone who makes a bad comment about his cover, it will be interesting to see if that's true. Fall Out Boy took a shot at it live, too bad the singer's voice failed him on the really high end. When it comes to the full on cover, the version with the most impact is Steel Panther's. A great balance of energy and knowing cheese, a mix they often do well.

String A Long

The Wedding Singer made the string arrangement of "Don't Stop Believin" a dream for people's nuptuals, except that version can't seem to be found anywhere. But there are string versions out there. Vitamin String Quartet had my favorite of the versions out there because it came closest to Wedding Singer with the slowed down tempo. Low Strung does a nice rendition too with a pace that's closer to the original. Still, it's that Wedding Singer version that everyone remembers fondly including me.

Dancing Machine

If Dance Dance Revolution taught me one thing, it's that I really can't dance. Other than that, DDR taught me that any song can be remade into a bleepin' and bloopin' electronica jam. The best of the dance covers was by some guy named Newton. It at least had a eurodisco feel to it. There were a few other versions I listened to but I'm not a big electronica fan so it all starts to sound the same after a bit.

Alt Rocka

We're getting into more painful territory as we get to Alternative Rock covers. Journey's slick arrangements and Perry-ized vocal style doesn't translate too well to the angsty mild punk pop of today. The best of what I could dig up was by somebody named Five Hour Flight Music, it was at least clean and entertaining. Another group called Flight 409 (what is it with alternative rock and flights?) has a singer that works in that current style what is it called - emo? I think he sounds emo. Doesn't work well for this song. I give them credit though for retaining the lurching drums. The biggest laugh I got out of this You Tube cruise is what's labeled a screamo cover. Funny stuff.

Odds & Ends

You'd think that would be all the covers right there...but wait! There's more! A group or person named Boyce Avenue has a pleasant piano ballad version that's pretty decent. There are also bluegrass and lullaby renditions that have a novelty to them. But my favorite of all the "Don't Stop Believin" covers is the a capella one done by Petra Haden. I guess her version influenced Glee's which takes some of the edge off, I remember when I first heard it how impressed I was with it's inventiveness. It's fantastic.

Which brings us full circle. There are tons more covers out there, I just don't have time to go through them all. The movie never ends, it goes on and on and on and on.

Dream After Dream

2011-06-08T21:12:00.000-07:00

Rating:

Journey's new disc Eclipse is out and I got it this week, and I have found it their most addictive release since - wait for it - Frontiers. It is that good. I've played it four times over in the last 48 hours. But it is also gonna be a tough sell to a mass audience. I don't think many of the fans they won over with Revelation is going to like Eclipse. It's not a very romantic album. Not a lot of heartache and heart break here, which is what a lot of people like about Journey's music.

When it comes to Journey, people expect power ballads ("Open Arms", "Faithfully")and self empowerment anthems("Be Good To Yourself", "Don't Stop Believin"). On Eclipse Journey ditches the former and goes all in on the latter. Every song on the album depicts struggle against the odds and fighting to get to the top because as they are sure to tell you "Anything Is Possible" when you "Resonate" at the "Edge Of A Moment" in the "City Of Hope".

To be honest, I was really ready to not like Eclipse before I even heard it. I had read online about the uncommercial tact of the new album and when they had done this type of thing before on Red 13 or Generations the results kinda sucked. When I hit play on my Ipod for this sucker, I braced myself for a lot of non melodic jams with excessive guitar soloing.

So I was shocked, shocked I tell you, that the melodies are killer on Eclipse (like the dramatic "Chains Of Love" where the building chorus is awesome). And while there is a ton of guitar on this disc, I didn't find the solos excessive. Plus drummer Deen Castronovo gets a chance to really shine here, playing with both weight and dexterity. Arnel Pineda has settled into the frontman role nicely and sounds at home here. There is a very real prog rock edge to Eclipse with moments that deftly recall the Next / Infinity days ("Venus" and "Human Feel") combined with some slick choruses a la "La Raza Del Sol".

While Schon's unmistakable guitar and Cain's hooky choruses stamp the music as Journey, I was thinking about how much I like the album but not in the usual Journey way. Then as Arnel Pineda got near operatic singing over Jon Cain's classical sounding piano during "Tantra" it hit me: Holy Crap, Journey made a Dream Theater album. A really freakin' good Dream Theater album, I'm talking Images And Words era DT. Producer Kevin Shirley once produced a Dream Theater album so he definitely knows the territory. And it explains why Castronovo's drums has so much presence, he's got Mike Portnoy room to work with in the songs.

Some people might think I'm putting down Journey for sounding like DT but I'm really not. Regardless of whether the homage is accidental or intentional, this music goes to the heart of the type of music I love - 80s AOR with proggy overtones. It's not for everybody, I remember in high school being the only guy owning Toto's Isolation album let alone liking it, but this sound is definitely for me. I won't be surprised if Journey ditches this musical style by the next album, so I plan to enjoy it while it lasts.

"There Is No Journey Without Steve Perry..." (1998 - Present )

2011-06-07T19:40:00.000-07:00

...Is the mantra of many a Journey fan since The Voice's dismissal in 1998. And who could blame those fans, in my entirely biased opinion Steve Perry is simply the greatest singer who ever lived in the history of the planet. And many fans like me became Journey fanatics thanks to his soulful, soaring vocals. However, I differ from some Perry fanatics in that when it comes to Journey I wasn't just a fan of Perry, but the whole band. Jon Cain's structured songwriting and cascading keyboards, Neal Schon's revved up guitar riffs and flamethrower solos, Steve Smith's understated and classy drumwork and Ross Valory's rock solid bass were other pieces of the Journey puzzle. Sure, Perry was a BIG PART of the successful phase of Journey's career but for me he wasn't all of it. And after Perry had solo success and the clout to stop Journey from rockin' anymore, I really saw Perry and Journey as two different entities from that point forward. Perry seems to want to do ballad after ballad after ballad and that's fine, he's great at it, but the Journey I became a fan of was a ROCK band. So I wasn't totally sad when Jon Cain and Neal Schon decided their wheel in the sky needed to turn a little longer with a brand new singer (even if it was kinda cold to kick a guy out because of a physical injury. It's not like they're a football team. But I bet Ross Valory was like "Yes! I'm not the one getting canned this time!")

Armaggedon Soundtrack (1998)

On the same movie soundtrack that Steven Tyler didn't want to close his eyes or fall asleep, Journey debuted a track ("Remember Me") with ex-Tall Stories singer Steve Augeri. How did I know it was Steve Augeri? The CD jacket told me so. I eagerly bought this disc just to see how Journey was going to sound and I was impressed with the cut. Augeri did sound a lot like Steve Perry except with more of a rock edge than r&b. Even though Deen Castronovo's heavy drums made them sound more like Bad English, I was happy that my favorite band was back and they were gonna rock again. I caught Journey in '99 on the Vacation's Over tour and when Steve Augeri took the mic at the start of "Separate Ways" I thought "Damn this guy is nailing it!". While Augeri didn't have as much energy as Perry did in his hey day, Steve mach 2 had plenty of cool moves and knew how to work the crowd well. By the end of the show I was sold that Augeri was a good pick.

Arrival (Japanese version 2000)

Journey hit the studio with producer Kevin "Caveman" Shirley, a guy who would come to produce a lot of their stuff from this point forward. I was plenty psyched to hear this new album, so much that my wife was nice enough to order it for me as an import. And so I heard the new disc and in the words of ex-member Randy Jackson, "They slayed it dawg." Though I was surprised that it didn't rock quite as much as I thought it would, there were still more rock tracks here than the prior two albums combined. "To Be Alive Again" and "Higher Place" blew me away, as well as the quiet piano ballad "Loved By You". Ditto the swaggering "I Got A Reason". Neal Schon had room to get all bluesy on "Livin To Do". And even the soft rock cut "I'm Not That Way" stood out. The only song I didn't like was "All The Things" because it was just too hard rock in this context. And I was lukewarm on the lead single "All The Way" because it seemed like a rewrite of "When You Love A Woman". But in one of the biggest bonehead marketing moves of the new century, they released Arrival to other countries ahead of America. In the age of Napster. D'oh!

Arrival (American version 2001)

With many fans downloading the album without the alternative of buying the CD domestically, Journey had to go back to the drawing board for the American release. I'm glad they did 'cause Schon used it as an excuse to punch up the Rock, adding new tracks "World Gone Wild" and "Nothing Comes Close" changing the character of the disc. My only complaint was the switch to a fade out at the end of "To Be Alive Again", I like that song better on the Japanese version. Saw them live again this tour and they were still going strong.

Red 13 (2002)

For their next release Journey went the EP route with the oddly titled Red 13. Which makes me think of Tom Cruise in A Few Good Men "Did you order the Red 13!!!" (I know, it was code red in the movie). Journey or probably Neal Schon wanted to get less commercial so the songs here aren't very catchy. Despite some good moments I didn't care for this disc. It just kinda bored me.

Generations (2005)

Two Captains. One Destiny. Wait, that's Star Trek. On Generations rumors abounded that Steve Augeri's voice was starting to burn out on Perry-esque high notes. The resulting album, Generations, fanned those flames by having a disc where every member sings lead at least once. This gave the album a multiple personality disorder with weird shifts in tone. It was also one of the laziest written things they had done. "Faith In The Heartland" sounded like u2's "Where The Streets Have No Name". "Knowing That You Loved Me" reminded me of a Boys II Men song. Schon sung "In Self Defense" was a retread from his '83 album with Jan Hammer. And the ZZ Toppish "Gone Crazy" with Ross Valory singing seemed like they had gone just that. Surprisingly, drummer Deen Castronovo came off good by sounding more like Steve Perry than Augeri ever did on the midtempo "A Better Life" (my favorite from this album) and rocked out "Never Too Late". By the time they hit the road more rumors spread about Augeri claiming he was doing an Ashlee Simpson miming to prerecorded vocals in concert. A surprise appearance by Steve Perry at the Hollywood Walk Of Fame induction ceremony led to a rash of "Is Perry back in?" theories. Eventually Augeri left to have throat surgery and was replaced by Jeff Scott Soto who had a good response from the fan base. Went to their concert where they were opening for Def Leppard on this tour. I thought Soto was OK but not great (though that W.E.T. album recorded later on was awesome) and had a stage presence that reminded me of Leroy from Fame (lots of hip shaking and exaggerated dance moves). The internet fan base seemed deflated when Soto was let go with the band stating they wanted a singer that sounded-how did they put it? Heritage? Legacy? I think it was Legacy. Anyway, it was code for someone who sounded more like Steve Perry.

Revelation (2008)

Journey surprised everyone (including the person they picked) when they revealed their latest lead singer selection was Arnel Pineda of the Phillipines. Pineda injected some much needed soul into the vocals making the band sound more like they did with Perry. They signed a big deal with Wal Mart and with Kevin Shirley back at the board recorded their best effort since Arrival. And it was here where the "There is no Journey without Steve Perry" mantra got really really LOUD. Like a small scale President Obama, Pineda was warmly received by many while a significant number of people questioned whether he should have any right to do the job at all. Until the release of Revelation I took a wait-and-see approach to Pineda, I wasn't sure if he was a great vocalist or great mimic (I posted this a few years back and got the most negative comments out of any post I ever did.) Revelation was a strong disc that convinced me Pineda's vocals could stand on their own merit and in a live setting he's pretty damn amazing. Running all over, leaping to prime DLR heights and unleashing wailing high note after high note with perfect accuracy, Pineda is a beast in concert. Seeing the band live with Pineda was fantastic. His minor short comings were shown on the Revelation companion disc of re-recorded greatest hits. Pineda sounded stiff (the opposite of how he sounds on the album of original material) in this setting and it didn't help that creatively there was no point to doing new versions. Nonetheless, Revelation was Journey's most successful album since 1996's Trial By Fire. They also got an Adult Contemporary hit with "After All These Years".

That brings us to the present. Journey's got a new album out called Eclipse. Just like the name of my favorite breath mints. Just got it this week, so I've decided to make the rest of this week Journey week on the blog. Though they piss off some fans, I'm glad Journey has decided to...corn ball drum roll please...don't stop believin'!

