Brief announcement

Just a head's up, going to be posting the bios of the musicians in groups, will be starting tomorrow with the first five.  This way, I won't have to worry as much about posting daily.  I hope you enjoy these writings, I've just finished on Friday and hope they will inspire you to care more about the LGBTQ+ community.  Let's have a good month with less paranoia.

5/29/2020 releases

It's a big week this week, last week featured the surprise of a duet between Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande and this week, the whole album of Lady Gaga will be available.  A live album by Def Leppard is going to be released, as well as the new studio album of Adrian Vandenberg featuring Ronnie Romero on vocals.  Only a few days until June and my Pride Month project, it's undergone some changes since the initial announcement.  The lineup now looks like this:

1.)    Queen/Freddie Mercury

2.)    David Bowie

3.)    Judas Priest/Rob Halford

4.)    Miley Cyrus

5.)    K.Flay

6.)    Elton John

7.)    George Michael

8.)    Halsey

9.)    Brandi Carlile

10.) Hayley Kiyoko

11.) Kim Petras

12.) Vicky Beeching

13.) Sleater-Kinney/Carrie Brownstein

14.) Tegan and Sara

15.) Holly Miranda

16.) Julien Baker

17.) Halestorm/Lzzy Hale

18.) Bella Thorne

19.) Green Day/Billie Joe Armstrong

20.) King’s X/Doug Pinnick/KXM

21.) Sinead O’Connor

22.) Rina Sawayama

23.) Billy Preston

24.) Miya Folick

25.) Long John Baldry

26.) Rita Ora

27.) Desmond Child

28.) Chuck Panozzo

29.) Kesha

30.) Sam Smith

I'm also losing focus on this, are people paying attention to my blog?  I feel I'm just writing for myself, I'm not getting any feedback.  Please, talk to me.

Last Week's Surprises and Significant Known Releases of 5/22/2020

Last week was quite a busy week regarding surprise releases for me, with several major artists I love releasing singles and even one EP.  Noah Cyrus released her second EP, which Spotify even called an album, which compiled several singles released this year and last year and featured some good new songs, like "Ghost," "Liar" and "Young and Sad."  I feel, though, all her experiences and the COVID pandemic may have caused her to develop clinical depression, which I've experienced for a generous portion of my life and is not fun whatsoever.  Please keep her in your prayers if you pray.  K.Flay team with X-Ambassadors and grandson for a song called "Zen," an angry song about being isolated and stir-crazy during the quarantine.  It definitely hit some parts I could identify with, so I found it liberating.  Alice Cooper also released a song related to COVID titled "Don't Give Up," encouraging people to hold on, we will get through this.  This was definitely needed at this point in time, as well.  Metallica also released a stripped-down version of their hit "Blackened" from the "...And Justice For All" album, which was fun to listen to due to the more low-key version of a heavy thrash metal song, now with acoustic rhythm guitar and more decipherable lyrics.

This week is a busy week with several releases to look forward to.  I will mention four that I'm interested in.

Dennis DeYoung-26 East, Vol. 1: Dennis DeYoung was the original keyboard player for Styx and the man responsible for the concept album "Kilroy Was Here."  He is the one who sings "Mr. Roboto" on said album.  Now a solo act, Dennis DeYoung makes his own music and this is a release from Hard Rock Giants Frontiers Records.  Two songs have been singles thus far, one featuring Julian "Son of John" Lennon on guest vocals.

Various Artists-Love Lives On: This is a Country Music Compilation album featuring several collaborations.  Of course, what I'm looking forward to is Billy Ray Cyrus' contribution, featuring retired Staff Sergeant Mark Plummer and country musicians Eddie Raven and Lee Roy Parnell.  Cyrus and Plummer already teamed up with the rocker "Do What I Do," which also featuring Steve Stevens and Matt Sorum, and Lee Roy Parnell teamed with Billy Ray and Shooter Jennings on their cover of Waylon's "I've Always Been Crazy," so this sounds like it'll be a fun experience.

