Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Greatest Song You Never Heard
This was the last song on Velvet Revolver's debut album in 2004. The album holds a truly special place in my heart since I was going through some major changes all at once. I was 26, my mother just got married and sold the house I grew up in, my grandmother who raised me was moving out and I was looking for a new apartment, I just got laid off, and after two years, I had enough of the needy, childish female dog that I called Girlfriend. The breakup was bad and loooooooonnnnnnggggggg. Took the police 45 minutes to get to my house after she punched out the window on my back door and kicked manhole cover sized dents in my car. After asking the cop to explain to her that she was no longer welcome at my house, his response was " hey buddy, I have my own girl problems, you need to tell her that yourself." I wonder how fast it would have taken that cop to arrest me if I was the one punching out doors? So in the midst of all this, it's announced that two of my all time favorite bands are getting married. GUNS AND ROSES and STP. Could there be a light at the end of this tunnel? I saw them live three weeks before the album came out. Slash threw me a pick during I Used To love Her. JUSTICE. I was high on Velvet Revolver when the album came out. That day I bought the album and took a drive with my best friend Stevie to the Ex's house to drop off all the stuff she suddenly wanted back, like the guitar she got me for Christmas. Throughout the 30 minute ride, my head was spinning. Contraband was amazing but it seemed hard to concentrate with all of my distractions. Then the last song came on. Loving The Alien. My heart dropped when Weiland wailed in the chorus " ......AND I'M MOVIN ON............." Somebody knew what I was going through. This is a great song to reflect with. It just hits that nerve when you need it most. It's there to let you know someone gets it when you need that confirmation most. This is Lovin The Alien from Velvet Revolver
Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right BA BA Select Start
Top Five Greatest Video Games of All Time. Yeah I know Play Station 602 has graphics that reach through your screen and move the controls for you. I'm talking about simpler times though. Video Games that were revolutionary at the time, had everybody talking, and are still remembered today. OLD SCHOOL
5- Legend Of Zelda - Finally Fantasy has nothing on Zelda. The Blue Candle, The Red Candle, The hidden passages, the bombs, couch monsters and Gannon. This game had it all. Adventure, fun, mystery. Zelda gave a twelve year old a greater purpose than stealing porn magazines
4- Mike Tysons Punch Out - If you can't beat Glass Joe, you probably drooled on the window of a short bus on your way to a special school. Make sure you crack King Hippo in the mouth. Alternate jabs on Don Flamingo and he'll drop in one shot, and wait till Bald Bull's third hop to take him down with one body shot.
3- Street Fighter 2 - Greatest Fighting game of all time. Mortal Combat was awesome for the violence, but SF 2 had a certain presence about it. I always used Ken. Zangief was useless. So was Dhalism. Blanka was a badass. Chung Li was easy to beat. That game is AWESOME
2- Rygar - Rygar was a badass with that crazy Yo Yo Shield on a string he had. I loved the way you could cripple the Octopus by hopping on them. Such a simple game with a lot of action, and it never seemed to get repetitive
1- CONTRA - Greatest action adventure game of ALL TIME. Talk about NEVER getting repetitive. I spent hours playing it as a kid. In hindsight, I think I could beat it in about 25 minutes now, but never without the super code to get me 30 lives. On two player with an experienced professional on my side, I'm unstoppable
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Tuesday 9/29 Greatest Song You Never Heard
Well the wait is over. Alice in Chains is officially back. Black Gives Way to Blue is out TODAY. You gotta think that somewhere, someplace, nobody is happier about this than Layne. Todays greatest song you never heard is dedicated to Layne in honor of Chains first album in fourteen years. This is a duet Layne did with Ann Wilson of Heart for their album in return for her backround vocals on a few tracks on SAP, Chains first EP.
Desire Walks On is the eleventh album, but thirteenth album overall by rock/pop band Heart. Released in 1993, it yielded four singles; "Will You Be There", which reached #39 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, "Black On Black II", which was a mainstream rock hit, "Back To Avalon" and "The Woman In Me", which failed to make the Hot 100 but "bubbled under" at #105. The album peaked at number #48 in the U.S.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Pearl Jam Review
There is a mixed reaction over Pearl Jam's latest release Backspacer which came out last Tuesday. Pearl Jam released a........... happy sounding album? Have you seen Eddie Vedder's model/girlfriend? This might have something to do with the happy sound of Backspacer. Below is a fair and honest review of Pearl Jam's ninth album
By Evan Sawdey
PopMatters Interviews Editor
Amazon
Lala You’ve heard the rumors, and the rumors are true: Pearl Jam have finally released a “pop” album.
Yet the phrase “pop” doesn’t mean what you think it does in the world of Pearl Jam. For certain purists, “pop” is just another way of saying that Pearl Jam have “sold out”, a theory that’s only furthered by the fact that Backspacer—the group’s ninth studio album—is getting the premiere of its physical release through big box corporate retailer Target, a sure sign that the group is now chasing the Almighty Dollar instead of their values, lurching forward as if their infamous battle with Ticketmaster never even happened. As if that isn’t enough, there are some that gladly point to lead single “The Fixer” as undeniable evidence that the grunge-pioneers have shed their white-knuckle trademark rock sound for something infinitely more accessible and upbeat, as if Eddie Vedder & co. are now desperate for a gigantic radio hit ...
... to which the following response is generated: so what?
When Pearl Jam released their iconic debut album Ten back in 1991, few would have guessed that the group would become unintentional godfathers of the ‘90s grunge explosion, entering the gigantic world of mainstream rock radio before Kurt Cobain even had a chance to let the door shut behind him (which is incredibly ironic given that Ten came out a whole month before Nevermind did). Though Pearl Jam soldiered on—racking up #1 albums and radio hits in equal measure—things began winding down as the millennium came to a close, and their 2000 release Binaural was arguably the moment when the group hit rock-bottom, having finally released a disc that tried to sound like what the group thought people wanted to hear in a Pearl Jam album, instead of making the record that they actually wanted to make. That’s a theory that gains traction when you look at the rejected songs from the Binaural sessions that wound up on the 2003 rarities comp Lost Dogs—tracks like “Sad” and “Hitchhiker” that proved to be some of the poppiest songs that the group had penned in years.
Yet it seems that Pearl Jam was very conscious of the fan reaction to Binaural, and it is from this point onward that the group began getting a bit looser with their legacy, starting with the release of 72 “official” live bootlegs from their corresponding European and U.S. tours from that same year. In 2002, the group released Riot Act, a solid if not truly spectacular album, failing to reach the heights of Ten or Vs., but still showing the group taking steps in the right direction, opening up their sound a bit more instead of letting themselves get weighed down by their own legacy. This was soon followed by a contribution to the Big Fish soundtrack, a two-disc career retrospective called rearviewmirror, the aforementioned Lost Dogs rarities set, and two more rounds of live bootlegs. It’s as if Pearl Jam had finally embraced who they were, and were doing nothing but celebrating that discovery.
As such, their 2006 record—simply titled Pearl Jam—was nothing short of a revelation. For the first time in their career, guitarist Mike McCready was the principal sonic architect, and McCready made his intentions clear: he wanted to reconnect with the band’s early sound, penning powerful rockers that were more melodic than angst-ridden, more soulful than distortion-fueled. It was, in short, the album that patient Pearl Jam fans had been waiting for, and boy did it deliver. Shortly thereafter, Eddie Vedder released his first-ever solo album in the form of the Into the Wild soundtrack, and the group’s crowning achievement (Ten) was given the deluxe reissue treatment, not only reminding everyone just how influential that record was, but also showing that group had now officially moved beyond it—as great as Ten was, Pearl Jam were not going to let that disc define them any longer.
Which leads us to the novel thing about Backspacer: there isn’t a single disc in the group’s entire back catalog that it can even be compared to. Though individual songs can be referenced in order to give one an idea of what Backspacer sounds like (“Last Exit” from Vitalogy and “Wishlist” from Yeild being chief among them), Backspacer is its own unique entity: a scrappy little rock record that barely lasts 37 minutes, making it the shortest and most up-beat album in Pearl Jam’s cluttered discography. Yet, more critically than that, Backspacer is the sound of Pearl Jam actually having fun again, and it’s hard not to picture Vedder sporting a huge goofy grin on more than a few of these tracks, here rocking out with more passion than he did during his three-song stint as the Doors’ guest vocalist during the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony in 1993.
Backspacer starts off with the lurching strut of “Gonna See My Friend”, a ferocious little number that sounds like it was made by a much younger band, one that worshiped at the altar of ‘70s album rock instead of participating in the ‘90s Seattle grunge scene. Though the band’s love of their heroes has been apparent in just about everything they’ve done—ranging from their massively successful take on Wayne Cochran’s “Last Kiss” to their cover of the Who’s “Love, Reign O’er Me” from the soundtrack to the 2007 Adam Sandler movie Reign Over Me—never before has Pearl Jam made such a direct, deliberate homage to their influences. Hell, “Supersonic” even manages to do the sounds-ridiculous-on-paper feat of marrying the non-stop guitar strum of a Ramones song with a Tom Petty chorus and solo-filled bridge that would make Jimmy Page (and the makers of Guitar Hero) proud. It even concludes with a “yeah yeah yeah” chant ...
... and that’s not the only time they use it either. “Yeah” makes up for a majority of the lyrics to the chorus of “The Fixer”, an unbelievably catchy rock single that even uses handclaps during its verses. No, this is not the same Pearl Jam that made No Code—far from it, in fact. As visceral as Pearl Jam was, it in no way could have prepared anyone for the radio-friendly pockets of joy that make up Backspacer, an album that moves from one Bic-lighter stadium anthem (“Amongst the Waves”) to another (“Unthought Known”) without as much as batting an eye.
Oh sure, some songs fall back on some tired rock clichés (“Force of Nature” relies on that wah pedal just a bit too much, just as how “Johnny Guitar” feels like a pastiche of other, less-interesting early-Pearl Jam rockers), but these moments are often over before they even have time to register, instead allowing us to just sit back and enjoy the six-string spectacle all around. Lyrically, Vedder focuses less on worldly woes and instead tackles relationship issues, getting caught up in his own contradictory promises to his lover during the lush folk-pop ballad “Just Breathe”, wanting to make things better for everyone during “The Fixer”, and then suffering the pangs of sexual inadequacy during “Johnny Guitar” (as in: “Oh and I had my disappointment / ‘cos for years I had been hopin’ / That when she came / She’d be comin’ just for me”). In short, Vedder has become vulnerable again, and for a record that’s so musically outgoing and forceful, the dichotomy between these two sides works extremely well.
Which leads us to why Backspacer is such a contradictory little album. Make no bones about it: this will not go down as Pearl Jam’s best album by any measure, but that’s because it’s not supposed to be. This is Pearl Jam’s “fun” record, a disc that was likely just as exciting as record as it is to listen to. Tracing things from Riot Act onward, it’s become apparent that Vedder & co. have truly rediscovered their passion for what they do, and even when Backspacer missteps, it never feels like it’s going to fall: it will just restudy itself and then crank the guitars back up to 11 all over again.
During the album’s closing song (the aptly-titled acoustic number “The End”), Vedder warns us that “The end comes near”, and just as the string sections swell during his declaration “I’m here”, all the music suddenly drops out, and Vedder—by himself—ominously warns us “But not much longer”. Then the album, rather abruptly, ends. Fans can read into this as much as they want, but if Vedder is actually telling us that Pearl Jam’s days are truly numbered, then we truly have a tragedy on our hands here: we’re about to lose a band that—after years of being lost in the alt-rock wilderness—have finally re-discovered who they are, and sound stronger than ever because of it.
By Evan Sawdey
PopMatters Interviews Editor
Amazon
Lala You’ve heard the rumors, and the rumors are true: Pearl Jam have finally released a “pop” album.
Yet the phrase “pop” doesn’t mean what you think it does in the world of Pearl Jam. For certain purists, “pop” is just another way of saying that Pearl Jam have “sold out”, a theory that’s only furthered by the fact that Backspacer—the group’s ninth studio album—is getting the premiere of its physical release through big box corporate retailer Target, a sure sign that the group is now chasing the Almighty Dollar instead of their values, lurching forward as if their infamous battle with Ticketmaster never even happened. As if that isn’t enough, there are some that gladly point to lead single “The Fixer” as undeniable evidence that the grunge-pioneers have shed their white-knuckle trademark rock sound for something infinitely more accessible and upbeat, as if Eddie Vedder & co. are now desperate for a gigantic radio hit ...
... to which the following response is generated: so what?
When Pearl Jam released their iconic debut album Ten back in 1991, few would have guessed that the group would become unintentional godfathers of the ‘90s grunge explosion, entering the gigantic world of mainstream rock radio before Kurt Cobain even had a chance to let the door shut behind him (which is incredibly ironic given that Ten came out a whole month before Nevermind did). Though Pearl Jam soldiered on—racking up #1 albums and radio hits in equal measure—things began winding down as the millennium came to a close, and their 2000 release Binaural was arguably the moment when the group hit rock-bottom, having finally released a disc that tried to sound like what the group thought people wanted to hear in a Pearl Jam album, instead of making the record that they actually wanted to make. That’s a theory that gains traction when you look at the rejected songs from the Binaural sessions that wound up on the 2003 rarities comp Lost Dogs—tracks like “Sad” and “Hitchhiker” that proved to be some of the poppiest songs that the group had penned in years.
Yet it seems that Pearl Jam was very conscious of the fan reaction to Binaural, and it is from this point onward that the group began getting a bit looser with their legacy, starting with the release of 72 “official” live bootlegs from their corresponding European and U.S. tours from that same year. In 2002, the group released Riot Act, a solid if not truly spectacular album, failing to reach the heights of Ten or Vs., but still showing the group taking steps in the right direction, opening up their sound a bit more instead of letting themselves get weighed down by their own legacy. This was soon followed by a contribution to the Big Fish soundtrack, a two-disc career retrospective called rearviewmirror, the aforementioned Lost Dogs rarities set, and two more rounds of live bootlegs. It’s as if Pearl Jam had finally embraced who they were, and were doing nothing but celebrating that discovery.
As such, their 2006 record—simply titled Pearl Jam—was nothing short of a revelation. For the first time in their career, guitarist Mike McCready was the principal sonic architect, and McCready made his intentions clear: he wanted to reconnect with the band’s early sound, penning powerful rockers that were more melodic than angst-ridden, more soulful than distortion-fueled. It was, in short, the album that patient Pearl Jam fans had been waiting for, and boy did it deliver. Shortly thereafter, Eddie Vedder released his first-ever solo album in the form of the Into the Wild soundtrack, and the group’s crowning achievement (Ten) was given the deluxe reissue treatment, not only reminding everyone just how influential that record was, but also showing that group had now officially moved beyond it—as great as Ten was, Pearl Jam were not going to let that disc define them any longer.
Which leads us to the novel thing about Backspacer: there isn’t a single disc in the group’s entire back catalog that it can even be compared to. Though individual songs can be referenced in order to give one an idea of what Backspacer sounds like (“Last Exit” from Vitalogy and “Wishlist” from Yeild being chief among them), Backspacer is its own unique entity: a scrappy little rock record that barely lasts 37 minutes, making it the shortest and most up-beat album in Pearl Jam’s cluttered discography. Yet, more critically than that, Backspacer is the sound of Pearl Jam actually having fun again, and it’s hard not to picture Vedder sporting a huge goofy grin on more than a few of these tracks, here rocking out with more passion than he did during his three-song stint as the Doors’ guest vocalist during the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony in 1993.
Backspacer starts off with the lurching strut of “Gonna See My Friend”, a ferocious little number that sounds like it was made by a much younger band, one that worshiped at the altar of ‘70s album rock instead of participating in the ‘90s Seattle grunge scene. Though the band’s love of their heroes has been apparent in just about everything they’ve done—ranging from their massively successful take on Wayne Cochran’s “Last Kiss” to their cover of the Who’s “Love, Reign O’er Me” from the soundtrack to the 2007 Adam Sandler movie Reign Over Me—never before has Pearl Jam made such a direct, deliberate homage to their influences. Hell, “Supersonic” even manages to do the sounds-ridiculous-on-paper feat of marrying the non-stop guitar strum of a Ramones song with a Tom Petty chorus and solo-filled bridge that would make Jimmy Page (and the makers of Guitar Hero) proud. It even concludes with a “yeah yeah yeah” chant ...
... and that’s not the only time they use it either. “Yeah” makes up for a majority of the lyrics to the chorus of “The Fixer”, an unbelievably catchy rock single that even uses handclaps during its verses. No, this is not the same Pearl Jam that made No Code—far from it, in fact. As visceral as Pearl Jam was, it in no way could have prepared anyone for the radio-friendly pockets of joy that make up Backspacer, an album that moves from one Bic-lighter stadium anthem (“Amongst the Waves”) to another (“Unthought Known”) without as much as batting an eye.
Oh sure, some songs fall back on some tired rock clichés (“Force of Nature” relies on that wah pedal just a bit too much, just as how “Johnny Guitar” feels like a pastiche of other, less-interesting early-Pearl Jam rockers), but these moments are often over before they even have time to register, instead allowing us to just sit back and enjoy the six-string spectacle all around. Lyrically, Vedder focuses less on worldly woes and instead tackles relationship issues, getting caught up in his own contradictory promises to his lover during the lush folk-pop ballad “Just Breathe”, wanting to make things better for everyone during “The Fixer”, and then suffering the pangs of sexual inadequacy during “Johnny Guitar” (as in: “Oh and I had my disappointment / ‘cos for years I had been hopin’ / That when she came / She’d be comin’ just for me”). In short, Vedder has become vulnerable again, and for a record that’s so musically outgoing and forceful, the dichotomy between these two sides works extremely well.
Which leads us to why Backspacer is such a contradictory little album. Make no bones about it: this will not go down as Pearl Jam’s best album by any measure, but that’s because it’s not supposed to be. This is Pearl Jam’s “fun” record, a disc that was likely just as exciting as record as it is to listen to. Tracing things from Riot Act onward, it’s become apparent that Vedder & co. have truly rediscovered their passion for what they do, and even when Backspacer missteps, it never feels like it’s going to fall: it will just restudy itself and then crank the guitars back up to 11 all over again.
During the album’s closing song (the aptly-titled acoustic number “The End”), Vedder warns us that “The end comes near”, and just as the string sections swell during his declaration “I’m here”, all the music suddenly drops out, and Vedder—by himself—ominously warns us “But not much longer”. Then the album, rather abruptly, ends. Fans can read into this as much as they want, but if Vedder is actually telling us that Pearl Jam’s days are truly numbered, then we truly have a tragedy on our hands here: we’re about to lose a band that—after years of being lost in the alt-rock wilderness—have finally re-discovered who they are, and sound stronger than ever because of it.
Greatest Song You Never Heard : Duff McKagen
You remember different songs for different reasons. First date? Days of Thunder so I always think of that girl when I hear GnR doing Knocking on Heavens Door. (yes I realize how badly I dated myself) One of my best friends passed away when I was 18 so I always send his favorite song, Seven Mary Three's Cumbersome, out to him. Lost my virginity to Pearl Jams Ten Album, although I think I was done by the middle of Once. (track 1)
Well the first CD I ever owned was Duff McKagen's first solo project : Believe In Me. Duff was the bassist for Guns and Roses and more recently, Velvet Revolver and Loaded. It was a Christmas gift from my grandmother to go along with my brand new "boom box." Since Duff by himself wasn't a superstar, radio stations wouldn't give this disc the time of day, and YOU lost out in some of the best music of the year. Lenny Kravitz, Jeff Beck, and Slash all guest on it, and there is just enough of a Guns and Roses stamp to keep it heavy, relevant to it's time, and fun in twisted, dark road sort of way. Below is my favorite track from the album, I Love You.
Well the first CD I ever owned was Duff McKagen's first solo project : Believe In Me. Duff was the bassist for Guns and Roses and more recently, Velvet Revolver and Loaded. It was a Christmas gift from my grandmother to go along with my brand new "boom box." Since Duff by himself wasn't a superstar, radio stations wouldn't give this disc the time of day, and YOU lost out in some of the best music of the year. Lenny Kravitz, Jeff Beck, and Slash all guest on it, and there is just enough of a Guns and Roses stamp to keep it heavy, relevant to it's time, and fun in twisted, dark road sort of way. Below is my favorite track from the album, I Love You.
Friday, September 25, 2009
Metallica Interviews Alice In Chains
Here's a link to a new interview Alice In Chains did with Metallica. http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=127647 Pretty cool to see two worlds come together like that. I wonder though if James Hetfield is remembers a disgusting stunt he pulled 15 years ago. Check it out below. To make fun a guys drug habbit when you're in METLLICA? Really James, should we rag on you because the bus had no brakes?
In better times ......
In better times ......
The Greatest Song You Never Heard
It's a F*cking major crime that this album didnt get more recognition. River of Deciet was a minor hit but there's NOTHING minor about Mad Season, the band. Not Mad Season the lame Matchbox Twenty album. How can you NOT make amazing music with this lineup : Vocals - Layne Staley (Alice In Chains) Mike McCreedy (Pearl Jam) Barret Martin (Screaming Trees)John Baker Saunders. That's Heaven with flanel carpet.
The album, Above, which was recorded in Seattle, Washington at Bad Animals Studio (co-owned by Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart) and co-produced by the band and Pearl Jam sound engineer Brett Eliason, featured ten songs. It also included guest vocals and additional lyrics by Screaming Trees frontman and solo artist Mark Lanegan. McCready said, "We did all the Mad Season music in about seven days. It took Layne just a few more days to finish his vocals, which was intense since we only rehearsed twice and did four shows." The album was released on March 15, 1995 through Columbia Records to critical and commercial success. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic said that the album "sounds like a cross between Alice in Chains and Pearl Jam, taking the ponderous seriousness of Alice and PJ's '90s update of winding '70s guitar rock."[6] Staley's lyrics dealt with his personal troubles, with Martin saying, "Layne Staley felt as though he was on a spiritual mission through his music."[7] Over the course of 1995, Above scaled the Billboard 200, eventually peaking at #24 and spawning two singles: "River of Deceit" (#2 Mainstream Rock Tracks, #9 Modern Rock Tracks) and "I Don't Know Anything" (#20 Mainstream Rock Tracks). Above was certified gold on June 14, 1995.
Before you awake tomorrow with a major hangover, Let this masterpiece, this piece of American musical artwork put you to bed. Yeah when it comes to Chains, anything Chains, I'm a total band geek
The album, Above, which was recorded in Seattle, Washington at Bad Animals Studio (co-owned by Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart) and co-produced by the band and Pearl Jam sound engineer Brett Eliason, featured ten songs. It also included guest vocals and additional lyrics by Screaming Trees frontman and solo artist Mark Lanegan. McCready said, "We did all the Mad Season music in about seven days. It took Layne just a few more days to finish his vocals, which was intense since we only rehearsed twice and did four shows." The album was released on March 15, 1995 through Columbia Records to critical and commercial success. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic said that the album "sounds like a cross between Alice in Chains and Pearl Jam, taking the ponderous seriousness of Alice and PJ's '90s update of winding '70s guitar rock."[6] Staley's lyrics dealt with his personal troubles, with Martin saying, "Layne Staley felt as though he was on a spiritual mission through his music."[7] Over the course of 1995, Above scaled the Billboard 200, eventually peaking at #24 and spawning two singles: "River of Deceit" (#2 Mainstream Rock Tracks, #9 Modern Rock Tracks) and "I Don't Know Anything" (#20 Mainstream Rock Tracks). Above was certified gold on June 14, 1995.
Before you awake tomorrow with a major hangover, Let this masterpiece, this piece of American musical artwork put you to bed. Yeah when it comes to Chains, anything Chains, I'm a total band geek
Last Pair of Yeah Yeah Yeah Tix TONIGHT
Sometime between 6 P. M. and 8 P. M. I'll be giving out JSE's last pair of Yeah Yeah Yeah tickets at the Borgata for tomorrow night. YOU MUST BE ABLE TO PICK UP THE TICKETS TONIGHT. Now the Yeah Yeah Yeah's are not the new Zepplin. If it wasn't for the Euro trashy Karen O, they might be playing your Uncle Vito's Alchohol free steak house tonight, BUT............ There is no better date concert than the Yeah Yeah Yeah's. It's never gonna be Freebird, but it doesnt always have to be. It's mindless fun that's great to bring a member of the oppisite sex to.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
There has got to be an easier way
So somehow through bleary eyes and caffeine induced bursts of energy, it was decided that it would be a good idea to have a four way get back in shape party at Mainland Fitness on RT 9 in Linwood. Jo Jo, Scotty, Switch, Myself. If you ever want to feel good about yourselves, stop by and watch this clusterf*#k.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
More AIC Footage
I promised some more footage of that Alice In Chains concert. 7 days left until Black Gives Way To Blue is released. This video isnt as clear as Nutshell is below which is why I didnt post it sooner, but I've been getting a few e-mails asking for a better idea of what Chains sounds like now. They sound like Alice In Chains
Monday, September 21, 2009
Filling The Gap
I spent last night watching the Giants - Cowboys game at Jo Jo's. I know I'm in Eagles country but I come in peace. I can't help what team I root for. I was born this way. Big Blue never makes it easy. They won a Superbowl with 1 second left on the clock and last night wasn't any less stressful to watch. The defense should be stronger, yet Dallas tossed them around like rag dolls. All night I was screaming BRING BACK STRAHAN and that got me thinking. Friday is the debut of Brothers featuring the marriage of my two favorite things in life that don't have a risk of getting me Syphilis. ROCKY MOVIES and the NEW YORK GIANTS. Brothers stars Giants LEGEND Michael Strahan and Darryl Mitchell, but in a supporting role is the one and only Carl Weathers. THE SACK KING and APOLLO CREED on one T. V. screen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That's what you call Living In America MoFo's. On that note, I need to watch some girl on girl adult entertainment to cleanse all the man love that went on at Jo Jo's during the game. I haven't been groped that much by grown men since my time at the Neverland ranch back in the 80's. What? Too soon? Please
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Songs That Make You Question Your Masculinity
I got caught at a red light singing to Bon Jovi's Bad Medicine the other day. NOT MY PROUDEST moment but it got me thinking. There are times in a guys life when he needs to know certain songs so that the softer sex can think he's sensitive. So what are the ten songs that girls love to dance to, make out to, and explore each crevice of the back seat of that Mitsubishi Spider to, yet wont make you feel like YOU should be the one bending over?
10- GIRL ALL THE BAD GUYS WANT- Bowling For Soup
Sure it's a little poppy, and immature. Like downing 4 beers before happy hour prices ends isn't? It's a great sing along song. The best part is the bridge. After whining for two verses about how the world stops when this girl walks into the room, and how she's the perfect woman for him, he sums up the true motive of every human that pees standing up : "ALL I WANTED WAS TO SEE HER NAKED!!!!!!!!!!!" Somehow girls love this song
9- SANTERIA - Sublime- It's no secret I prefer the heavy stuff, but this is THE grind against your girl/guy song on the dance floor of any bar. With your half priced beer in one hand, your special no no place grinding against someones thigh, and screaming about capping Sancho's punk ass, this song makes it a good night
8- SWEET CAROLINE - Neil Diamond- Yeah we wouldn't be caught dead playing Neil Diamond on JSE, but I guarantee you EVERYBODY at Jse knows this song word for word. It's built for drunken sing alongs. It's got places designed to fit your off key vocals all over it's 2 minutes and 21 seconds of awesomeness
7- MY OWN WORST ENEMY - LIT- Lit actually had a few decent songs in the late 90's. Miserable, Addicted and Over My Head were solid middle of the mix CD songs for a long road trip. Their first big single however is still being butchered by low talent cover bands across the nation. It doesn't brag about being a total F*%K UP, but it helps you celebrate the fact that your still alive "Please Tell me why my car is in the front yard, I'm sleeping with my clothes on......"
6- SUMMER OF 69 - Bryan Adams - Real simple. Certain songs get a free pass. I know your mom loves this song. I know it's written by the same guy who sings that horrible Robin Hood, Everything I Do For You song. I know I shouldn't like it. I love it. Any song that celebrates the nights your working so hard to have right now is good. Letting it all go on a Friday night with your best friends. Songs about doing things you can only do with the best of friends. Any song about playing in bands, drinking, eating wings, listening to great songs, and a finding the perfect place to party, is a great song.
5- GLORY DAYS - Bruce Springsteen - I grew up on the Boss. Sorry had to throw it in there
4- ENTER SANDMAN - Metallica - It was the beginning of the end of Metallica's integrity. The Black Album wasn't as bad as S and M or Reload, but songs that tore your face off like Harvester of Sorrow and Seek and Destroy were a thing of the past. When people party to your songs at weddings? Your not a bad ass band anymore. People love to scream the chorus, they stir when they hear Nuestead's bass intro, and they ......dance? Hey man, that's why this list is about songs that make you feel like you're selling your soul. Metallica sure as F*&K did
3- RUNAROUND SUE - Dion - See songs 8,6, and 5
2- LIVING ON A PRAYER - Bon Jovi - This is New Jersey right? It transcends genres, time and age. It's just a good song. To a guy with a tattoo of Ozzy Osbourne on his left arm, this is the true definition of a guilty pleasure
1- YOUR LOVE - The Outfield - I'm gonna let this one speak for itself. If you don't believe me, pop it on any jukebox, in any bar, in New Jersey tonight and watch what happens
Friday, September 18, 2009
The Greatest Song You Never Heard
Every Friday Night I'll do a feature called the Greatest Song You Never Heard. Even Jse can't get too deep all the time, but I can, and you can help. I'll a feature either an obscure band or obscure song by a mainstream Jse artist each week that's still relevant to what we play. It's a fast world. We get bored quickly and we're always reaching for something new. First Up? The Neurotic Outsiders.
The Neurotic Outsiders was a supergroup founded in 1995, consisting of Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols, Matt Sorum and Duff McKagan of Guns N' Roses, and John Taylor of Duran Duran. The very first line-up featured Billy Idol and Steve Stevens (together with McKagan and Sorum), but they were soon replaced by Jones and Taylor. The group was originally called Neurotic Boy Outsiders.
Originally a gathering of friends jamming together at the Viper Room, they eventually recorded one album, Neurotic Outsiders (1996) on Maverick Records, and did a brief tour of Europe and North America.
This is Angelina. It might be 14 years old but it's still better than anything Axl Rose has written in the same time. I'm a huge G n R fan so anything with Duff in it is cool, and YOU CAN NEVER GO WRONG WITH THE SEX PISTOLS
The Neurotic Outsiders was a supergroup founded in 1995, consisting of Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols, Matt Sorum and Duff McKagan of Guns N' Roses, and John Taylor of Duran Duran. The very first line-up featured Billy Idol and Steve Stevens (together with McKagan and Sorum), but they were soon replaced by Jones and Taylor. The group was originally called Neurotic Boy Outsiders.
Originally a gathering of friends jamming together at the Viper Room, they eventually recorded one album, Neurotic Outsiders (1996) on Maverick Records, and did a brief tour of Europe and North America.
This is Angelina. It might be 14 years old but it's still better than anything Axl Rose has written in the same time. I'm a huge G n R fan so anything with Duff in it is cool, and YOU CAN NEVER GO WRONG WITH THE SEX PISTOLS
A Mega Metallica tour that will Slay You
Well it started as a grade school rumor: James Hetfield got a paper cut in first period and by eighth period his arm was amputated after contracted a flesh eating disease from sticking his hand up the bass players ass. HOWEVER, this rumor seems to have legs. Short ones, but if feed them, they will grow. When asked about weather or not this New Wave of American Metal tour can happen, Metallica's drummer Lars Ulrich said HE'D LIVE TO DO IT. Below is a transcript of a recent interview where he touches base on a number of issues, including the rumor about a METALLICA, MEGADETH, SLAYER, and ANTHRAX tour. The fabric in certain areas of jeans has just been stretched. Lars also told fans not to expect a new Metallica album anytime soon. Don't worry Lars, I'm in no rush for the Unforgiven FOUR
On the rumors of a tour featuring the "Big Four" of thrash (METALLICA, SLAYER, MEGADETH and ANTHRAX):
"I think that that's a story that definitely has gotten its own legs recently. I can trace it back to a night in London in, I think it was in March [2009], where a bunch of us were sitting around way later than we should have been sitting around [having] a bunch of very heavily red wine-induced conversations... It was right before the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and we were all very nostalgic. And the idea of doing that at some point came up in that conversation.
"I think it would be a super-fun thing to do. It's something that I would definitely support. It's something that I would love to encourage. It's something I love to be very proactive in putting together. But right now it's not something that really left that party; it's not something that's like hush-hush being worked on behind the scenes or anything like that.
"I read some of those Internet sites myself once in a while, and it's not something that's going down, but it's something that I would be totally for at some point if it could happen. And we would love to be a part of that at any level possible."
On when fans can expect to get a brand new METALLICA album:
"Are you familiar with the phrase 'Don't hold your breath?'
"When I think ahead of my life, I see more or less touring up through probably the end of next year — the end of '10. Then there's the obligatory six months of 'let's just catch our breath.' Then we'll probably get to making another record, start thinking about new songs, probably in '11. So based on... if you do simple math based on how long it's taken us in the past....
"Basically, the thing that's really different now is 10 years ago, 15 years ago, you'd make a record, then you'd go out on tour on it, and then you'd go home. And then you'd make another record, then you'd go out on tour on it, then you'd go home. And you would just do these cycles all the time. Now, as you get older, at least for us, being out and touring is a lot of fun, and it's also because we have a lot better of a handle on it than we used to. It doesn't turn quite as nutty as it used to in terms of driving us crazy and making us lose our minds and getting into all kinds of trouble. So it's like, going on the road now, we do it much more often but in much shorter spurts. So I don't really think that... this whole thing about, like, you make a record, then you go on the road, and then you're done.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Vaya Con Dios Bodi
Well Patrick Swayze passed away a few days ago which kicked off America's obsession with liking celebrities a lot more after they die. I mean the words king of pop and pedophilia barley get mentioned in the same sentence anymore. Really, though, I don't think anyone has a problem with Patrick Swayze. So when every T. V. station started running his movies non stop, it didn't stick in my chops like hearing Dirty Diana 500 times a day. One of my favorite movies, actually scratch that, my FAVORITE movie of all time is a Patrick Swayze flick. Did you ever see Point Break? It's okay to admit it here. Patrick Swayze plays the guru leader of a pack of bank robbing surfers and special agent Johnny Utah, played by Keanu Reeves, goes undercover to take them down. Yeah it's far fetched, and the acting sucks, and so what? The meaning behind the movie, the whole "slave to the system" concept actually did Kenau Reeves bank account quite well in another series of movies ten years later. Think of Point Break as a stripped down, surfer/skydiver version of the Matrix without a six foot five bad ass black dude running the show. Point Break works on every level. It's 90 minutes of mindless action with bikers jumping out of planes and karate brawls with the Red Hot Chilli Peppers (Really)Now for those of you who like movies that get cerebral on them? Point Break explores the limitations society puts on the working folk and the consequences that exceeding those limitations might have on someone looking for something more. If you have an hour and a half to kill, check out Point Break, even if you've already seen it. Patrick Swayze is worth toasting a beer to and that movie can't do you wrong. Vaya Con Dios Patrick
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Why I'm In Radio In a Nutshell
Two weeks ago, the big man Mark Thompson was gracious enough to give me his Alice In Chains tickets. He thought he was doing me a favor. He did me a HUGE favor. As I type this, there are 13 days seperating us from Black Gives Way To Blue. This is Alice In Chains first studio album in FOURTEEN years. Now here's the big question. With Layne Staley gone for over seven years, HOW THE F*CK CAN THIS BE ALICE IN CHAINS? HOW CAN THERE BE AN ALICE IN CHAINS WITHOUT LAYNE STALEY? Here's how : 16 years ago I met Mikey. He was two years younger than I was. He was the "elder statesman" of his class, like I was of mine. Basically this meant we were teenagers who could grow beards and buy beer for all our friends without the saftey net of a fake ID. Mike taught me how to play guitar. I'd watch him tear it up in bars every night with his band, jamming on GnR, Creed, Pearl Jam, and of course AIC songs. Every Night he'd send Don't Follow out to me. We made promises, "Brothers for life" non homo erotic type stuff. Well Mike died in late March of 2002 of a heroin overdose. Stupid Sh*t and a waste of a great life. Three weeks to the day, Layne Staley died of the same mistake. Well I needed to keep my promise to Mike, not for him but for me. I wasn't the one who F*cked up but why does that mean I couldn't keep my promise. Never did become a rock star, but I'm a DJ for a bad ass radio station in South Jersey. I play AIC for him. Well Alice In Chains never promised to replace Layne Staley. YOU CAN'T. They also never broke their promise. Why should they break their commitment to themselves, to music, and to YOU, because Layne screwed it all up? I look at Black Gives Way To Blue as AIC: The Next Chapter. Jerry Cantrell has his signature sound all over the place and when I listen to the new single Check My Brain? I don't hear guys trying to recreate anything. I hear Alice In Chains. Black Gives Way To Blue comes out on September 29th. AIC is moving on and we should too. For those who fell behind. For those would never want us to wait for them. Say Goodbye Don't Follow. Below is proof that Alice In Chains is ALIVE and ready to kick some major ass.
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