Founding member of the Doors, Ray Manzarek died yesterday after a battle with Bile Duct Cancer. He was 74. You can get more details on his death here. If you are a fan of Rock Music, hopefully you are aware of the influence of The Doors. Ray Manzarek had a signature sound that made the band recognizable in the first few seconds of the song. It was a mix between Saloon Piano player and Psychedelic Church Organ. Manzarek also took on low end duty by playing Bass parts on a Fender Rhodes Piano. Which made The Doors incredible groove all the more amazing to me. To have that kind of swing without an actual bass player is pretty awesome.
Doors drummer John Densmore gave this statement yesterday:
"There was no keyboard player on the planet more appropriate to support Jim Morrison's words. Ray, I felt totally in sync with you musically. It was like we were of one mind, holding down the foundation for Robby and Jim to float on top of. I will miss my musical brother."
To back up Mr. Densmore's statement, check out this performance for Dutch Television from 1968:
So Jimmy Page said he was up for a Led Zeppelin tour after their very successful reunion show in 2007 at London's O2 Arena. But Robert Plant said not right now. Then, late last year, Robert Plant said he might be up for a Zeppelin tour. Crickets from Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones. So Mr. Plant is hitting the road with his Sensational Space Shifters. That show will be coming to the Bank Of America Pavilion in Boston on July 25. Get more info here. If you're wondering if he's doing Zeppelin songs, the answer is yes! But don't expect a true to form reading of the classics. That's not Mr. Plant's style. Here's a version of "Black Dog" from a recent show in South America.
Queens Of The Stone Age keep the animated creepiness rolling with the latest video for new song, "My God Is The Sun". The track is from the upcoming album ...Like Clockwork which comes out on June 4. I'm getting the feeling that when this album is released it will open the gates of hell and be the soundtrack to the Apocalypse. Maybe that's just me?
*UPDATE*
They just released the whole weird package strung together. My suggestion? Take a couple of healthy rips from the bong, turn all the lights off, and enjoy.
In the past few centuries Transylvania has gotten a pretty bad rap for being the land of blood sucking freak vampires. The whole Dracula thing really didn't help(Thanks Bram Stoker!) and of course we root our blame for Twilight upon that. But Transylvanian Artist Sandu Ciorba has been providing his style of Romanian folk and weirdness for many years. As you can tell by this video it's not all Bats in the Belfry Transylvania:
F**ck Yeah that Rocks! I'm guessing you didn't make it through the whole video. I'm also guessing you're disappointed that the hot Romanian chick didn't get naked. But you'll come back... Sandu beckons you...
Heavy Metal fans are some of the most passionate and fanatical on the planet. The most beaten down genre of music is always the underdog, always fighting for respect. Well that moment of coveted validity may be here thanks to the British Institution of learning known as New College Nottingham. They are currently offering a two year degree in Heavy Metal Music Performance.
The classes will cover the history, cultural significance, and relationship Heavy Metal has to religion. It will also cover some of the business of Metal. Get a full course description here. Does the offering of a degree make Metal more legitimate? Ask Lemmy from Motorhead or Phil Anselmo if they think a College Degree in Metal would've been beneficial to their careers? I'm sure their responses would be quite informative and colorful. Maybe a class on Entertainment Contracts and Music Publishing would be more useful. I'm sure King Diamond didn't have a teacher tell him to paint his face like a demon. But I would safely guess he may have had a few teachers tell him to get out of their class once or twice.
The class should come with a warning: Loving Heavy Metal may cause a debilitating addiction. That is exactly what happened to 42 year old Roger Tullgren of Hasselholm, Sweden. According to three Psychologists(who, I'm guessing don't want to lose their sweet government grants) Mr. Tullgren's Heavy Metal Lifestyle disables him from having normal employment because of discrimination. Apparently he lost a few jobs because he attends around 300 Metal shows a year and can't get his fucking priorities straight. So now the Swedish Government pays part of his salary and his new job as a dishwasher allows him to listen to his music while working as well as giving him time off to go to shows.
Tullgren said he had been trying for ten years to get this scam approved. He says his debilitation began at age two when his brother played Black Sabbath for him.(Ozzy is still getting blamed for shit, unbelievable.) In an interview for the Swedish publication,The Local, he said,"Some might say that I should grow up and learn to listen to other types of music but I can't. Heavy metal is my lifestyle." Don't get me wrong, but I love me some Metal too. But somehow the words, "Shut The Fuck Up" come to mind.