Jeff Healey-Heal My Soul (Deluxe Edition): Jeff Healey is a blues musician who I've enjoyed through Spotify.  This album features a live version of his cover of The Beatles' "Yer Blues," a favorite of its composer, John Lennon, who would perform it live twice without the other members of The Beatles.  The only other Beatles song he performed in his solo career was "Come Together," so this song is in esteemed company.

The Tabernacle Choir and Temple Square-When You Believe: At the Movies: This EP features covers of movie choir songs, with them already releasing a cover of Star Wars' "Duel of the Fates."  Of personal interest here is the version of "When You Believe" from Prince of Egypt, which my Church Choir sang one Easter service.  It's a good piece to give people hope and I think it will sound great.

LGBTQ+ Music Playlist For Pride Month 2020

This is a playlist I made last weekend for next month, I tried it in my shuffle yesterday and found it to be quite fun.

1.)    These Four Walls-Miley Cyrus

2.)    Party in the USA-Miley Cyrus

3.)    Kicking and Screaming-Miley Cyrus

4.)    Obsessed-Miley Cyrus

5.)    Don’t Call Me Angel-Ariana Grande, Miley Cyrus, Lana Del Rey

6.)    Bmblb-Jeff and Casey Lee Williams

7.)    Breaking the Law (Live 2015)-Judas Priest

8.)    Androgynous-Joan Jett, Miley Cyrus, Laura Jane Grace

9.)    Fat Bottomed Girls (Live, Bohemian Rhapsody)-Queen

10.) Yesterday, Today and Forever-Vicky Beeching

11.) The Wonder of the Cross-Vicky Beeching

12.) She’s Not Him-Miley Cyrus

13.) Fell On Black Days-Halestorm

14.) Ride The Lightning-Halestorm

15.) Forget About The Blame-Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Lzzy Hale

16.) All I Want Is to Be Your Girl-Holly Miranda

17.) BWU-Tegan and Sara

18.) U-Turn-Tegan and Sara

19.) Running Wild (Live 1979)-Judas Priest

20.) Love Wins-Carrie Underwood

21.) Malibu-Miley Cyrus

22.) Painkiller-Halestorm

23.) Love Bites (So Do I)-Halestorm

24.) The Climb-Miley Cyrus

25.) Suffragette City-David Bowie

26.) Ziggy Stardust-David Bowie

27.) Mother’s Daughter-Miley Cyrus

28.) Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds-Elton John

29.) Philadelphia Freedom-Elton John

30.) The Bitch is Back-Miley Cyrus

31.) Don’t Let the Sun Go Down On Me-Miley Cyrus

32.) Starbreeaker (Live 1979)-Judas Priest

33.) Folsom Prison Blues (Live)-Brandi Carlile

34.) Faint of Heart-Tegan and Sara

35.) Hunger Strike-Halestorm

36.) Still of the Night-Halestorm

37.) Happy Xmas (War is Over)-Miley Cyrus, Mark Ronson, Sean Ono Lennon

38.) Victim of Changes (Live 1979)-Judas Priest

39.) Goodbye, Goodbye-Tegan and Sara

40.) Victim of Changes (Live 2015)-Judas Priest

41.) Everlasting-Holly Miranda

42.) GNO-Miley Cyrus

43.) Rejoice-Julien Baker

44.) Calling All Girls (Live)-Queen

45.) Action This Day (Live)-Queen

46.) Gimme The Prize-Queen

47.) Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds-The Flaming Lips, Miley Cyrus, Moby

48.) Lovely Rita-The Flaming Lips, Tegan and Sara

49.) Dissident Aggressor-Judas Priest

50.) Conversation Piece-Julien Baker

51.) Red Door-Julien Baker

52.) I Saw Her Standing There-Elton John and John Lennon

53.) All You Need Is Love-Brandi Carlile

54.) Deliverer-Vicky Beeching

55.) Sister-K.Flay

56.) Run For Your Life-K.Flay

57.) Lucky One-Tom Morello, K.Flay

58.) Black Wedding-In This Moment, Rob Halford

59.) Malibu Barbie-Miya Folick

60.) Desert Call-Holly Miranda

61.) Nervous-K.Flay

62.) I Like Myself (Most Of The Time)-K.Flay

63.) Crowded Table-The Highwomen

64.) Beware of Darkness-Sheryl Crow, Eric Clapton, Brandi Carlile and Sting

65.) Highwomrn-The Highwomen

66.) If She Ever Leaves Me-The Highwomen

67.) Waves-Holly Miranda

68.) Under Pressure-Queen, David Bowie

69.) Nightmare-Halsey

70.) The Thrill Is Gone-Jeff Goldblum, Orchestra, Miley Cyrus

71.) Party of One-Brandi Carlile and Sam Smith

72.) Experiment On Me-Halsey

73.) Bad Memory-K.Flay

74.) Starbreaker-Judas Priest

75.) Breaking The Law-Judas Priest

76.) The other girl-Kelsea Ballerini, Halsey

77.) We Will Rock You-In This Moment, Lzzy Hale, Taylor Momsen

78.) Carried Me With You-Brandi Carlile

79.) STFU-Rina Sawayama

80.) Diamonds and Rust-Judas Priest

81.) Love Me 4 Me-Rina Sawayama

82.) I’m Ready-Sam Smith, Demi Lovato

83.) Tokyo Love Hotel-Rina Sawayama

84.) You Are The Champions-Queen+Adam Lambert

85.) Zen-X Ambassadors, K.Flay, Grandson

86.) Creep (Live)-Brandi Carlile

87.) My Song (Live)-Brandi Carlile

88.) Again Today-Pearl Jam

89.) Hell Bent For Leather (Live 1979)-Judas Priest

Releases of Note for 5/15/2020/Review of last week

Last week's releases were above average, Hayley Williams knocked it out of the park with some of the best Pop I've heard this year, Aly & AJ released a surprise single that was really catchy called "Joan of Arc on the Dance Floor," Kim Petras released a single called "Malibu" that, while not being a Miley Cyrus cover, was a catchy Pop song in its own right.  Dani Wilde released an inspiring single called "Brave" and I dove into some of my favorite songs from the past, buying songs from Pat Travers, Joan Jett, Duff McKagan, Beth Hart and RSO (a group made up of guitarists/singers Richie Sambora (ex-Bon Jovi) and Orianthi (ex-Alice Cooper)).

Sadly, tragedy struck the music business last Saturday as we lost Little Richard, one of the biggest influences in rock and roll.  He was over 90 and died of bone cancer, so we can't blame COVID on this.  The Beatles covered him a few times with Paul McCartney singing, and he also recorded "Good Golly Miss Molly," which has been featured in movies.  Little Richard also appeared as himself in an episode of Full House, where he performed his hit "Keep A-Knocking," which partially inspired the Led Zeppelin song "Rock and Roll."  I decided to buy "Keep A-Knocking" in his memory because I always loved that Full House episode.  He was also in an episode of Baywatch as a restauranteur who spoke in Little Richard song titles.  Little Richard will be missed.

There are two releases I am considering purchasing songs from this week, depending on how they play out, and a small release I pre-ordered.

Firewind-Self-Titled Release: Firewind is a Grecian Heavy Metal band who is famous for their guitarist, Gus G, who was the guitarist for Ozzy Osbourne for the first part of the last decade.  He plays like a virtuoso and the band will let him indulge himself with solos throughout the track.  The first single, "Rising Fire," sounded good, but "Welcome To The Empire" felt like a step down.  Another interesting thing to note is this band did a metal cover of the 80s Pop song "Maniac."  As in, "She's a maniac, maniac, maniac on the floor/and she's dancing like she's never danced before."

Charli XCX-How I'm Feeling Now: Remember How I speculated those singles were going somewhere?  I was right.  Charli XCX has used modern technology to record an album through the month of April to release it tonight at 9:00 pm PDT/Midnight EDT, all while staying under the quarantine.  She promises the album will feature her feelings under the pandemic and quarantine, so this could be beneficial to several people.

Pacific Breeze 2 Ep: Japanese City Pop, AOR and Boogie 1983-1986: This is the release I preordered, 4 songs from four different J-Pop artists in the 80s.  J-Pop can be very relaxing and fun, and I love hearing the language sung in the style of pop or upbeat rock.  My only regret is this release doesn't cover the 1989 release of "Yume no Naka E" by Yumi Saito, a personal favorite of mine for appearing in Godzilla vs. Biollante in an establishing shot of Osaka.  It starts with kind of a kick-butt edge, but the song is actually a piano-driven pop song and sadly, I can't find the version that appeared in the film on Amazon.com, only in Spotify.  Maybe it will be there eventually, I don't know.  Well, that's all for this week.

Pride Month 2020 plans for here

Normally, I write shipping fan fiction for the other website for Pride Month, which is June.  However, this year, I want to do something different that's more public and can be seen by everyone.  So I plan to write a blog post every day in June about an LGBTQ+ singer/musician.  Here is the list I have come up with.

1.)    Queen/Freddie Mercury

2.)    David Bowie

3.)    Judas Priest/Rob Halford

4.)    Miley Cyrus

5.)    K.Flay

6.)    Elton John

7.)    George Michael

8.)    Halsey

9.)    Brandi Carlile

10.) Hayley Kiyoko

11.) Kim Petras

12.) Vicky Beeching

13.) Sleater-Kinney/Carrie Brownstein

14.) Tegan and Sara

15.) Holly Miranda

16.) Julien Baker

17.) Halestorm/Lzzy Hale

18.) Bella Thorne

19.) Green Day/Billie Joe Armstrong

20.) King’s X/Doug Pinnick/KXM

21.) Sinead O’Connor

22.) Fergie

23.) Billy Preston

24.) Miya Folick

25.) Long John Baldry

26.) MUNA

27.) Desmond Child

28.) Chuck Panozzo

29.) Kesha

30.) Sam Smith

I hope we all will learn some things about music and how important the LGBTQ+ community is to the current music scene.  I am seriously looking forward to this project and I hope you all will enjoy it.

5/8/2020 Releases and Last Week's Surprises

Last week featured the pleasant surprise of three singles related to the Coronavirus pandemic and encouraging people to get through it.  There was "Together" by for KING and COUNTRY with Kirk Franklin, "Together (We'll Get Through This)" by Steven Curtis Chapman, Brad Paisley and Lauren Alaina, and Queen and Adam Lambert released a re-recording of one of Queen's biggest hits, now aimed at medical personnel, called "You Are The Champions."  All three of these made me feel a lot better when I was feeling down and I would recommend them if you're struggling with the current quarantine.

This week has one big release and a release I'm keeping my eye on due to some interesting tracks in it.  The big release is Hayley Williams' Petals For Armor.  This is the first solo album from the lead singer of Paramore, featuring a more Pop sound than the band's early Alternative Rock efforts.  It has been advertised with great singles throughout the year so far, such as "Simmer," "Leave It Alone" and "Over Yet."  I look forward to seeing how all the tracks fit together on this album and hearing the first release from Hayley Williams since 2017.

The Logues-Live Sessions: I've never heard of this band before and didn't even know of this release until last week, but it's caught my eye for three covers of 60's-70's songs.  This release features new versions of Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Looking Out My Back Door," Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here" and ABBA's "Dancing Queen."  I'm a fan of the original versions of these songs and hope these new versions will be good, too.

My most important post

Today, I received an email that many small, independent music venues are possibly going to close down due to the pandemic-created economic crisis.  Venues like my hometown's The Shakedown and Wild Buffalo or Seattle's Crocodile Café, Tractor Tavern or El Corazon.  These places host my favorite non-Beatles tribute bands such as Rising for Ronnie James Dio, Zepparella for Led Zeppelin, Hell's Belles for AC/DC and Outshined for Chris Cornell.  In some cases, this is the only way to hear this timeless music live in the current age and has provided me with great nights with exemplary performances.  Adrian Conner and Noelle Doughty deserve to be heard just as much as Angus Young and Robert Plant, so I am calling on anyone who reads this, anyone who cares about live performances of classic rock, visit this webpage: https://www.nivassoc.org/take-action?mc_cid=03cb732788&mc_eid=7a47b6b345 and convince the Federal Government our live venues deserve to remain in existence!

Something a little different

I write Fan Fiction as a hobby on a different website, here's something I came up with for the Month-long event they have there called MerMay that I think is really good and so do they.  I'm also thinking about leaving there soon because I'm getting exhausted there, so I want to see if it's okay to post this here or if people complain.  This involves characters from the manga/anime Fairy Tail and the video games Metroid, The Legend of Zelda and Super Smash Bros.

Samus and Zelda were sunbathing by Lake Hylia in a pair of reclining beach chairs one sunny day, relaxing and taking some time off Smash.  Zelda idly flipped through a book as Samus rested.  Samus suddenly felt someone poke her shoulder.  “Ah, come on, we’re resting.” She sighed.

“Sorry to disturb you two.” Stated Erza Scarlet, who had tapped Samus.  “Lucy wants to test some magic out at this lake, I felt it was important we got permission first.”

“What does she want to do?” asked Zelda, looking up from her book.  Lucy walked into the scene.

“Well, I wanted to get some practice magic in before July rolls around and one of my keys is Aquarius.” Replied Lucy.  “This is the largest body of water I’ve seen since coming to this world, and I think she’d enjoy it.”

“Go ahead, cast away.” Shrugged Samus.  Lucy held up her key.

“I release the gates of Aquarius!” shouted Lucy.  A blue-haired mermaid appeared in Lake Hylia, however, at the time, Zelda decided to use Nayru’s Love to block the wave from the group.  Suddenly, Zelda’s legs were one pink limb covered in fishlike scales, ending in a pair of flukes!  The same happened to Samus and Erza, though their mermaid tails were blue.

“Lucy, how nice to invite me to see your mermaid friends!” smiled Aquarius.  Erza fell on her chest, her tail incapable of keeping her standing.

“What did you do?!” she asked Zelda.

“I don’t know, my magic just…interacted with hers.” Stammered Zelda.

“Erza, you’re making too big a deal of this, Zelda did this to herself and I when we were dating.” Stated Samus.  She shoved herself off the chair and dragged herself into the Lake.  “Come on in, it’s nice and cool in here!” she encouraged.  Erza dragged herself in and bobbed on top of the water, her tail moving up and down to keep her afloat.

“This is kind of nice.  Wonder how Kagura would react to see me as a Mermaid?” she asked.  Lucy snickered at that.  Zelda joined Samus and Erza in the water.

“Come on, ladies, let’s have a race!” she suggested.  The three took off for the other side of the lake, however, Aquarius decided to get in on the fun and bolted past them, leaving them spinning in her wake.

“Guess we know who wins.” Sighed Samus.

“Well, she is a water elemental.” Replied Erza.

“Yup!  But NEVER ask me to fill a pool, that is BENEATH me.” Replied Aquarius, pointing accusingly at Lucy.

“I get her mad ONE time.” Lucy sighed.

“Let’s see which of the three of us can breach the highest!” suggested Zelda.  She leapt, spinning in the air.  Erza leapt higher, somersaulting before landing back in the water.  Samus revved up and leapt higher than both of them, corkscrewing through the air before splashing loudly.

“Do you even need those rocket boots of yours in battle?” asked Erza.

“I probably wouldn’t have gotten higher than you without a swimming start.” Replied Samus.  “If you think it’s unfair, you should’ve ruled it out.”  Erza was going to protest, but Samus was right.  The three continued swimming for a few more hours before Zelda’s magic returned them to normal.

The End