Catching A Big One

2011-06-05T22:17:00.000-07:00

Rating:

Saw a DVD of the documentary movie Catfish the other day, this movie has had a lot of buzz about it for a while. The movie documents how this photographer in New York starts a friendship with a girl from I think Michigan who likes to make paintings of his pictures. Through the girl the photographer befriends the girl's mother and eventually a romantic relationship with the girl's older sister. The relationship builds not through personal contact but via modern communication media of Facebook, text messaging and cell phones.

Eventually, the photographer becomes motivated to meet these people face to face. And then things get real interesting...

I watched this movie over the span of two days when I had time, I found it highly addictive. While no where near as ominously Blair Witch Project as the trailer suggests, in fact it can be argued this flick makes a mountain out of a molehill, Catfish is a fascinating parable about being a little wary of another person's online identity. It delves into one of those things that everyone goes "Oh yeah, I know about that" until it actually happens to them.

Catfish isn't earthshaking or amazing, it does raise an interesting topic about if there is a difference to people in general about trust. Does the amount of trust another person deserves depend on how you are communicating with them? For example, I don't feel the need to share every detail of my life on this blog just the parts I want to share. Is omission lying? Is it lying if nobody even reads this? It's not like I'm claiming to be an astronaut or anything. Would I feel more compelled to be honest and open about my life in face to face communication versus this, or the opposite? Or does it depend on my perception of honesty from the other person online, in person or otherwise? It's this grey area that struck me about the movie as interesting,even though that isn't exactly the question being raised(though it's close)

So yeah, Catfish is a pretty good documentary that certainly hooked me once I saw it.

Double Shot Time

2011-06-01T23:01:00.000-07:00

Time for a double shot of two recent songs made by bands I loved in the 80s.

First up, Whitesnake. I saw them live for the first time a few years back and it was awesome. And just in time, shortly afterwards David Coverdale had to cancel the tour to take care of his voice. Now the lead snake has slithered back to hear the wolf howl on "Love Will Set You Free" from the album Forevermore.

Next, Nor Cal rockers Night Ranger ditch their wanna be alt rock / nu metal ways of their last disc to go back to their Midnight Madness sound. Plus, they've managed to snag a guitarist and keyboardist who play and sorta look like the missing original members(though what I've heard of guitarist Joel Hoekstra's playing is good enough to stand on its own). The result is an effective time travel back to '84 on "Growin Up In California" taken from the upcoming album Somewhere In California.

Mr Mike's High School Record Collection: Corey Hart - Boy In The Box (1985)

2011-05-29T22:49:00.000-07:00

The 80s are known for the two Corey's...but there was a third. He's forgotten now, yet there was a time when a young man revealed he wore sunglasses at night and a nation followed his every word.

When Corey Hart had his monster hit "Sunglasses At Night" it fit in perfectly with early MTV - he had the clean looks girls liked, he was creating a superficial trend and there were enough synths to blend in with New Wave. In '84 I saw him as the opening act for Hall & Oates where he revealed himself to be an energetic pop rocker with a handful of decent material (the ballad "It Ain't Enough" was good and I think there was some song about the radio). But hey, I'd be lying if I said I thought this kid had a future past that. He was going to be a one hit wonder, his fate seemed inescapable.

Just don't tell that to Corey Hart. He cheated fate. Hart spiked up his hair, flipped up his shirt collar and moved into an exclusive club: the two hit wonder.

1. Boy In The Box

"Boy In The Box" is a distinctly 80s sounding song that I didn't really understand. I took it to be like he was comparing the intro of his second album to the spring action of a jack in the box. Like he's the jack in the box who's jumped out to entertain us. Except he's not a toy, he's flesh and blood! Corey wants us to know even though he's an entertainer, he's a person with feelings too. Facing fame and the pressures of stardom with the innocence of a boy, and the world of pop music is the box trapping him. Dance boy, dance!

2. Komrade Kiev

How funny that we can look back at the Cold War as a simpler time. We knew who our enemies were, they were geographical nation states that were easy to define. Russians, the USSR, Communism, we were raised to believe these were the ultimate evils of the universe. Still a bold man, we'll call him Corey Hart,questioned that kind of blind allegiance. Or at least that's how I took Komrade Kiev, where Corey goes on about the similarities between him and Russian folk until the chorus orders him to "Shoot Komrade Kiev!" Funny enough, the hooky chorus to this song is probably the catchiest thing I've heard from Hart, this phrase often pops in my mind when I see 80s movies where Russia is the bad guy. Like that Arnold Schwartzenegger movie Red Heat.

3. Never Surrender

And it was here where Corey Hart landed his second major pop hit. This St Elmos Fire sax blaring anthem to self reliance. Even though it was played everywhere, I didn't feel like this was that great a song. Maybe it was the watery keyboards in the intro and aforementioned sax that stood out? Or that line "And when the night is cold and dark / you can see, you can see light"? Maybe it was the dramatic music video that made Hart seem like the star of a lost John Hughes movie? Watching this clip again, I didn't notice how much Hart looks like a young David Dacovneney - I don't know how to spell the guy's name, you know that actor that was in the X Files and went to rehab for sex addiction? He looks like that guy. Or to be more period accurate, a dark haired Emilio Estevez. Those two guys look nothing alike,I don't know why I'm elaborating on this point anymore. Anyway, "Never Surrender" was a smash hit and I started to like it once I had the record. Never Surrender! (see fist pumped into the air).

4. Sunny Place - Shady People

You ever notice how when someone has a hit song on their next album they sing a lot of songs about trust issues? Or business deals? Or L.A.? "Sunny Place - Shady People" seems like the obligatory song for that. I'll also use this to throw in my Hart To Hart reference. Stephanie Powers, I wonder what ever happened to her? She was a pretty woman with an awesome acting name.

5. Eurasian Eyes

Throw lack of privacy in that stack too. Actually, "Eurasian Eyes" struck me as a moody ballad that had the word "Eurasian" thrown in to make it seem more interesting than it was. These your-eyes-haunt-my-soul sort of songs were commonplace back in the day. Still does a good job of reinforcing his image as a tortured romantic. Eurasian eyes stop staring at my spiky hair, can't you see that I'm never surrendering!

6. Everything In My Heart

It was "Everything In My Heart" that motivated me to buy this record way back in '85. A pretty simple love song yet so effective, I remember liking the percussion and on this track. Had that type of snare drum sound that went "Boom!" Also enjoyed the earnest vocal of Mr. Hart as well. There used to be this tv program on a local independent tv station called California Music Channel where this dorky guy would play music videos for half an hour. We didn't have cable tv, so CMC was a key to my getting a daily music video fix and it came on after I got home from school. It was on this station I got into songs like A-ha's "Take On Me" or Simple Minds "Sanctify Yourself". When I snapped up this disc from the $2 rack a little over a week ago, I looked forward to this cut the most. It's still good stuff.

7. Silent Talking

Not to be confused with the Yes song of the same name. I'm starting to get the feeling Hart likes to juxtapose opposites - sunny places, shady people and talking that's silent. My favorite part of this U2 styled pop rocker is the chorus which says starts every line with the phrase "Do you want..." because for some weird reason I hear "Screw you..." So instead of hearing "Do you want I say goodbye to me" or "Do you want I say hello" I hear "Screw you I say goodbye to me" or "Screw you I say hello." Which makes the song sound better to me as well.

8. Waiting For You

After playing the tortured romantic all day Hart recognizes its time to change the pace. Here Hart is the playful faithful guy, telling his lady of the 80s that she's not alone 'cause he's right beside them. It's a filler track for sure, but it has an important role in showing Corey Hart isn't all frowns.

9. Water From The Moon

Another common 80s songwriting theme that never truly resonated with me - water and the moon. I get its supposed to be mystical or what have you, it's just not a theme I dig. Like this is something about the mysteries of the universe and he draws his I don't know teeny bopper appeal super powers from water from the moon and maybe you could too or who knows. All I know is for non Christian rock artists getting into these Sun and Moon metaphors was a way to get kinda spiritual without alienating anybody. Again, love the percussion on this cut it has that slapping electronic drum sound that reminds me of Marvin Gaye's "Sexual Healing".

"Never Surrender" kept Corey Hart in the spotlight until he tried to get more mature on his next outing. I only bought the singles to that one, there was "I Am By Your Side" and a sleepy cover of Elvis' "Can't Help Falling In Love". And then Corey Hart disappeared from view, sort of like the two Corey's themselves. Now seems like a good time to look at wikipedia to see what happened after that.

Holy crap, Corey Hart had quite the career in his native Canada. 26 Top 30 singles? Had no idea he was considered for the role of Marty McFly in Back To The Future, guess I'm not too far off in the Brat Pack comparisons. And now he lives in the Bahamas writing songs for Celene Dion.

Good for you Corey Hart. Sure your career peak was that of a shallow teen heartthrob, but you wrote your own stuff that was genuinely catchy with a personal point of view. You really have talent. Thank you for showing us that you can...Never Surrender!

That New Car Smell

2011-05-28T18:57:00.000-07:00

Rating:

The Cars is one of those bands where I didn't realize how much I missed them until they released new music. The original unit split somewhere around 1988 with leader Ric Ocasek moving into producing and swearing off reunion offers. Now Ocasek and the original band (sans the late bassist/vocalist Ben Orr) have reformed and released a new disc Move Like This.

All the things you remember about The Cars are in place: Ocasek's quavery singing, New Wave synths flashing here or there, synthetic hand claps, jerky beats, and a refreshing sense of energy. The songs are new with hooky melodies that recall past glories (such as the "Drive" like "Soon") yet come across as fully realized in their own right. The surging mid album double play of "Sad Song" and "Free" is as good as it gets for new music to an old guy.

Midnight Madness - Randy Savage Edition

2011-05-28T17:03:00.000-07:00

I didn't get into watching pro wrestling until about eleven years ago. Even as a non fan in the 80s and 90s, I knew who Macho Man Randy Savage was. He was the guy with the "Oooh Yeah" speech pattern who was with the beautiful Miss Elizabeth. The man who insisted I "Snap into a Slim Jim". As I started watching wrestling I went back and rented dvds of past Wrestlemanias I saw the greatness of the Ma-cho-Man Randy Savage. His death a week ago was a huge loss to anyone who enjoyed his performances or donned a pair of shades to say "Oooh Yeahhh Miss E-liz-a-beth!"

Ain't That Tough Enough? - Getting a kick out of the new version of WWE's Tough Enough hosted by Steve Austin. Out of every reality tv show I've ever seen, nobody does a better tribe has spoken contestant elimination than Stone Cold Steve Austin. Some one who convincingly talks trash at the contestant while he gives them the boot? That's tv gold.

Nashville Star - Is what American Idol morphed into in the final round leading up to Scotty McCreery's victory over Lauren Alaina. AI got off to a great start but as the tweens started up their voting blocs and the more interesting performers got winded the cleancut apple pie teenagers won out. Not to take anything away from McCreery's win, he was easily the most consistent singer on the show and I enjoyed his performances (particularly "Gone" and "Always On My Mind"). But after faithfully watching every ep this year I was indifferent to the finale. Except for hearing James Durbin wail with Judas Priest. That was cool!

The X Factor - I'm kinda psyched about X Men: First Class even if it looks like a cheap attempt to continue the series with less expensive actors.

Brand Tyler Kicks Into Gear - Steven Tyler released a so-so solo song which is still significant 'cause if he gets a big hit I think it's bye bye Aerosmith.

A Hickey From Kenickie Is Like A HallMark Card... - Jeff Conaway died which is sad for any fans who remember Grease or Taxi.

You're The Voice - I don't know why I can't get into The Voice, all the magazines are proclaiming it's better than American Idol. Something isn't grabbing me, I watched the debut and that's all I've bothered to see.

Top Jimmy - Jimmy Fallon is on a roll with his guest appearance on Celebrity Apprentice, appearing as a live action hero in the SNL short The Ambiguously Gay Duo and now performing his Neil Young imitation alongside David Crosby and Graham Nash.

Neil Young with Crosby and Nash: Party In The USA - Show Clips - Late Night with Jimmy Fallon

Let'sPick A Winner

2011-05-24T01:09:00.000-07:00

Rating:

For a couple of years the only music video channel I had was CMT, watching it taught me I didn't completely hate Country music. Or at least Modern Country aka 38 Special with steel guitar and twang. Funnily enough, the Country artist I got the most into was not quite modern Country but instead bluegrass all stars Alison Krauss and Union Station.

I've become a fan of their work and have some of their discs. Their music reminds me of a gently babbling brook in the woods with a serene feminine voice floating above like a cloud of marshmellows filled with match sticks and Americana. After '07's Lonely Runs Both Ways album the band went on break while Ms. Krauss teamed up with Golden God Robert Plant for a Grammy winning duets album. The dynamic duo tried to record a followup which they said lacked inspiration which leads up to now, the return of Alison Krauss and Union Station.

So here they are, for better or worse sounding like they never took a break. You can always count on these guys for tasteful performances on strong material. Still it's hard to not feel pushed down, turned around,apprehended and led down town - you know, restless, because there's no growth here. Creatively they've plateaued. The only song that had me say "Wow" was "Miles To Go", that song was killer. Krauss's soft plaintive delivery wins everytime. "Dust Bowl Children" has a bit of depression era kick / relevance with Dan Tymynski singing lead.

The rest of the album sounds fine, just not memorable. While I could have gone for some new development in their music, Paper Airplanes can still stick a landing.

Chuck Versus The Shark

2011-05-18T20:22:00.000-07:00

Chuck has been my favorite tv show for the past few years. I've learned to enjoy every episode like it's going to be the last because Chuck has been permanently on the cancellation chopping block as far back as it's first season. And going into season 4 I was very psyched when I read this round would be guest star heavy with Linda Hamilton (Terminator) and Timothy Dalton (James Bond!). I was ready for another set of frothy spy comedy fun that Chuck does so well.

While the guest appearances paid off well (Dalton in particular was killer) the season overall felt a bit choppy. Some of the fun seemed to get lost as Chuck and crew got locked into saving his Mom from the evil Volkoff conglomerate. The tone was more grim. And the pulling in of all the supporting cast into Chuck's spy world(Morgan, Awesome, Ellie) took away part of the double life shuffle I enjoyed in seasons past.

The lightness and fun returned with the wrap up of the Volkoff story line, but then there was a slight feeling of "been there, done that" in his spy hijinks. I thought maybe I was judging my favorite show too harshly, even as characters would unconvincingly change direction at the drop of a hat (Robin Given's shift from ruthless hardass to selfless savior at the very end of her arc, or Vivian Volkoff's shift from naive righteousness to evil mastermind in training for example).

Monday's season finale summed up season 4 nicely. The first two thirds went all Empire Strikes Back on the Chuck crew. Sarah was dying, Chuck was stripped of the intersect and his latest new foe revealed as a CIA insider. The drama palpably ramped up until the last commercial break when Chuck gets Sarah the antidote. After the break, the tone shifted to such a light feel I thought maybe we were watching a dream sequence. It was such an abrupt change I was like "Huh?" And to end the show with Morgan getting the intersect? Aw crap, my favorite show had jumped the shark and landed in After MASH.

Chuck has been renewed for season 5 and final season. I'll definitely watch, but I got that sinking feeling like the best ideas are all used up. Though if they give the intersect to Jeffster, I may have to check out.

Too Much Salt Intake

2011-05-07T11:50:00.000-07:00

Rating:

Angelina Joilie - Jolie? I think it's Jolie, I'm going with that. She once again plays a woman with identity issues in the movie Salt. The set up: CIA agent Evelyn Salt is accused of being a Russian double agent raised from childhood to be an assassin. She is here to kill the Russian President. The CIA immediately turns on her and Salt finds herself on the run. Is she a double agent or a victim of some spy plot? Can she rescue her missing husband? And just how big are Jolie's lips?

The director Phillip Noyce I remember from Patriot Games, the sorta Jack Ryan sequel that Harrison Ford starred in. Patriot Games was one of my favorite action movies of the 90s, a good mix of personal and political drama and slam bang action. Salt reminded me a bit of Patriot Games in it's slick energized feel and the adrenalized action is pretty kickin. I also liked how the movie gets a little uncomfortable in the middle section, keeping me guessing which way Salt was gonna go.

To bad the ending was lame, the last half hour had me going "huh?". It took me out of the movie and cut my score for it in half. And then the final scene sealed the deal by going another step wayyy to far by hinting at a sequel. Please pass on the Salt.

Don't Call It A Comeback...

2011-05-05T23:27:00.000-07:00

Why is it Duran Duran permanently considered to be in come back mode? I don't get that. They consistently perform at about the same level each album, why are we so desperate for a return to the Double D's glory days? They've released so many albums since the 80s. Yet we can't let them go. We don't want to admit it, but Duran Duran does things that keep us wistfully nostalgic. Because deep down in places you don't want to talk about at parties, we want them to come back. We need them to come back.

Oh yeah, their new song "All You Need Is Now" isn't too bad.

Movie Of The Year

2011-05-03T22:52:00.000-07:00

Navy Seals. Charlie Sheen. Fighting Terrorism. A movie 21 years ahead of its time. In 1990, who knew?

Foos Day

2011-05-01T10:24:00.000-07:00

Album:
and a half

Back & Forth Documentary:

Fuse Tv Takeover:

Hey look, the Foo Fighters are back! They've flooded the media with their first album in about 3-4 years with their new effort Wasting Light. I'm a big fan of the Foos and as blasphemous as it is like them better than their "parent" group Nirvana. Maybe that's because even with all of their alternative rock posturing to me they are at heart an arena rock band. Fired up, inoffensive, catchy and slightly formulaic rawk.

Like the best of arena rock bands, Dave Grohl's Foo Fighters know how to update and tweak their sound each time out to keep things fresh. The time off did Grohl some good as Wasting Light is their most consistent sounding disc since 99's There Is Nothing Left To Lose. Every song on Wasting Light has a strong guitar riff and hooky chorus. Bringing in Nirvana Nevermind producer Butch Vig brings back that classic album's punchy feel. Original guitarist Pat Smear returns giving the Foos that "Molly Hatchett" effect of having a butt load of axe slingers ready to lay down the law. Guest appearances by Pixie Bob Mould and ex Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic have the rare effect of enhancing the music instead of distracting (a lot of guest appearances to me have that "special guest star" effect when it happens). Having Novoselic, Grohl and Vig in one place is a big deal in the post grunge world.

Maybe that's the artistic growth here, Grohl no longer has to run from his association with a rock legend. His lyrics seem darker than ever here ("Rope" seems to use a hanging metaphor and another song is called "Miss The Misery")and at one point seems to address the ghost of Cobain himself (with the Novoselic assisted "I Should Have Known"). As uniformly great as Wasting Light is, my one problem with the album is there isn't a stand out track. The Foos can usually be relied on to deliver at least one stand out anthem per disc ("The Pretender", "Best Of You", "Learn To Fly" and "Everlong" come to mind). None of these songs hit me that way (though "Alandria", "Miss The Misery", "Dear Rosemary" and the single "Rope" get close). That's pretty much my only quibble with this album.

To go with the new album is a band documentary Back & Forth. As far as rock and roll band docs go, it's kinda dull. Dave Grohl himself is always game for a good interview, yet after watching I didn't feel like I got any more insight into the band than if I just read Wikipedia. And to be honest, other than thinking Grohl rocks I haven't been that interested in the band's personal history. It wasn't a total waste of time, I learned they've had the same bass player since the second album (Nate...I forgot his last name. Still, I thought the side men kept switching from disc to disc but guess that was just the guitarist slot.) I vaguely recalled the drummer drama between the 1st and 2nd albums and it was nice to see Grohl openly take some responsibility for that mess. And it kind of confirmed that the One By One album was lacking (well, at least that they recorded it twice). But yeah, nice to watch as a fan just not very deep or revelatory.

Better was their takeover of the FUSE channel where they funded some aspiring video makers to create clips for the songs on Wasting Light. While there was a definite repitition of themes among the vids (chasing, boy meets girl and weird stuff happens, people being taken over by a mysterious black force like Spawn) and lacked the presence of the band, the videos had that creative fire that recalls the early days of MTV. And the hour long interview with Toure' was more fun to me than the documentary. Particularly when Grohl took exception to Toure's insinuation that rap was more socially relevant than rock (though to be honest, I side with the interviewer on that one) Grohl's irritation was better than anything from the documentary. And a final interview between the band and Mark Hoppus where they rip on each others videos was pretty good. I even learned what a Leighton Meester was...I think. Is that who I was watching?

I've often had to sit through a launch of many a popular artist who I thought was just OK or worse in recent years. It's nice to see it happen for a band I like.

Oh Mildred!

2011-04-26T22:18:00.000-07:00

Rating:

It took some time, finally knocked off watching the 5 part HBO miniseries Mildred Pierce. The first three parts were pretty good, the series started strong by kicking straight into the title character giving her cheatin' husband the heave ho. Kate Winslet, always outstanding, puts her American accent to work again portraying Mildred as a strong willed and grounded pre feminist with a major blind spot when it comes to her children. Winslet's Mildred Pierce is as earnest as the day is long. Director Todd Haynes pushes the Depression era setting hard to ensure we feel the uncomfortable fear and strife giving the piece modern day relevance.

Despite being a book first, Mildred Pierce is best known as first rate melodramatic cinema and one of Joan Crawford's best flicks. I remember watching it on video about 20 years ago, mainly what I remember from that experience was thinking the daugther (Veda) was evil as hell. To differ from that legendary version Haynes and Winslet strive to punch up the realism and get room to do it by spreading out over a miniseries.

It's just too bad the rest of the cast didn't get the same memo. The supporting cast (including Oscar winner Melissa Leo, Mare Winningham, Guy Pierce and two different actresses playing daughter Veda) amp up the drama with snappy performances. The zip of the support actors make Winslet / Haynes seem like a major drag. Watching this show you'd think everyone had fun during the Great Depression except Mildred Pierce.

Nowhere is this disconnect more evident than the key relationship between Mildred Pierce and the daughter Veda (played the first 3 eps by an actress I don't know whose acting has been very controversial online and the last 2 eps by Evan Rachel Wood). The Veda character is always haughty, conniving and stuck up regardless of who is playing her. In the HBO version she is so much so that Kate Winslet's Mildred doesn't even seem related to her. Even though both characters ramble on in heated arguments at the end of most episodes about how much alike they are, it never feels like it's true. Veda's character comes off like someone Mildred got stuck babysitting instead of mothering. Since much of the 2nd half of the series focuses on Mildred's smothering and Veda's viper like qualities, the lack of connection kills off the drama.

And that's why I took a break watching between parts 3 and 4. The story was getting predictable and the mother / daughter relationship that held most the drama wasn't clicking. As the series progresses and you see Mildred, who you're rooting for at this point, repeatedly get put down and faked out by her demon seed daughter you just get wore out. Or at least I did. By parts 4 and 5 even the surrounding characters are sick of watching this trainwreck relationship and exclaim "Oh Mildred!" constantly when she turns a blind eye to Veda's shenanigans.

Because the supporting actors are so appealing no matter how sketched out they are, I came away wishing Haynes had gone the full remake route of complete melodrama. Instead we're left with Kate Winslet proving an unusual thesis: Is it possible to give a terrific lead acting performance that sabotages the piece as a whole? With her humorless nose pressed against the grindstone, the answer is as easy as Mildred Pierce's pies.

You Just Got Blazed!

2011-04-23T23:09:00.000-07:00

Syfy channel has resurrected Star Blazers! This classic anime series recalls warm memories of watching it on the local program Captain Cosmic and his robot 2t2. I don't remember a lot about Star Blazers itself, just that I used to watch it daily. The giant battleship Yamato with the big cannon on the front would fly around and stuff would blow up. When you're a kid, that's all that really matters. Now I get a chance to see it and maybe understand what all the running and shouting was all about.

While looking up Star Blazers on the internet, found out a live action version of this was made in Japan. The trailer looks like Armageddon and Battlestar Galactica gone wild.

You Can't Handle R -Truth!

2011-04-19T21:07:00.000-07:00

Yesterday wrestler R Truth turned heel (bad guy) and to prove his point (that he's now a bad guy) he smoked a cigarette over his defeated enemy. When I saw this, I thought it was the lamest heel turn I'd ever seen. I get that it's illegal to smoke a cigarette indoors and that it's not healthy and all that, I really do. But is that the mark of a true villian? Does anyone think another person is badass for smoking a cigarette past the 6th grade? What dasdardly deed will R Truth do next, pull those tags off pillows that say it's illegal to remove? Ring a strangers door bell and run away before the door is opened?? Crank call a random phone number and ask if their refrigerator is running??? Yes, watching a wrestler try to inflict damage on another grappler by subjecting him to second hand smoke from a single cigarette was stupidity on an epic level.

And then someone or some anti smoking group (was it The Truth?) bothered to complain about it pushing the event to TMZ worthy status. Whaddya know, the smoking gimmick worked (the...smoking...gun? Haw haw). Proving once again that Vince McMahon is a genius, spinning a wrestling show storyline into a mass media story.

Thank You Edge!

2011-04-16T22:32:00.000-07:00

This week WWE Superstar Edge officially retired from wrestling due to his injuries sustained in the ring. For as long as I've followed wrestling, Edge has been a part of it. He has progressed in that time from a Tag Team Champion to a World Champion thanks to awesome mic skills, strong work ethic and all around in ring ability. Edge was versatile and pretty much great at everything he did in wrestling. The rare wrestler who could be equally convincing as the noble good guy or the scheming baddie (though most of his career tilted towards the latter) and be over with fans no matter what. I stopped watching wrestling regularly around the time his World Championship and Rated R Superstar gimmick took off. Still, when I did watch I knew Edge could be relied upon to bring a great show. Edge provided unforgettable WWE moments like the mid air spear during Tables Ladders and Chairs, the conchairtos and the stealing of Lita from Matt Hardy. So thank you Edge, thank you for the entertainment.

Keepin' It REO

2011-04-14T14:58:00.001-07:00

I'm on an REO Speedwagon kick which happens to me every now and then I think of them. So the time is now to post about them. But what can I say about this band that I haven't said many times before? Well I don't know, one thing that did strike me though is that REO Speedwagon is a band that likes to "keep" doing things. They use that word a lot. Maybe that's why they've kept on keeping on, this band has been going nonstop for as longer than I've been alive. To be playing over four decades they must know something. So let's see what REO says they (and by extension, us) should "keep" doing to .

Keep Pushin' (1976)
REO's first lesson to us is that you have to keep pushin' on. The band was probably in need of some motivational sloganism after five albums scraped up a meager sum of hits. Songwriter/lead singer Kevin Cronin had already quit a few albums before returning to deliver his life lesson. "Keep Pushin" sounds like it's all about touring, surviving that hard cold mistress known as The Road. Cronin writes about how life is lonely and crazy but you have to keep going even though all your strength is gone 'cause that's what makes you a man. Lesson One from REO: you must keep pushin'. On.

Keep On Loving You (1980)
Maybe the definitive REO Speedwagon song, this majestic power ballad has been all over the place for 30 years now. It's considered a romantic song even though the lyrics really seem to be about reconciliation after being cheated on. Again from the pen of Kevin Cronin, the song paints the girl (the "you" of the song) as a snake in the grass who's had all these men Cronin (the "I" of the song) knows about but can't remember. Then Cronin ("I") declares his undying love that is so great he has insomnia. Or maybe that part about not wanting to sleep was the sex metaphor. You and your metaphors Kevin Cronin!

When you get down to brass taxes (whatever that means) what grabs people is the nice piano intro and the melodic chorus making "Keep On Loving You" seem like a pure love song. I wonder if this song has ever been played at weddings? I'm gonna keep on loving you-ew-ooh, even though you did it with the Best Maa-ah-han!

"Keep On Loving You" is the one REO song that really keeps on keeping on. I still hear it in movie soundtracks and covers and what not. I think REO must have gotten bored performing it because in '89 they made this fun goofball reggae version which strips out all meaning from the tune but is good for a chuckle. It's also the song that gets the most cover versions from their catalog, a lot of terrible terrible covers.

Bonus on the music video, it's a nice throwback to when video was new and singers were forced to try acting. Or as Jon Lovitz would say "ACTING!"

Lesson Two from REO: You must keep lovin'.
Keep The Fire Burnin' (1983)
The last chapter of the REO Speedwagon "keep" trilogy, a sort of forgotten song from their history. Although "Keep The Fire Burnin" was a Top 10 hit the band has virtually ignored it since '83. Maybe because it's a lazy rewrite of "Roll With The Changes"? On the Decade Of Rock And Roll 1981 - 1991 album Cronin tells the audience he wrote the song next to a fireplace which makes a lot of sense with all its talk of staying warm. This song was recorded as part of the follow up to their smash success Hi Infidelity so there's a lot of lyrics about things changing and keeping the faith. Often felt a bit like Yoda with phrases like "Let us not stop learning" or "Let us never lose our yearnin". Though I guess Yoda would really say "Learnin', we must stop never" if I'm being grammatically Jedi. Aw, listen to me go on like a youngling.

Did I mention this is my favorite REO song? Lesson three: Keep Burnin'.

To review, let's have a test. Select from the following the three things REO Speedwagon insists you must keep doing (preferably with a "n' at the end": Burnin', Chafin', Scrapin', Poundin', Peelin', Pushin', Tannin', Baldin', Crappin', Fightin', Runnin', Movin', Eatin', Drivin', Likin', Enjoyin', Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin', Fartin', Barfin', Pukin', Hurlin', Rammin', Jammin' or Crammin'.

The Answer Is After the Jump

If you chose Pushin', Lovin' and Burnin' you're correct! And probably a little kinky.

Oh, one last thing for the confused people who post comments at You Tube. REO Speedwagon did not do "Eye Of The Tiger". Survivor does not do "Open Arms". Foreigner does not do "Carry On Wayward Son". Journey does not do "Dust In The Wind". And that's my rant for today.

Raphael Saadiq Is Good, Man

2011-04-13T23:13:00.000-07:00

Was kicking back checking out music vids today lots of entertaining ones out there, this one caught me by surprise and blew me away. Love retro soul done right.

Crystal Vision

2011-04-09T12:14:00.000-07:00

Rating:

Pia Toscano's rejection from American Idol this week pretty much sank any hope of a female contestant making it to the finals this year. With that in mind, thought I would take the time to review the album from the last girl to make it to the big show: Crystal Bowersox Farmer's Daughter.

On the show, Bowersox came across as a folky combo of Bonnie Raitt / Melissa Etheridge style classic rock and street corner busker. She seemed a bit ragged, a bit dirty not in a nasty way but in an "I've been places and seen some stuff" way. Not squeeky clean like how many American Idol contestants come across on the show, ready to flash their ultra whites preening through yet another take on "Against All Odds". Maybe it was the dreadlocks?

True to recent American Idol history, a finale came about squaring off the most artistically talented contestant versus a fairly talented but pleasant guy that tweens can latch on to. In this case Bowersox versus the everyman Lee DeWyze. And despite totally mopping up the floor with DeWyze in the finale performance showdown peaking with an emotional read of "Up To The Mountain", Bowersox lost. But as they like to say on the internet, maybe it's for the best so that the 2nd place person doesn't have all those restrictive handlers when making their record-sorry, album...I mean CD...er download.

So how does Crystal Bowersox fare? She fares OK. Bowersox does get to do a fair chunk of her own writing (with the exception of the pandering Nickelback/Kara Dioguardi composition "Hold On") and sings with conviction. Much of the likeable rough edges of her music has been sanded off to a commercial sheen and with it her true grit. A great example is "Holy Toledo" which when excerpted as an acoustic guitar song on American Idol came across as Dylanish hearing it getting transformed into a Myley Cyrus "The Climb" soundalike is a mild disappointment.

The first half of the album sounds like it's more programmed for mass acceptance as "Toledo", "Hold On", the lead single "Farmer's Daughter" and the made for some future chick flick soundtrack theme song"Ridin With The Radio". Plus a pleasant cover of Buffalo Springfield's "For What It's Worth" for those who hadn't heard her do enough cover songs on AI. At least the whistle happy "Lonely Won't Come Around" retains some of her simple direct charm.

The second half shows more of Bowersox's Raitt / Etheridge influence to better effect. She sounds more at home pulling out the blues mama stops backed by an Allman Brothers style groove, blasts of cool organ and piercing guitar breaks. The songs I like the most on the disc, the punchy "Kiss Ya" and the blues rock ballad "Speak Now" show up here.

Farmer's Daughter is, hopefully, as commercial as Bowersox gets. And as it is it ain't bad. But I get the feeling there's more talent there waiting to be exposed. She has shown a willingness to explore personal issues (like parental abandonment in the title song) and political as well (albeit VERY mildly in the form of the Buffalo Springfield cover). With a little less calculation and a little more of the heart-on-her-sleeve straight shooting she did on the show, her music could get interesting.

Rock Rock "Til You Drop

2011-04-05T23:46:00.001-07:00

Rating:

Sunday I went with my Mom to the city to see the Broadway spawned rock musical Rock Of Ages. A play set in the late 80s on Los Angeles famed Sunset Strip featuring characters breaking into fist pumping rock anthems and flick your bic power ballads. I knew little about the show going in other than it starred American Idol alum Constantine Margoulis (did I spell that right? I might have that spelling confused with that girl from ER that's now on The Good Wife. I'm just going to go with Constantine as his name-o). So I had minimal expectations as I settled in my seat at the fancy Curran theatre.

Rock Of Ages turned out to be a lot of fun, played out with equal parts honest passion and nostalgiac snark. Like the simple themes of the songs they cover, the story runs through infatuation, love lost, and love found amid naive dreams and big city sleaze. Focusing on the parallel lives of an aspiring rocker and an aspiring actress while evil developers threaten to destroy the Sunset Strip, the story is as basic as a two part episode of Saved By The Bell. Clearly knowing this, the play is packed with 80s pop culture references (wine coolers!) and narrated by a hard rock goofball. When the narrator breaks out Playwriting For Dummies to read the instructions on how to end the first half of the show, you know this isn't meant to be serious.

But the story isn't the real value here anyway, it's just there to set up situations where easily licensed songs can be used to dramatic effect. And used dramatically well they are with close attention paid to lyrics to ensure it fits the characters / moments perfectly. Moments like when the girl character turns to stripping to the tune of Quarterflash's "Harden My Heart" or when the boy and girl duet their lost dreams to Damn Yankee's "High Enough" allow the music and drama to gel perfectly. Interesting themes develop in song selection with Twisted Sister representing rockin' attitude, Foreigner meaning sex and REO Speedwagon backing male affection. Plus three Journey / Steve Perry songs!

The cast is sharp and thoroughly strong from top to bottom. Constantine Maroulis shows he still has that rock star wail. And maybe because he's playing a character that annoyingly hollow brooding frozen stare he used to do on AI is replaced with likeable, Hugh Grant style stammering. I didn't catch the other names of the actors, but from the lead girl character Sherrie, the David Lee Roth style rock star, to the Berkeley protest hippie to the dasdarly fey German developers all roles are filled memorably.

Rock Of Ages succeeds in bringing back an era when music was loud, fun and tamely naughty. Sort of like a two hour version of Pat Benatar's "Love Is A Battlefield" music video. It's interesting in how the play can command ticket prices that none of the original artists can these days. Anyway, none of it is monumental but it's not meant to be. Like the taped David Coverdale intro to the play, Rock Of Ages is fun served up with a knowing wink and an unabashed smile.

Jenny Jenny, Who Can She Turn To?

2011-04-02T20:34:00.000-07:00

Rating:

and a half

Jenny is a 16 year old British bird who's smart as a whip and dreaming of the boho high life in 1961. She's bored by her mundane teenage school life and pressured by her family's expectations for her to attend Oxford. One day standing out in the rain with her cello, Jenny is offered a ride by a flashy wealthy stranger who decides to show her the life she's desired: art, travel, music, etc. But he is mysterious. He has SECRETS. What can they be and will they matter? Will she be seduced by the good life? Questions!

The movie is called An Education. Jenny is winningly portrayed by actress Carey or Casey Mulligan, I can't remember her exact name. Anywhoo she's really good in this movie evoking a strong mix of intellegence, wistful romanticism and naivete'. All acting in this piece is universally strong in a cast that includes Albert Molina and Peter Saarsgaard (I think I misspelled the last name there). Saarsgaard plays the mysterious wealty stranger who takes Jenny into the jet set life style and does an excellent job too.

An Education also has a great sense of period including a comment on the limited opportunities afforded women at the time. While An Education is not an important film of major consequence, it is a well made fully observed study of what could easily have been a Lifetime movie character.

You're The Best...Arrroundduh...

2011-03-29T11:38:00.000-07:00

Rating:

The Karate Kid is one of those iconic 80's films, a flick that helped defined a decade. Sweep the leg. Make good fight Daniel-san. Mercy is for the weak. And so on. It is a movie that is so good it could be argued that it doesn't ever need to be remade. Except it was remade a lot in The Karate Kid goes to Japan, The Karate Kid gets squashed by Batman in 1989, The Next Hilary Swank and now Will Smith and Jada Pinkett buy their son a movie. The Karate Kid 2010.

One nice thing about their son Jaden Smith starring is the lead character really is a kid this time out. One not so nice thing is that there is barely any Karate seen in the film, it's 99.9999% Kung Fu. It really should be The Kung Fu Kid but then people won't get that this is a remake since there's no Ralph Macchio anywhere to be found and maybe skip it. Can't have that!

As far as remakes go, The Karate Kid is pretty savvy. It is a pretty true remake in terms of story, other than some modern touches and location (China) they hit all the same plot points in the same order. No "I must change things to stamp my vision even when it gets in the way of the movie" junk here. The filmmakers instead say "You know the story, seen it a thousand times, so let's adrenalize this thang!" And in using movie style Kung Fu the amount of leaping and jumping goes way up anyway.

So this Karate Kid whizzes by with breakneck speed, montaging and flying cameras all over the damn place. Hey, they're working out on The Great Wall with no tourists around! Now they're on a mountain! Now they're running through The Forbidden City! Although it would be fun to say this shallow approach fails, it doesn't. It succeeds in pumping new life into the tired heart of this classic "Beat the odds" yarn. Particularly at the ending tournament section, the event video screen coverage for this local martial arts tournament looks like Mortal Kombat on a WWE binge. Every take down in slo mo replays and then scowling headshots with the names next to it, I was waiting to hear "Finish Him!" Oh wait, I did hear that in the movie.

Jaden Smith as the lead kid is OK, his acting can get a bit blank but he has his Dad's cocksure goofy charisma. Jackie Chan is great as mentoring maintenance guy Mr Han, getting to unleash some of his acting chops alongside his physical ones (he cries more than the kid). Whoever the kid is that plays the chief mean guy is a real presence, I hated that bullying psycho every time he sneered his way onto the screen.

For a generation of children who can't imagine learning martial arts without a DVD, The Karate Kid has been successfully updated. And it's kinda timely with the increase in bullying children in our society. The only fault I can find is the soundtrack - no Survivor, Peter Cetera or "You're The Best" Joe Esposito here. Which reminds me, time to post one of the greatest movie montages of all time.

Makin' Time With The Ladies...

2011-03-27T20:17:00.000-07:00

Rating:

Sam, when can i jump? Is it time to leap yet?

I liked the tv show Quantum Leap. Can you think of someone who doesn't like Quantum Leap? It looks like someone liked it a lot because they made a movie out of it called The Time Traveller's Wife. It stars that guy Eric Bana who was the Hulk in that first Hulk movie, not The Incredible Hulk but the one just called Hulk. He is a guy who is born with a genetic condition that is like epilepsy except his seizures involve travelling through time (I'm not being insensitive, it's kind of explained like this). So from an early age starting shortly before the death of his opera singing mother, Henry starts leaping around his lifetime.

Despite these leaps, Henry manages to grow up and hold down a job as a research librarian (of course!). Until one day a woman comes in, clearly recognizes him though he has no clue who this girl is, and goes out on a date with her. She jumps his bones and reveals she's known the future Henry since her childhood in the past and has loved him ever since. They get married and win the lottery (because Henry picked up the Lotto numbers from the future and brought it back to the past to become wealthy in the present) and melodrama escalates from there.

OK, got it? That's the set up. You see Henry from different ages of his life (though mostly as an adult between his 20s and 40s) disappear and reappear in different parts of his own life. So you'll suddenly see like 40 year old Henry living 20 year old Henry's life and vice versa. Now, on to the criticism.

The Time Traveller's Wife is based on a book, from what the movie ads tell me a great book, that I've never read. So there is probably a whole lot of extra story and exposition to say how this story line and rules of time travel is supposed to work. But I know none of that because I didn't read the book. So I can only judge this flick based on the movie in front of me.

Let's start with the good points, Eric Bana gives an affecting performance as time trippin Henry. He's kinda a loner at the start and then you see him grow through his relationship with Rachel McAdams. McAdams does the lady in waiting thing well. And the movie is beautifully shot, there are contrasts between cold dirty city alleyways and lush grassland yet it all ties together because the story is so exaggerated to start with you figure "Why not go from one landscape to another in an instant?"

So the good stuff is out of the way. On to the bad stuff. First up: The Romance. This movie is sold as an unconventional romance, but really very little in the romance department shows up. Bana and McAdams make a pleasant couple yet don't inspire the amount of chemistry needed to make Time Traveller fly. The whole freakin movie hinges on our believing in their incredible romance! We have to want to see these two people together and happy. Try as they might, they don't inspire that level of romantic fire. And without that, the rest of the story falls like a house of cards.

Like when we first meet the wife, Claire, she's already in love with Henry based on a handful of meetings while she was growing up. Then he I guess falls in love with her in reverse since it was the future him meeting her in the past. And everything then flows from this sort of it-is-meant-to-be-so-it-is-even-if-it-hasn't-happened-yet reasoning. He says early on he can't change the significant events in time otherwise he would keep his Mom from dying in that exploding car wreck. And because the movie established his time travel is only along his life and not say world events. Henry's not Forrest Gumping his way through the time/space thing witnessing moonlandings on the moon, he just sees stuff that advances his own personal story. Oh yeah, another stipulation is that he can only time travel his body not other things like clothes so he arrives everywhere butt naked Terminator style. And after he arrives Henry must run and steal clothes. But it never really answers why he must run, some of his jumps only last a few minutes so wouldn't it make sense just to wait some time before moving in case you jump out quickly thereby lowering the risk to you of being discovered? And why is it people are automatically after him when he jumps somewhere? Why can't he ever appear on a European nudist beach?

Ultimately it's the "things are meant to be" logic of the script that kills the romance. The only reason the two people get together is because time or a God or destiny says so. The show dips its toe into the philosophical pondering of free will versus predestiny but then laughs it off. Or maybe 'ol Hank is a metaphor for an unreliable man since he disappears a lot. It's like he can literally use the excuse that he lost track of time! Or time lost track of him. Whatever, you get my point. Henry is meant to be kinda put upon and tragic but really he's living the single guy's dream: Rachel McAdams wants to make it with him all the time in the now and he doesn't even have to get to know her to do it, because that's future Henry's problem. What's her favorite color? Why does she cry at picnics? Should I ask for a second date? Who cares, that's future Henry's problem not his.

The Time Traveller's Wife is OK if you have nothing better on to watch because it looks pretty and has actors you might recognize from somewhere else. If you take away the time travel angle it's a fairly boring love story. You know what's a better time travel story? Star Trek IV. Or the last episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation where Picard keeps saying "It happened in the past!!!" Or Terminators 1 and 2. That first Back To The Future, look out Marty! And like I said at the start, Quantum Leap. So watch The Time Traveller's Wife cheaply if you must just remember unlike Henry you can never get those 2 hours back.

American Idol 2.0

2011-03-23T22:46:00.000-07:00

Is it time for another Fantastic Four movie? Nope, but it is time for another round of American Idol where love don't cost a thing except for in an elevator.

Simon Cowell and his V neck framed scowl had been the trademark of American Idol, the focal point of America's attention even more than the contestants. Cowell's biting sarcasm, high standards and opinionated pontifications took America's PC glad handling "You can do anything if you dare to dream" coddling and flushed it down a toilet of off key warblers and flamboyant hot messes. He was someone who could get up in public and speak his truth with total disregard for others feelings, including teenagers. And we were Ok with it because, well, he's not American, he's British. Not from here, didn't know you can't say negative things about people even when they're making a fool of themselves. This led to a lot of work for British judges on other talent shows flooding American tv but that's another topic.

So when Cowell packed up his bags and left for the X Factor following last year's AI many predicted that was it for the ratings megagiant. American Idol would suck. And why wouldn't it, the last 3 rounds or so hadn't created as many stars as years past and the recent winners have had middling careers at best. The Ellen Degeneres experiment had failed as she seemed lost doling out empty compliments to anyone within earshot. American Idol has been on like 10 years or something, they seemed to have strip mined all the talent the U.S. had to offer.
.

This year when I tuned in to American Idol it was initially out of curiosity. I love music, liked the show generally and can often find at least one contestant to enjoy (last year was runner up Crystal Bowersox). Plus everyone knows the early auditions are where you find the trainwrecks! And there were crash and burn performances, but also there was a re-emphasis on people with actual singing ability and their human interest sob stories. Then the new judging panel caused a commotion by giving a Hollywood plane ticket to anyone half decent, creating a talent pool large enough to run a small city. Speaking of judges, Randy Jackson woke up from a decade long slumber to say something other than "Dawg", "It was OK for me" or "Pitchy". He still says these things, but now he says other words to which is great. Being the only original judge, Jackson actually serves a purpose now as elder statesmen guiding the new crew through the steps of the AI process.

Tonight's Motown episode was the best American Idol full ep in a really long stretch. Strong performances by more than half the contestants made for a great show. It seems the new approach is paying off. The singers are responding to the new judges kid gloves approach, even if Steven Tyler's rambling wackiness is slowly devolving to "That was beautiful and you're beautiful" comments after every performance. J.Lo is either really emotionally invested or a better actress than I thought she was and comes across well - fighting back tears as she delicately eliminates contestants while alternately doing the Paula Abdul cheerleading thing sans nuttiness. And in a crucial move they're using big name producers to help mold the singers resulting in more consistent song quality. Jimmy Iovine? Rodney Jerkins? Don Was? Damn!

Even though I'm not seeing a break out star yet that can sell millions of Cds-er, downloads, this is shaping up to be the best group since season 5. The wide ranging casting call has resulted in early favorites like the funky Casey Abrams, gospelish Jacob Lusk and the diva balladeer Pia Toscano. American Idol has temporarily succeeded in reinventing itself into a more genial yet still engaging talent show. It'll never be as great as it once was, but like a classic New York Yankees team they've bought and drafted enough people to make it to the playoffs. Congrats American Idol, you don't suck...yet.

Captain Kirk Day

2011-03-22T22:57:00.001-07:00

Happy Birthday William Shatner!

Remember The Feeling - April 26, 1985

2011-03-10T20:11:00.000-08:00

Chicago chill out in the early 80s

Recently I celebrated my 17th wedding anniversary with my wife so to celebrate I thought I would take a look back at one of my favorite albums - Chicago 17 (because, you know, the number 17 is involved and my wife suggested a while back I should post about past concerts). Except I've looked at Chicago 17 six ways til Sunday on this blog so instead I'm going to fondly recall the concert I saw at the Oakland Coliseum on April 26, 1985.

This was the third concert of Chicago's I'd been to and the second time I was catching them supporting 17. Chicago was the 3rd concert I'd been to (for Chicago 16) and I saw them again in 1984 at the Berkeley Greek Theatre. The Greek Theatre show was a blast, had pretty close up seats near the center aisle so we could see Peter Cetera emote with all his jut jawed expressiveness. The band played all decked out in these lily white jump suits and were riding the momentum of "Hard Habit To Break" climbing the charts.

Fast forward to April '85, both "Hard Habit To Break" and "You're The Inspiration" had hit the Top 10 and "Along Comes A Woman" was bounding it's way to the Top 40. Chicago was now one of my favorite bands thanks to the Fosters Freeze lush arrangements and hooky soft rock winsomeness they had mastered. I was so psyched I used Print Shop to make my own flyer for the upcoming concert to put in my new binder (back when the clear plastic sleeve on the front of the binder was a new thing) and advertise my dorkitude.

The Oakland Coliseum was the largest venue I would ever see Chicago in. This was before video screens were like a requirement for concerts so it was a noticeable difference between my close floor seating in Berkeley versus the distant vantage point in the larger arena. But it was a small price to pay to see Chicago back on top. Got a kick out of some guy in the concession line bemoaning to his pal that these young people didn't know the old stuff. My parents had Chicago Live At Carnegie Hall on cassette buddy! Yeah, "Fancy Colours" I know that one. Ha! 25 years later I've formulated a comeback for something that wasn't even said to me.

Anyway the set list was:

We Can Stop The Hurtin / Ballet For A Girl In Bucannon (Make Me Smile and Colour My World) / Along Comes A Woman / Saturday In The Park / Love Me Tomorrow / Please Hold On / Hard Habit To Break / Livin In The Limelight / Beginnings / Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is? / You're The Inspiration / Prima Donna / Stay The Night / Hard To Say I'm Sorry - Get Away

Encore: Gimmie Some Lovin / Got To Get You Into My Life / Get Away (reprise)

(It turns out there is a bootleg of this concert which is where I got the set list from. It's funny because I can't recall going to a Chicago concert that didn't have "25 or 6 to 4" but it wasn't listed so I guess it wasn't played. Links above are to online recordings from the actual concert I was at!)

What's not listed is I wanna say I remember part of "Bad Advice" being played at the intro before starting off with the Robert Lamm led "We Can Stop The Hurtin". Thanks to the magic of You Tube there is some of this bootleg is online sounds like there's some "Only You" in the intro music too. "Hurtin" was probably as close as 80s Chicago got to 70s Chicago with Lamm decrying the plight of the homeless and some snazzy horn section action going on.

The "Make Me Smile" and "Colour My World" part was great because I'd never heard it as a single piece before (Ballet For A Girl From Buchannon) and being a prog rock fan enjoyed the extended sections. Last year I read an interview with Bill Champlin that he didn't enjoy singing "Colour My World" which was a surprise 'cause I felt he did the song justice every time I heard him sing it.

"Along Comes A Woman" allows his Ceteraness to make an early appearance and push the new single (which sounded so much better as a remixed 45 than the album original with that damn rubbery bass line). Listening to the live sound now I was inclined to slam how unharmonious the background vocals were then I remember that a lot of modern technology is used to blend voices with bands these days. That's how these bands can have two guys singing sound like six at the same time. Can't always sound like the record in real life folks.

"Saturday In The Park" or as my wife and I like to call it "Sabado en el Parque" with Lamm on lead was next. Did you know that "Saturday In The Park" comes from the record Chicago V, the band's first single disc release? Worthless trivia you say? YOU'RE WELCOME.

Cetera strikes back with his cool ballad ways on "Love Me Tomorrow" from Chicago 16. If I remember right, they had Chris Pinnick on guitar. Big burly dude that could play with a very crisp sound, probably my favorite of those who succedded the late Terry Kath (though I don't believe Pinnick was ever a full time member).

Bill Champlin got his R&B groove on next with "Please Hold On". I often wondered why Champlin's Bay Area connection (Sons Of Champlin) wasn't played up during Chicago shows over here. Don't know why.

Now for what was my favorite song of all time in back then, the super melodramatic ballad "Hard Habit To Break". Cetera. Champlin. Pure awesome.

Nothing says clout in a band like forcing your solo stuff on them and Cetera does just that with "Livin In The Limelight" from his first solo LP. I like "Livin" but face facts it wasn't that such big a hit that it needed to be included over, say, "Old Days" or "Wishin You Were Here". As soon as Cetera started talking second solo album following this tour, Chicago banished him to Solitude/Solitaire land never to return :(

Robert Lamm represents for old school Chicago with "Beginnings" and "Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?" back to back. Looks like Lamm had a piano solo in here, it used to be pretty interesting he'd have a baby grand type piano that he would lift the lid to and climb part ways inside to pluck the strings directly. The bootleg says drum solo too which is Danny Seraphine. Not on this show, but a few years later I saw the Chicago 19 tour and thought the drum solo was slow and off in terms of time. I guess the band thought it was getting bad too because Seraphine was replaced by next album. I read somewhere that Seraphine took the firing pretty hard, eventually forming his own band called CTA. Having listened to recent clips of CTA playing classic Chicago songs where he sounds dead on and fantastic, maybe he was just having an off show when I saw him last?

From this point on it essentially becomes the Peter Cetera show. The power ballad "You're The Inspiration" was a real flick-your-bic in the air moment. The tempo races up again and surprised me with "Prima Donna" from the Two Of A Kind soundtrack. The speedy rocker blew my mind back in the day and I was pumped to hear it live.

"Stay The Night" was next, loved loved loved that car chase music video. Can't see the video live though, Cetera entertained by hopping to the beat about the stage and allowing his bro Kenny Cetera to rock the background vocal mic.

To wrap up the primary part of the set, the power ballad "Hard To Say I'm Sorry" poured out nicely before ramping up to the big finish with the hard charging "Get Away".

Following a nice break the band returned with a cover of Spencer Davis Group's "Gimmie Some Lovin". It was high NRG greatness and I remember at one point Cetera literally running around the whole stage, around the back and everything. Another cover "Got To Get You Into My Life" arrived next before closing out with another "Get Away".

As I mentioned before, after this tour Cetera was booted ending an era for the band. Cetera would have solo hits, Chicago would have other hits, but it was never ever the same. I'm lucky to have gotten to see King Pete perform with his Chicago bros one last time, because that was 25 years ago and his replacement Jason Scheff has now been in the band longer than he was meaning that bridge was really burned back then. But for one shining moment, Cetera and the guys stood as one in shiny white suits left over from Buck Rogers and wayyy too much mousse in their hair.

Wonderful Tonight

2011-03-08T15:10:00.000-08:00

Rating:

and a half.

Last Thursday I got to see the legendary Slowhand in action at the Arco - wait - Power Balance Arena in Sacto. We had floor seating (nice!) so we could have a good look at EC in action. One note about floor seating, they really need to start compensating for the obesity problem in America when doing these events. The chairs were so small I had trouble fitting on it and then I was crowded out of the left side of my chair by the larger guy next to me. He wasn't even trying to crowd me, he was actually trying to not do that throughout the show (which was very considerate of him). I was sore for days from having to sit like a contortionist for 3 or so hours.

When the show started first up was opening act Los Lobos. Los Lobos has been around for decades and is a respected act that I like yet know very little about. I have How Will The Wolf Survive and the La Bamba soundtrack and that's about the depth of my Los Knowledge. I have such limited knowledge of their music that my memory of the set list is like this:

Some song with a loping shuffling groove / Another song with a loping shuffling groove / Evangeline? That name seemed to be in the chorus/ A song in Spanish that wasn't La Bamba I think by the dude that always wears sunglasses / A song they said was their new song which was really good, one of those slow bluesy number thingys / I don't remember what happened next / I think a song in Spanish that still wasn't La Bamba / Don't Worry Baby / Another song I think it was a cover of something/ La Bamba - Good Lovin

Poor Los Lobos, I couldn't fill a thimble with what I know about them yet judging from the audience reaction I was their biggest fan there. I was impressed with their tight performance and tasteful blending of old school rock n roll with Spanish music. In particular, the big dude that sings lead most of the time and lead guitar was really good. Had no idea he could play like that, very soulful guitar from that guy. The sunglasses guy, probably as close to a visual trademark as Los Lobos has, sang lead a couple of times. Sunglasses guy tried hard to get the audience to engage and sing or clap along mostly to no avail. Probably because the crowd had no idea what they were playing, even when they covered other people's songs (like Good Lovin). So Los Lobos likely didn't make any new fans that evening judging from the smattering of applause they got as they left the stage, too bad as they came across as a very good band.

After the stage changed over the lighting changed to resemble that of a smoky bar and living legend Eric Clapton walked out. The set list ran as:

Key To The Highway / Going Down Slow / Hoochie Coochie Man / Old Love / I Shot The Sheriff / Driftin' / Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out / River Runs Deep / Same Old Blues / When Somebody Thinks You're Wonderful / Layla / Badge / Wonderful Tonight / Before You Accuse Me / Little Queen Of Spades / Cocaine

Encore: I guess it was Crossroads, we were leaving to beat the traffic at that point.

Clapton opened with "Key To The Highway" and the audience got their butts off their chairs to greet the guitar God. The gently upbeat tone of the song matched that of most of his solo work - meaning it was time to get excited in a laid back sort of way with occassional fireworks. That's not a bad thing, that seems to be his demeanor and music should match the artist. Still I got a kick out of the set list going right to "Going Down Slow" as song two, all but ensuring the enthusiastic crowd would sit back in their seats.

The guitarist is known for being somewhat reticent about being a STAR which made for a refreshing approach from what is normally an ego driven format (Rock music). Clapton gave plenty of room for his accomplished sidemen to strut their stuff and noticeably did not have a key spotlight shining on him from the front. He was lit from the back like the rest of the band. The sharing of the limelight also probably allowed EC to rest up for his big moments, at his age he likely doesn't have the energy to go all Joe Satriani on us and blaze away for two hours nonstop (the exception being Mick Jagger to this statement since he works out a lot and all).

After "Hoochie Coochie Man", the show really hit it's stride with a lengthy "Old Love". Starting with just Clapton playing and then sliding into a slow building cresendo of keyboard / guitar solo magic, "Old Love" was the highlight of the evening for me. When Clapton would get psyched on his solo he'd lift his left leg up while fluidly zipping up and down his fret board. Keyboardist Tim I think he said last name Cowans matched Clap with a blazing solo on a synth with a Stevie Wonder "Superstition" sound.

Despite being crowded by the guy next to me, I have to admit I was OK with it because the dude was a true fan. He sang along with the lesser known songs like "Old Love" and knew his stuff. What I wasn't OK with was the douche sitting behind me. This guy ran his mouth throughout the whole show, his dumbass voice cutting through the concert sound system (which was mixed evenly and to perfection which is saying a lot for a Sacto show, Power Balance Arena formerly Arco Arena has long held the nickname "Echo" Arena.). The guy went on and on about how he was here for one song, "Cocaine", and talked about it through all the other songs. Even big hits like "Layla" and "Wonderful Tonight" weren't immune to his yapping. Douche.

Meanwhile, EC started what seemed like random scratching on his guitar before the band kicked in to "I Shot The Sheriff". They were on a strong roll after "Old Love" culminating in Clapton shouting an inspired "If I am guilty I will pay!!" towards the end.

Not to be ageist, it's no secret that Clapton is an old guy now. It wasn't too surprising the middle section of the concert was a lengthy sit down performance of mostly slow blues numbers ("Nobody Knows You...", "River Runs Deep", "Same Old Blues"). EC did use this time wisely to include selections from his recent self titled album and some lightness ("When Somebody Thinks You're Wonderful"). It was interesting to see the guitar ace's knee bounce all over while playing, kind of wobbling about. The sit down session culminated in the unplugged arrangement of "Layla" though Clapton was playing an electric guitar.

The rest did EC good as he stood up for a fiery "Badge". The crowd, restless from sitting through slow jams and replentished from their bathroom break, lept up to their feet. There was fist pumping, cheering and middle aged women reverting to teenage "Heeyy, that's my jaaammm" mode. For a moment it felt like how it must have been like to see Clapton 30 years ago. Standing before the audience delivering powerhouse guitar work. Again, Clapton doesn't want people to stand up for too long as he switched moods again to the prom stand by "Wonderful Tonight".

It was back to the blues with one of Clap's favorite covers the rollicking "Before You Accuse Me". And again to slo jam mode for Robert Johnson's "Little Queen Of Spades".

To close his main set, EC dished out the long awaited "Cocaine". The audience got all fired up again and rightfully so. Even the douche had to shut up for a moment.

We left at this point I've read online that the encore was "Crossroads" with a slightly mellower take, I'm sure it was great.

My only complaint about the concert itself was that it felt a bit short, then again citing Clapton's age it's probably not realistic to expect too long a show (or for him to play "Bell Bottom Blues" I guess). Eric Clapton sang and played excellently and his backing band was very good. Even after all these years, Clapton can still be considered God.

Straight From The Heart

2010-10-24T22:10:00.000-07:00

After spending the last few years on the road delivering sharp performances all over the place, the Wilson sisters have returned with their first new disc since 2004's Jupiter's Darling. But where that album held some vestiges of the group's more commercial past, Red Velvet Car finds the sisters returning to the sound of their earliest work. Like Led Zeppelin III, Heart pummels their acoustic guitars into rocking form while occasionally flipping on the electrics to burn the place down. The buzzsaw riffage of "WTF" is offset by some sturdy strumming on tunes like "There You Go" or "Wheels". The dramatic "Safronia's Mark" is pretty good too. Where Red Velvet Car stalls is in finding memorable hooks to go with their fervent guitarwork. The song writing is solid and likeable, definitely within Heart's comfort zone, but nothing with the Wow factor.

Heart is one of those bands that have definitely earned a victory lap and after all these years it is nice to hear them make a disc that reflects their original concept clearly. Red Velvet Car is a nice reminder of how great they are and in terms of performance they are as sharp as ever, if only the songs had been beefed up a little more they probably could have turned out a classic. So good stuff yet still a missed opportunity.

String Theory

2010-10-22T14:57:00.000-07:00

Sting returns with an album filled with symphonic renditions of his reggae/jazz-rock classics...oh, wrong Sting pictured here.

Okay, I haven't posted in a month's time so I got a backlog of stuff to write about. Here's to hoping I can keep it up this time. Some of the music I've listened to feature two aging British rockers taking their music uptown to the symphony.

I'll start with the erstwhile Peter Gabriel's album Scratch My Back. This disc started as a project where Gabriel would cover another artist's song and then that artist would cover one of his songs. As time went on, the covers became a bit one sided with Gabriel doing most of the covering so it looks like he just decided to release his set as a full album. Lots of tasteful folk get the Gabriel treatment like Radiohead, Arcade Fire, David Bowie, Lou Reed and others. Usage of a symphony harkens back to Gabriel's prog rock roots and is a marked departure from his standard polyrhythmic antics. The orchestral arrangements take a straight nod from Suftjan Stevens with strings that stir and go twinkle-twinkle at the end. It's all done with forethought and artistry, too bad the end result is a snooze. After the opening version of Bowie's "Heroes" I find it hard to pay attention to this, it's like sitting through a science class - you know the information is useful and helpful but it still puts your ass to sleep.

Sting and his strings fare better on his album Symphonicities. Ever notice if you add an "r" into the third letter of Sting you get String? The Stingster covers his own material, giving fresh reworkings to both hits ("Roxanne") and album cuts ("We Work The Black Seam"). Unlike Gabriel, Sting doesn't straight jacket his songs with stuffiness instead opting for what must be the Disney music orchestra. The orchestra swings and grooves in a way that will give figure skaters background tracks to at least ten different routines. Best moments include a version of "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" that would sound appropriate in The Little Mermaid, a slowed down "Roxanne" and a fired up "She's Too Good For Me". Favorite cut was "We Work The Black Seam" which originated from Sting's first solo album, "Seam" is given new life and relevance in it's muted meditation on world peace. As long as you don't think too hard (like asking what's the point of this project?) Symphonicities is a pleasant effort with some high points.

I Like You, Man

2010-09-30T19:35:00.000-07:00

I've taken a long break from blogging here, so here's my first shot at getting back on the horse. Been watching a fair amount of television and without realizing it became a fan of a specific actor: Jason Segel. I just think this guy is funny, often playing this sort of sincere buffoon character in a variety of shows and movies. Even looking at photos of the guy to put on this post has me chuckling and all he's doing is standing around (not the pic I eventually picked though). The first time I saw a performance by him where I paid specific attention to his acting was in Forgetting Sarah Marshall (Marshall funnily enough is his name on How I Met Your Mother but i'm getting ahead of myself). He played his character with the right amount of pathos and humor to keep the film rolling. Next I saw him in I Love You, Man where he was a bit more antagonistic but in a nice way (and also revelled in another recurring theme for this actor, a bit of Rush worship like his character in Freaks and Geeks but again I'm getting ahead of myself).

Anyway, one tv show I've been checking out is reruns of the much acclaimed tv series Freaks and Geeks. It was one of those high school shows from ten years ago that was set around 1980 or so. It was also one of those shows that would gain an American Graffiti / Fast Times At Ridgemont High aura of being a hot bed for young actors that would break big later. F&G included Linda Cardenelli (ER), Seth Rogen (tons of movies), James Franco (Spider Man) and yup, Jason Segel. Having watched about ten episodes I could see why critics still cry at the mention of this one season wonder. It's deftly written with healthy doses of realistic characters, teen drama and nostalgia.

At the same time, How I Met Your Mother has hit syndication giving me an opportunity to catch up on this great show. As scatalogical as it is focused, the five characters clown around and bounce off each other the way a group of friends would. Reruns have let me see the character's rich history of inside jokes and epic events like the Pineapple, the time Aunt Lily kicked Asian Elvis in the nards and a couple's first "I Love You" stemming from a bag of Funions. A fun lightweight show.

I'd say I can't wait to see what Segel does next, but it looks like his next major project is a Muppets movie. Can't say I'm really into Muppet movies (though the first one was OK) but if anyone is gonna make me like it it's probably this guy. Count me in as a fan, bro.

Grace Is Gone...

2010-09-06T09:42:00.001-07:00

Rating:

So I jumped on the bandwagon of looking forward to a new release from Grace Potter and the Nocturnals. They rode in on a heavy buzz with support from Rolling Stone magazine and a nice push for their video "Tiny Lights". I liked the new song and went online to check out this group. And I liked what I heard, 70's boogie rock with a singer that could wail strongly while playing organ like an Allman sister. Then, I saw on tv a recent concert performing many songs from the new album. The band's shaggy 70s rock aesthetic came over nicely and they weren't bad tunes.

So I bought the album and found it to be competent and dull. What's sad is it's not necessarily the songwriting, about half the songs I would say are good which isn't really the ratio of good:bad songs you want but I've sat through worse. No, what sucked was the production. All of the rambunctous energy and ragged fun had been taken out, replaced with clean smooth sonics. It was like Grace Potter had become one of those prehistoric insects trapped in amber. You could look at her and imagine what she was like back when she was alive. Not that I wish she was dead or anything of that ilk, just talking talent wise here.

So out of this overproduced disc there are a few winners: the song "Paris (Ooh La La)" sounds ready for a reality tv montage with it's saucy delivery and surging guitars. And there is some quiet ballad song that I can't remember the name of. That's about all I got.

So I jump off yet another bandwagon promising glory while giving me a drink coaster. Better luck next time kid.

Asia in Napa, or is it Napa in Asia...

2010-08-29T23:48:00.001-07:00

Tonight I saw one of the greatest things ever, the original lineup of Asia powering through a killer set playing with a fired up fervor rarely seen on the oldies circuit. The first supergroup of the 80s flew into wine country and turned in a magical performance. And we had third row seats!

The set list:

I Believe / Only Time Will Tell / Holy War / Never Again / Through My Veins / Don't Cry / Steve Howe solo / The Smile Has Left Your Eyes / Open Your Eyes

intermission

Go / Time Again / An Extraordinary Life / End Of The World / The Heat Goes On / Carl Palmer Solo / Sole Survivor

encore

Days Like These / Heat Of The Moment

I've been to a lot of concerts and it's rare that there is one that I felt was perfect, but Asia got pretty close to perfection on a warm Sunday evening. In the remodeled Uptown Theater in Napa, I sat mere feet away from the four British gentlemen whose music I worshipped through my formative years.

The band came blasting out with a set list that mixed classic Asia with a fair amount of tracks from their past two reunion albums Phoenix and Omega. It's rare to see an "oldies" band play more than two modern songs in a show, let alone six cuts. This is the type of set list you would hear bands in their prime play, inspired by recent material and trying to push their record sales via live performance. Thunderous tracks like "I Believe" and "An Extraordinary Life" flew high on the backs of these talented guys. And who would doubt the total awesomeness of "Only Time Will Tell" or "Heat Of The Moment".

There were some amazing surprises in store as well, with two post Steve Howe tracks "Go" and "Days Like These" getting play. "Go" is one of my fave Asia songs and I was ecstatic to hear it live. "Days Like These" was also great, it had been so long since I'd heard it I didn't recognize the song until the chorus. Two Alpha songs got fine treatments with just keyboardist Geoff Downes and vocalist John Wetton on "Don't Cry" and "The Smile Has Left Your Eyes". The latter cut blew my mind when the ending switched from Wetton / Downes to a full band reprise. I'd dreamt of hearing a full band version of "The Smile Has Left Your Eyes" and now there it was.

Steve Howe's acoustic guitar solo (that included his classic "Mood For A Day") was mesmerizing. Howe was the most fired up I'd ever seen him, pulling out all the spastic awkward stage moves he's known for. Carl Palmer remains a beast on the skins even post heart surgery. His epic drum solo had me flashing back to Asia in Asia. Keyboardist Geoff Downes got short shrift from the soundman, his twinkling synths were buried under a wall of sound. Meanwhile, John Wetton sang excellently and impressed me with his nimble bass work.

Anyone who doubts Asia's ability should check out "Time Again", the old guys nailed the fancy instrumental interplay with gusto.

In terms of record sales Asia's time is gone, but in terms of inspired arena rock their time is now.

Go Rangers

2010-08-26T21:33:00.001-07:00

Haven't written anything in awhile, so to put something up I decided to post a show from my childhood. I saw this program twice in the 70s and thought it was the greatest thing ever, so bummed when it inexplicably stopped airing. The Go Rangers were the predecessors to what would become Power Rangers (ugh) twenty years later, five people in baggy costumes who could grab a specialized weapon when they held their hands to their face mask. And then kung fu, jump around and explode! Despite seeing the show only twice, due to my proximity to San Francisco's Japan Town (plus having Japanese relatives) I had a plastic doll of damn near all them. Something we've lost in the modern age of DVRs, VCRs and You Tube is the thrill of turning an aerial antenna, putting tin foil on the extension rods and waiting for your program to appear. Then again, with the modern age we've also lost the disappointment of your favorite show disappearing. Catch 22!

The Other Guys Won't Be Around

2010-08-15T19:45:00.000-07:00

Bad Vibrations - Mark Wahlberg and Will Farrell make a less than funky bunch in The Other Guys.

Rating:

.
Wow, The Other Guys, it looked so promising from the advertisements. Will Farrell and Mark Wahlberg in a buddy cop movie sending up buddy cop movies. The commercials made me laugh with Farrell playing against type as a fuss budget to Mark Wahlberg's tough Boston dude gimmick. Plus, it was going to have The Rock and Samuel Jackson as hot shot cops who rule the streets while "the other guys" do the paperwork. As they say on Flight Of The Conchords, all systems were go everything was perfect...

Except Rock and Jackson die off quickly (and humorously) towards the start of the flick. And with them goes much of the energy this movie had, even an Ice T voice over narration can't keep things up for long. Farrell and Wahlberg go through the standard buddy cop motions we've seen before in tons of films before but their attempts at irony/satire fall flat. Leaving a generic police thriller flooded with bad jokes spiked with a couple of chuckles in their wake. Meaning we're watching a bad action movie that isn't even trying to be good.

Not to completely deride The Other Guys, in a supporting role Michael Keaton kicks ass as the stereotypical aggravated police chief with an obsession for an old hip hop group while moonlighting as a floor manager with Bed Bath and Beyond. And Farrell dodges some of his usual gross out humor to milk laughs out of intellectual prissiness instead (such as bragging about having 6 Cds of the Little River Band in his car). Which means he's not as funny as he can be, yet I respect him more as an artiste'. Though it's no accident that the few laugh out loud funny bits involve Farrell's character unleashing his trademark bull in a china shop approach to comedy. Such as delving into his past as a college pimp named Gator. And bad cop / bad cop? That's classic.

Surprisingly dull past the first ten minutes, The Other Guys does little more than prove why the people who stand in the background of action films are back there - it would be boring as hell to follow them around.

It's The End Of The World As We Know It...And I Feel Fine

2010-08-10T22:03:00.000-07:00

Why do you let me stay here? Zooey Deschanel and that 3rd Rock kid see if it takes two to make a thing go right in (500) Days Of Summer.

Doom and gloom. Death and despair. We're all familiar with these feelings and a lot of the recent movies I've watched know it too. Except instead of drowning in sorrow, these movies have put a fanciful smirk on the whole deal. Tragedy as comedy. If that's not living in the 21st Century, I don't know what is.

Zombieland (2009)

Aka the best acting performance Woody Harrelson has put in since I don't remember when. The latest spin on the zombie genre focuses on a small group of survivors who were outcasts/loners in regular society that become the unwitting hope of humanity. The lead actor kid from Adventureland makes like a modern day Matthew Broderick with his intellectual ramblings and rules for staying alive in zombieland. With sadistic Harrelson and a pair of young grifters at his side he looks for a reason to live while fighting for his life in a post zombie planet. The film has a fun zippy energy and canny production value that gets the most out of utilizing its small cast with the exception of a few big set pieces. Definitely worth watching if you even half way like the genre.

(500) Days Of Summer (2009)

The kid from 3rd Rock From The Sun has grown up to be a squinty eyed serious guy. He hooks up with indie hot girl Zooey Deschanel and ends up in a 500 day relationship told in non linear order. Done with narration that presents the story as half fairy tale half anthopological study, (500) Days Of Summer effectively takes the viewer (me) through the heady rush of infatuation to the crushing heartbreak of rejection. Deschanel plays a bit against type, being the pragmatist to 3rd Rock guy's lovey dreamer. Well acted and brilliantly constructed, this anti-rom com gives believable characters and manages to turn what could have been droll and over thought to near poetry. And a superb soundtrack filled with indie/alt classics. Yeah, I liked this one.

2012 (2009)

From the guys that brought you every end of the world epic since Independence Day comes a real END OF THE WORLD yawn I mean yarn called 2012. John Cusack inexplicably continues his streak of bad career choices by starring in this disaster flick about the literal end of life on the planet. Buildings fall, landmarks crumble, seas of people disappear into a CGI haze of fire or whatnot. The one thing cool about this movie that it gets right is that its a dog eat dog world, if the big day comes lots of people are gonna get screwed out of their life by the rich and powerful. The story and characters are just the run of the mill types popular in this dreary tradition - plucky protagonists and smarmy antagonists escaping close calls with lucky breaks. Borring.

Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs (2009)

All CGI animated films are old hat now, which takes some of the thunder away from Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs. It's not bad, it's actually pretty entertaining with its tale of a misfit inventor who creates a food replicator that accidentally ends up in the sky and rains food on his island. Meatballs is, ahem, well done and never lags pace wise. Not something I regret seeing at all, just not entirely memorable. Except for Mr T's voice acting, T is always awesome. I pity the fool who doesn't like Mr. T!

And that's all I got for now. See you at the red box!

Hold On!

2010-08-02T21:18:00.000-07:00

As long as I've bought records I've noticed a certain trend in pop/rock songwriting - Everyone has to Hold On! This song title and some various variations on it seems to appear in the songbook of every writer at some point. Why? Is everyone really that desperate? Or in a rush? Let's see who passes and who fails. It's a universal sentiment, to hold on, so hold on, hold on tight, while I periodically post songs that tell you to Hold On in some fashion. Might as well kick it off with the most obvious entry, the three ladies who grew up on harmony vocals amid family disharmony - Wilson Phillps. Won't you hold on? For one more day??

Mr Mike's High School Record Collection: The Power Station - 33 1/3

2010-07-30T22:00:00.000-07:00

Duran Duran played at a faux sophisticated James Bond edge in their new romantic era peak, so when it came time for the inevitable solo projects a natural combo was to see two of the Taylors (bassist John and guitarist Andy) team up with the 007 of rock - Robert Palmer (I'm assuming Roger Moore is not a great rock singer). Roping in producer Bernard Edwards assured deep grooves and a killer backbeat delivered by his longtime drummer Tony Thompson (Freak Out!). Originally intended as a one-off project with a rotation of singers, the project took on a life of its own when Palmer was made front man and they scores two Top 10 hits as a result. Taking their name from the New York recording studio they were in, The Power Station electrified Duran starved record audiences in 1985. And led a certain British blue eyed soul crooner down a path that was - wait for it - simply irresistible.

1. Some Like It Hot

I was watching Saturday Night Live when they announced that The Power Station would be on. Had no idea who The Power Station was, recognized 3 of the 4 in the still image they showed on tv though. So on they came, playing "Some Like It Hot" and at some point in the song the two Taylors groove out and sandwich Palmer at his mic stand and I thought "They look a little...friendly..." Over time (and an inescapable presence on Top 4o radio) "Some Like It Hot" grew on me. That splashy Latin influenced percussion, Andy Taylor's spiky guitar solo and Robert Palmer's bald faced sex metaphors ("You want to multiply, are you gonna do it???") became da shizzle fo real. Little did I know this would be my first exposure to what I consider the single greatest drum performance ever - Tony Thompson kicks so much ass on this album it's ridiculous.

2. Murderess

First song you're gettin' it on, next you're dealing with a dangerous woman. It really is James Bond! I didn't dig this tune until I saw it performed on Live Aid. As quickly as I had been surprised by the formation of Power Station I was equally shocked when I tuned in to find out Robert Palmer had been replaced by Michael Des Barres. At the time I rejected the Des Barres version for being a hollow replacement. Watching now, I can see Des Barres was a decent fit. A bit more Jagger swagger than the suave Palmer but good enough (Palmer had left the band to record his breakthru solo album Riptide). How sad that both these singers are no longer with us. Oops, just looked up on wikipedia that Des Barres isn't dead. Sorry bro.

3. Lonely Tonight

Robert Palmer liked to button up in his fancy suit and groove to some soul. Anchored by a classic 80s funk soul groove (having Bernard Edwards produce helps) Palmer gives this track bite. Edwards was an awesome musician, having produced and performed with Chic, Diana Ross and a host of other greats. Tragedy seems to follow this band around with the exception of the two Taylors, Edwards died suddenly just before a Power Station reunion got off the ground in the mid 90s.

4. Communication

The plan was for Palmer to sing just this song, what would be the third (and least successful) single from the record (thank you wikipedia!). Personally, I loved this jam and thought it was the best combo of the group's funk/soul/rock/pop elements. The way the rhythm section of Thompson and John "pretty boy" Taylor lock in is impressive. To think, without "Communication" there never would have been an "Addicted To Love", "I Didn't Mean To Turn You On" or "Simply Irresistible". We would have been robbed!

5. Get It On (Bang A Gong)

And now for the tune that really got me hooked on The Power Station. I've heard their cover of the T Rex classic described as "clunky" and "needless" but truth be told, I like PS' version better. It rocks harder with all band members firing off. Andy Taylor dominates with his buzz saw guitar lick, while John Taylor holds down the fort. Meanwhile, Bernard Edwards inserts some supreme bass popping for extra flava. Naturally Robert Palmer blazed through his bitten vocal, yet all these peeps take a back seat to Tony Thompson. If this album has my favorite drum performance of all time, this song is the pinnacle of killer drumming. Thompson hammers down the beat and displays a rare sense of power throughout. Tony Thompson is like a drum God hurling his stick at the unrepetant drum skins of awesomeness. Tony Thompson is like a nuclear explosion captured in a titanium bottle and shipped to the South Pole where his awesomeness can be let out and heard from a safe distance. Tony Thompson does't do push ups, he pushes the world down. Oh wait, that last one was Chuck Norris. He was so good he almost replaced John Bonham for a Led Zeppelin reunion (and did appear with Zep at their horrid Live Aid set). When I heard he had passed away in 2003 and if I remember right wasn't even playing drums (for some reason I think he was working with tires or insurance, probably wrong), I was truly saddened.

Interestingly, "Get It On" is the most identifiable song from the Des Barres era. The DB version of the group performed this one at Live Aid and also on Miami Vice. It's hard for me to believe this version was originally intended to back ex Playmate Bebe Buell aka the mother of Liv Tyler. Turns out John "bangs in the face" Taylor was dating Ms Buell at the time. Which is not to say that John Taylor was banging Bebe Buell in the face. I have no knowledge of that. I was referring to his hair!

A side note, Bebe Buell is one of those names that repeatedly pop up in rock history. She has been with several rock stars in addition to Taylor and Tyler, a list that includes Elvis Costello and Todd Rundgren.

And now the moment you've been waiting for, the Michael Des Barres version of "Get It On" from their appearance on Miami Vice!

6. Go To Zero

Maybe the only real weak link on the record, "Go To Zero" kinda goes there. It starts off OK with "Hey hey something something something Go To Zer-o" and then I forget the rest. Usually fast forwarded this one. Hmmm. What to muse on with this space? That I saw Andy Taylor perform live in '86 and he sucked? That John Taylor's "Do What I Do What I Do" is catchy in an annoying way? That I hated how Robert Palmer's "You Are In My System" was on the radio every half hour for a brief period of time? How about this: I really liked the album cover art of the "electric girl", even copied it for a high school art project at the time. I know, I'm a dork ;)

7. Harvest For The World

Thanks again wikipedia, I didn't know this was an Isley Brothers song. It's funny, Robert Palmer's voice sounds so different on this track I often wondered if one of the other band members sang it. And it brings about another question that has bugged me for decades - why wasn't this song performed at Live Aid? Doesn't it sound like a theme song for the event?

8. Still In Your Heart

A nice ballad ending to an energetic album. Haunting and probably the track that is most remiscent of Duran Duran itself. It seemed the end of the Power Station after this song because the other releases were so low profile that I didn't know they existed until recently. The Des Barres version of the band recorded a song for Schwartzenegger's film Commando which I had no clue of despite seeing that move like twenty times. And the reunion album Living In Fear from 1996? Didn't know it existed until I saw it in a $2.00 used CD bin. I thought it was some compilation disc so I skipped it.

And that was all she wrote for The Power Station. Too bad they couldn't hold it together in the 80s when it counted but these guys had day jobs so it wasn't meant to be. The project seemed to make the biggest difference to Andy Taylor, after the freedom of this band and his solo hit "Take It Easy" he left Duran Duran for like 20 years. No more rhythm parts, time for a solo!

KISS On My List Pt. 2

2010-07-24T22:47:00.001-07:00

Been hooked on watching endless reruns of Gene Simmons Family Jewels. Simmons persona of retiring old fogey, shrewd business man and egomaniacal rock star makes for plenty of reality tv "moments". Flanked by his ex-Playmate girlfriend Shannon Tweed, their sarcastic son Nick and grounded daughter Sophie the clan finds lots of trouble to get in and out of with the most silly of consequences. It's happy time tv, a family sit com under the guise of a reality tv show peeling back the layers of rock stardom. Is it real? I don't think so, not fully anyway. Family Jewels shows a specific side of the family's life that displays a mutual love and sense of adventure they share. Things like actual conflict or real problems (like the legal wrangling taking place right now between Simmons and an ESPN makeup girl over alleged sexual harassment) have no place here. And story lines involving stalled cars (both Gene Simmons and the Tweed sisters have had this happen to them this year) or wacky romantic rendezvous has me convinced their episodes are being written by the creators of Growing Pains. But I love Growing Pains so I'm cool with that. Life is a party in this tv show and that's the appeal for me. So rock on Gene!

Kiss Is On My List Pt 1.

2010-07-22T22:01:00.000-07:00

Not out of touch but a little out of time for The Bird And The Bee.

Rating:

Remakes of Hall & Oates you say? Blasphemy! Still, I was intrigued by the prospect of new age jazzers The Bird And The Bee tackling these revered classics on Interpreting The Masters Vol 1. Electro poppin where H&O bounced, B&B grooves with clever intricacy and buzzy sheen. Natch, singer Inara George's breathy vocals can't match Daryl Hall's blue eyed soul so she doesn't try to. This is Hall & Oates done Cost Plus style and the results wind up fittingly half and half. Like a new coat of paint hastily plastered on an aging fresco, there are moments of revised beauty and spots of threadbare wear for 'ol warhorses like "Sara Smile" or "Private Eyes". As honorably faithful it is to not change the gender on the girl-I-love-you lyrics relayed by Girl George, it starts to distract after awhile. Nothing wrong with girl to girl love songs, it just has to hit me more universally for me to dig it. Thankfully, B&B knock H&O's two deadliest grooves "Maneater" and "I Can't Go For That" out of the park. End result? Pretty good, could have been better. Or should I say "So close, yet so far away"?

Holy Effin Crap!

2010-07-18T22:53:00.000-07:00

The ad for the upcoming movie The Expendables reads like a teenage Mr Mike's dream of hyperviolent action. I used to fantasize about a meeting between Stallone, Schwartzenegger, Willis (along with Norris and Gibson, who aren't in this) and how bad ass that would be. Expecting bad reviews and a kick ass time when this one finally gets on DVD!