During Astronaut Chris Hadfield's stint as Commander of the International Space Station he has used twitter to help us understand why exactly we are sending humans into space. Now he is using the Music Video medium on his last day in orbit to convey the beauty of looking down from on his home planet.
This is the first music video created in space and maybe the first recorded music. Hadfield recorded his vocals and guitar on the ISS while he had a band do the rest on Earth. Despite his Porno-stache he deliver's a heartfelt version of David Bowie's "Space Oddity"; a song, I always thought, was about heroin addiction. But with some minor lyrical changes for accuracy he does a pretty good job at a more literal translation. Talk about getting cred! This guy was able to get more high than any Rock Star in history. Plus he's had to poop in a bag for 5 month's AND he did it sober!
Safe landing Commander Hadfield.
Commander Hadfield, I have a request for when you come back to Earth. PLEASE do NOT do a cover of Peter Schilling's "Major Tom". That song drives me nuts! Thanks and congratulations.
Visual Effects Pioneer and Legend Ray Harryhausen passed away today in London (5/7/13) at the age of 92. Harryhausen created a type of stop motion animation called "Dynamation" which was way ahead of it's time. That time being the 1950's and 60's. After seeing the original King Kong film as a kid he dedicated his life to being a visual effects artist. Here's a short list of some of the movies that featured his greatest work:
Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (1956) 20 Million Miles to Earth (1957) The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958) The Three Worlds of Gulliver (1960) Mysterious Island (1961) Jason and the Argonauts (1963) One Million Years B.C. (1966) The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1974) Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (1977)
Clash of the Titans (1981)
Harryhausen inspired the works of Directors like George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Tim Burton(who gave a nod to the artist in his movie Corpse Bride by putting his name on a piano that the main characters played). Peter Jackson said, "The Lord Of The Rings is my Ray Harryhausen movie." James Cameron(Avatar, Titanic, Aliens) said, "I think all of us who are practitioners in the arts of science-fiction and fantasy movies now all feel that we're standing on the shoulders of a giant. If not for Ray's contribution to the collective dreamscape, we wouldn't be who we are."
His passing today triggered a great memory from my childhood when my family lived in West Newton, MA. I'm going to get really Old and Farty here. When I was 8-9 years old my fellow Davis Elementary School friends and myself would walk down to the West Newton Cinemas a few Saturdays during the Summer and catch their weekly Sci-Fi/Fantasy Double Feature. The fact that our parents would let us do this on our own amazes me. It was like 2 bucks and air conditioned, with cheap popcorn. That's where I was introduced to Harryhausen's work. I caught most of the movies listed above which amazed and scared the crap out of me. Those Skeleton's from Jason And The Argonauts still creep me out to this day. I tried watching it on acid once and ran from the house in horror. Luckily I was clothed.
I found this sampler of most of his work. I also posted the Skeleton Fight from Jason And The Argonauts separately because it's still brilliant. Harryhausen worked 4 months on that scene unassisted. Look at those blood thirsty sons-a-bitches! Imagine them unleashed on a Rankin/Bass set? There would be Elf parts everywhere!
Sweet Dreams....
p.s. He also had the best Sushi place in Monstropolis.
Shinedown are becoming Kings of the Rock Power Ballad. The kind of song where you find your arm reaching for a lighter once it starts. The kind of song that could be great for a slow dance but kicks in just enough to make it seem a little awkward. Must be their Duval County, Florida roots. Lynyrd Skynyrd are from the same area. One thing is for sure, Brent Smith's voice is for real. No auto-tune there.
This performance was recorded live at Henson Studios, Hollywood CA:
Just using a bottle opener isn't good or fun enough for those crazy beer loving Germans. Quite honestly if it takes even a few more seconds to open my beer I get very impatient and cranky. Maybe that's just because I'm an American(or I'm an alcoholic).
The full on case opener is quite useful in a group drinking situation but the backhoe? Actually it would be pretty funny to have that dude drive around some festival or parking lot offering to open your beer. Although eventually, somebody is going to lose an eye.
This is a preview clip for the song "I Appear Missing" from the new Queens Of The Stone Age album ..Like Clockwork, out on June 4. It starts with a heavily bandaged and bleeding man waking(or rising) in the middle of one of Josh Homme's favorite subjects, The Desert. He seemingly wills himself to float past several hazards like hungry vermin and prickly cacti to an urban area where he ends up..well, you'll see. It's good to see QOTSA remain as creepy as ever. it's all about the Weirdness.
Metallica were honored by their Hometown team with a "Metallica Night" at AT&T Park in San Francisco. They didn't have Metallica Bobble heads but they did give out sweet Giants/Metallica caps and had Drummer Lars Ulrich throw out the first pitch. The most Rock part of the night was James Hetfield and Kirk Hammet injecting the Metal into the "Star Spangled Banner". I've always been a sucker for the epic twin guitar lead and when applied to our National Anthem, it was double Epic.
By the way, those sweet Caps are already $96.00 on Ebay.
Volbeat's greasy haired leader Michael Poulsen described their sound the best when he asked the crowd at The House Of Blues last night, "Do you want Metal? Do you want Rock-N-Roll? Do you want Country? Do you want Punk?" They delivered all of that with a steely-eyed confidence for 90 minutes. I have indentations in my skull to prove it.
They Hammered the crowd with songs from the new album, Outlaw Gentlemen And Shady Ladies like "Perl Hart", "Doc Holiday", and the Maiden-esque "The Hangman's Body Count". But the highlights of the night were older tunes like a pummeling version of "A Warrior's Call" from Beyond Hell/Above Heaven, witch was basically a challenge to every sweaty guy in the place to hurl themselves into the pit. And the Johnny Cash tribute "Sad Man's Tongue" witch started with an acoustic strum before being blasted full on with the railroad beat of Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues" ,but on nuclear steroids.
By the end of the last song "Pool Of Booze Booze Booza" The House Of Blues was a steaming sweaty mess of drunken piles of flesh. Not once through the whole show did Poulsen not smile. Grinning while he and his band delivered a steady stream of beatings to the rabid dog crowd. With his black vest and Sheriff's badge he looked like the Doc Holiday from the song, prowling the OK Corral for a kill. He has a lot to be happy about with his band on a rocket trip and an album doing the same on the charts. You were lucky if you were in attendance. This might be the last time Volbeat plays a room this small in Boston.
It's called "How Not To Orgasm". All of these would be rather deflating and embarrassing. Although the reference to Rammstein wouldn't be too bad. It would confuse the wife though.
What would be worse is thinking of Rammstein at the point of orgasm. Or, having them in the room with you.
Yngwie Malmsteen could have been the greatest Trumpet player of all time. Or greatest Drummer of all time. But it was Jimi Hendrix setting his guitar ablaze that inspired the very young Swede to pick up the instrument he is most known for. Since then he has been called the "Greatest Guitar Player In The World" (among many other things) and has released 19 albums worth of mind boggling guitar Gymnastics that has influenced and confounded many.
On his latest album, "Spellbound", you get the purest form of his talent as he plays all the instruments with most of the riffage coming from first take ideas. He's also entering the world of words with a memoir called "Relentless" and is entering the digital realm with his instructional website RelentlessShred.com.
You can see him shred it up tonight at The Wilbur Theater in Boston.
In my opinion, Rush didn't need to be in The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. They never really needed to belong to any group or club. Much like their fans they did their own thing. They created their own businesses model to survive the cut throat Music Industry. They toured relentlessly to get their music heard. They followed their own formula of song writing regardless of what was "in" at the time.(Well, there was that horrendous rap in the middle of "Roll The Bones".) Their own Musical Ecosystem supported by one of the most loyal legion of geeks and outcasts that have passed on their appreciation to their children to be passed down to their children for over three decades.
It was this army of fanatics that pressured the RRHOF year after year until Jan Wenner finally caved and allowed the outsiders into the Pantheon of Rock Legend. But it was not the Hall that welcomed these Gods of the Great White North..It was the Holy Trio that allowed the Hall to be part of their world. In the end(also a great tune from Fly By Night), Rush accepted the accolades from the Hall and once again let the Geeks know that they have the power.
It can be summed up in the words of Guitar Wizard Alex Lifeson, "Blah blah blah, blah blah blah. Blah, blahh blah blah blah blah blah. Blah Blah Blah." The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame Induction Ceremony will be aired on HBO on May 18. Check out the rough footage below
Dave Grohl and Taylor Hawkins from Foo Fighters inducting the band:
Holy Cow! Neil is talking!:
Foo Fighters having the most fun you could possibly have ever:
