7/31/2020 Music Releases of Note/Reasons to vote for Joe Biden

Yesterday, I received a refund from the Mariners game I'm not going to be able to go to this year and used most of the money to buy new/"new" music.  The "new" refers to it being Classic Rock and other tracks several decades old at this point, but I felt it was finally time to sit down and get some tracks I had been wanting to get for a while.  I bought the four singles I talked about last time from Noah Cyrus, K.Flay, Chris Cornell and Dove Cameron, as well as a cover of "Space Truckin'" (originally by Deep Purple) by Ace Frehley, which was released Monday night.  It was a great cover of a classic song and I look forward to the full "Origins Vol. 2" album, scheduled to be released September 18th.  I also got Joan Jett and the Blackhearts performing "Cherry Bomb" at their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony with Dave Grohl, as well as Pearl Jam performing "Alive" and "Given to Fly" at their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony two years later.  Other great tracks I purchased included "Honky Tonk Woman" by The Rolling Stones, as well as "Scarlet," a new release from their archives featuring Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page, "Battle of the Heroes," "Anakin vs. Obi-Wan," "The Imperial March" and "The Duel" from the Star Wars soundtracks, and two of my favorite love songs, "Give My Heart To You" by Billy Ray Cyrus and "Yellow" by Coldplay.

Without further ado, here are the releases I'm aware of happening tonight:

Paul McCartney-Flaming Pie (Deluxe Edition): Flaming Pie was an album Paul McCartney made shortly after The Beatles anthology in the mid-90s and features several guest musicians, such as Jeff Lynne, Steve Miller, Ringo Starr and Linda McCartney in her last contribution to her husband's work.  My favorite track from this has always been "Beautiful Night" for Ringo's vocals at the end, but there are plenty of other great songs on this album, like the title track, which Paul even played at his concert at Citi Field in 2009, as well as "Calico Skies," which also got played at that concert.  This also features a Paul/Ringo composition called "Really Love You," which is mostly the two just jamming and having fun.  I look forward to rediscovering this album with new knowledge from 2020.

Alcatrazz-Born Innocent: This is one of Graham Bonnet's rock bands, Graham Bonnet being a singer that sung for Ritchie Blackmore in Rainbow and Michael Schenker in the Michael Schenker Group (and still works with him in the Michael Schenker Fest).  In the 1980s, Alcatrazz was famous for effectively starting the careers of Yngwie Malmsteen, and after he left, Steve Vai.  On a more recent re-recording of "Since You Been Gone," a song Graham Bonnet sang for Rainbow, George Lynch was the guitarist, making me wonder what the exact lineup is now.  One thing is certain, Bonnet possesses a powerful rock voice, so this should be fun.

Glenn Hughes-The Official Bootleg Set Vol. 3: 1995-2010: The sequel to a box set I purchased earlier in this quarantine, back in April (that one wasn't available digitally).  This contains four shows, Wolverhampton 1995, London 1995, Bedford 2008 and Belfast 2010.  Glenn Hughes is always worth listening to for the passion he brings his music, and this looks to deliver the same combination of Trapeze, Deep Purple Mark III-IV and solo career hits.

RWBY Volume 7 Soundtrack: I am personally hoping this means this season will get released on DVD soon, since it ended the week before Valentine's Day.  As is usual for soundtracks for the RWBY series, the highlight is the songs sung by Casey Lee Williams, which usually allow for a window into the characters' minds and emotions during the show.  This last season dealt primarily with the theme of fear, and how it can change us into the very monsters we are trying to stop.  There were also cute moments of Blake and Yang, a same gender couple the show had been hinting had feelings for each other since Volume 2, such as them taking a selfie together and dancing together.

Now, speaking of fear, I need to let some anxiety out.  I've been rather worried about the amount of fundraiser emails I can't afford to pay from the Democrats and the lack of Biden's presence on Television.  I also have to say this, which was stated after the 2016 election: due to our system, if you do a protest vote, you are effectively voting for Trump.  And here are all the reasons why that man shouldn't serve another four years.

-Trump banned Muslims from entering the country in his first week in Office

-Ministers related to Trump attempted to shut down reconciling congregations with the “Nashville Statement.”

-Trump needlessly sent troops to fight against Yemen so he could line his pockets with Saudi money.

-Trump referred to Neo-Nazis as “heroes of free speech” when they led a hate march on Charlottesville, WV, in which they killed a person by running over them.

-Trump tried to ban transsexuals from the military.

-Trump locked legalized Latin American citizens in concentration camp-like settings.

-When a domestic terrorist attempted violence against Democrats close to the 2018 midterms, his only complaint was that it was keeping people from voting for his party.

-Every budget of Trump’s has attempted to cut PBS and NPR from the Federal Budget.

-His second Supreme Court Judge had a rape charge brought against him, which was considered “irrelevant” by Mitch McConnell and Franklin Graham, both fierce Trump supporters.

-Trump began retweeting tweets claiming he was the second coming of Jesus in 2019 and claims anyone who stands against him is Satanic.

-Trump assaulted protesters in Washington DC with tear gas from military vehicles to clear them from a Church that doesn’t support him so he could get a photo op of him holding a Bible.

-Trump has sent Ministers to the CDC, which he has criminally underfunded, who claim COVID-19 is “God’s punishment for not making homosexuality a capital offense.”

-Trump tossed out Obama’s plan in the event of a pandemic, claiming no pandemic would occur while he was in office.

-The only reason Trump was acquitted in his Impeachment trial is there are 55 Republican Senators and 45 Democrat Senators.

-Queen, Rihanna, Guns N Roses and Tom Petty’s estate have all refused Trump permission to play their songs at his rallies.  Cheap Trick even said if they were to play the 2016 RNC “we’d have to get Swastika guitars.”

-Trump threatened to embargo Japan and Germany in his first campaign in 2015-2016, and has treated our collective values and alliances so poorly that I’m surprised the European Union, Canada, China and Japan haven’t decided to destroy the US like Scout’s Father shooting the rabid dog in the street in “To Kill A Mockingbird.”

And there’s more I don’t remember.

Please do the right thing, please vote Democrat this election.

In Memory Playlists

Chris Cornell:

1.)    Hands All Over (Live)-Soundgarden

2.)    I am the Highway (Live)-Chris Cornell

3.)    Been Away For Too Long (Live)-Soundgarden

4.)    Spoonman-Soundgarden

5.)    All Your Lies-Soundgarden

6.)    Blind Dogs (Live)-Soundgarden

7.)    Come Together-Soundgarden

8.)    Rusty Cage (Live)-Soundgarden

9.)    Spoonman (Live)-Soundgarden

10.) Into the Void (Sealth) (Live)-Soundgarden

11.) Outshined (Live 2013)-Soundgarden

12.) Been Away Too Long-Soundgarden

13.) Whole Lotta Love-Santana feat. Chris Cornell

14.) Live To Rise-Soundgarden

15.) Nothing Compares 2 U-Toni Cornell

16.) My Wave (Live)-Soundgarden

17.) Fourth of July (Live)-Soundgarden

18.) Outshined (Live 1992)-Soundgarden

19.) Fell On Black Days-Soundgarden

20.) Fell On Black Days (Live)-Soundgarden

21.) Til The Sun Comes Back Around-Chris Cornell

22.) You Never Knew My Mind-Chris Cornell

23.) Rowing (Live)-Soundgarden

24.) One (Live, Acoustic)-Chris Cornell

25.) Black Hole Sun-Soundgarden

26.) Big Bottom (Live)-Soundgarden

27.) Thank You (Live)-Chris Cornell

28.) Reach Down (Live)-Temple of the Dog

29.) Say Hello 2 Heaven-Temple of the Dog

30.) Times of Trouble-Temple of the Dog

31.) Outshined-Soundgarden

32.) As Hope And Promise Fade (Live)-Chris Cornell

33.) Holy Water-Soundgarden

34.) Reach Down-Temple of the Dog

35.) Be Yourself-Audioslave

36.) Cochise-Audioslave

37.) Promise-Slash feat. Chris Cornell

38.) Like A Stone (Live, Acoustic)-Chris Cornell

39.) Blow Up the Outside World-Soundgarden

40.) Your Savior-Temple of the Dog

41.) Patience-Chris Cornell

Bob Kulick:

1.)    Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds-Geoff Tate, Michael Wilton, Craig Goldy, Rudy Sarzo, Simon Wright

2.)    Black Widow-Bruce Dickinson, Adrian Smith, Tony Franklin, Tommy Aldridge

3.)    No More Mr. Nice Guy-Roger Daltrey, Slash, Mike Inez, Bob Kulick, Carmine Appice

4.)    Believer-Tim “Ripper” Owens, Doug Aldrich, Rudy Sarzo, Vinny Appice

5.)    God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen-Ronnie James Dio, Tony Iommi, Rudy Sarzo, Simon Wright

6.)    Crazy Train-Dee Snider, Doug Aldrich, Tony Levin, Jason Bonham

7.)    I Don’t Know-Jack Blades, Reb Beach, Jeff Pilson

8.)    Paranoid-Vince Neil, George Lynch, Stuart Hamm, Gregg Bisonette

9.)    Panama-Jani Lane, George Lynch

10.) Flight of Icarus-Tim “Ripper” Owens, Doug Aldrich, Jimmy Bain, Simon Wright

11.) Problem Child-Jeff Scott Soto, Reb Beach, Tony Franklin, Aynsley Dunbar

12.) Hey Bulldog-Alice Cooper, Steve Vai, Duff McKagan

13.) Back in the USSR-Lemmy, John 5, Eric Singer

14.) Day Tripper-Jack Blades, Tommy Shaw, Doug Aldrich, Marco Mandoza, Virgil Donati

15.) Taxman-Doug Pinnick, Steve Lukather, Tony Levin

16.) Somebody To Love-Geoff Tate, Doug Aldrich

17.) Suicide Solution-Tim “Ripper” Owens, Brad Gillis, Rudy Sarzo, Brett Chassen

18.) S.A.T.O.-Tim “Ripper” Owens, Dweezil Zappa, Bob Kulick, Rudy Sarzo, Vinny Appice

19.) Killer Girl-Tim “Ripper” Owens, Joel Hoekstra, Rudy Sarzo, Brett Chassen

20.) Crazy Train-Serj Tankian, Tom Morello, Rudy Sarzo, Vinny Appice

21.) Wasted Years-Dee Snider, George Lynch, Bob Kulick, Jeff Pilson, Jason Bonham

22.) Revolution-Billy Gibbons, Vivian Campbell, Mike Porcaro, Gregg Bisonnette, Joe Fazzio

23.) Shot in the Dark-Jeff Scott Soto, Bruce Kulick, Ricky Phillips

24.) Love Gun-Tommy Shaw, Steve Lukather

25.) Money-Tommy Shaw, Edgar Winter, Ritchie Kotzen, Tony Levin, Mike Baird

26.) Young Lust-Glenn Hughes, Elliot Easton, Tony Franklin, Aynsley Dunbar

27.) Welcome to the Machine-Doug Pinnick

28.) Only Women Bleed-Glenn Hughes

29.) Go to Hell-Dee Snider, Zakk Wylde, Bob Kulick, Rudy Sarzo, Frankie Banali

30.) Under My Wheels-Joe Elliot, Phil Collen, Clarence Clemons, Chuck Wright

In Memory of two greats we've lost this year

Last week, I heard the sad news that Grant Imahara of the Mythbusters had died.  This affected me greatly, as his departure, along with Tori Belleci and Kari Byron, was a major reason I hadn’t been watching the show in years, the two different teams offered fun, dynamic points of view on science, physics and how these myths might’ve worked or gotten started.  But while looking for his name among the famous deaths of this year, another name caught my eye.  Bob Kulick.  Bob Kulick was a rhythm guitarist in 80s metal bands and the brother of Bruce Kulick, who briefly replaced Ace Frehley in KISS, but what made him most famous was the abundance of tribute albums he produced.

From the 1990s until 2015, Bob Kulick produced and played on Tribute Albums to Classic Rock featuring supergroups made up of members from 1980s Metal Bands, and even got some special and rare names to perform, like Yngwie Malmsteen, Dee Snider, Bruce Dickinson, Lemmy from Motorhead, Alice Cooper and Steve Vai.  He made “Humanary Stew-A Tribute to Alice Cooper,” “We Wish You A Metal Christmas,” “Bat’s Head Soup-A Tribute to Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath,” “We Salute You-A Tribute to AC/DC,” “Butchering the Beatles,” “Keep Calm And Salute Queen,” and “Immortal Randy Rhoads-The Ultimate Tribute.”  There are probably more I have forgotten and each had its own great hallmark tracks. 

Humanary Stew had ”Black Widow” performed by Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden fame with Adrian Smith on guitar, Tony Franklin on bass and Tommy Aldridge on drums, as well as “No More Mr. Nice Guy” featuring Roger Daltrey of The Who singing, Slash on lead guitar, Bob Kulick on rhythm guitar, Mike Inez of Alice in Chains fame on bass and Carmine Appice on drums. 

“We Wish You A Metal Christmas” had an amazing version of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” with Ronnie James Dio singing, Tony Iommi on guitar, Rudy Sarzo on bass and Simon Wright on drums. 

“Bat’s Head Soup” featured a version of “Crazy Train” with Dee Snider singing, Doug Aldrich on guitar, Tony Levin on bass and Jason Bonham on drums, “Paranoid” with Vince “Motley Crue” Neil singing, George Lynch “Mob” on Guitar, Stuart Hamm on bass and Gregg Bisonette from David Lee Roth’s solo career on drums and was completed by a version of “I Don’t Know” with Jack “Night Ranger” Blades singing, Reb Beach of Winger and Whitesnake on guitar, Jeff Pilson on bass and the drummer was from Ratt. 

“We Salute You” had a version of “Problem Child” sung by Jeff Scott Soto, who has sung for Yngwie Malmsteen and is a severely underrated/unknown heavy metal talent (the others were not credited). 

“Butchering the Beatles” started off with “Hey Bulldog” performed by Alice Cooper on lead vocals, Steve Vai on guitar and Duff McKagan on bass.  This is followed by “Back in the USSR” with bass and singing by Lemmy, guitar work by John 5 of Rob Zombie fame and drumming by Eric Singer of KISS and Alice Cooper.  Then comes “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds,” sung by Geoff Tate with rhythm guitar by then-current bandmate Michael Wilton, lead guitar by Dio guitarist Craig Goldy, and bass and drums by Goldy’s bandmates Rudy Sarzo and Simon Wright.  “Day Tripper” continues this impressive collection with Jack Blades and Tommy Shaw sharing lead vocals behind a guitar line performed by Doug Aldrich, with bass provided by Marco Mendoza and drums by Virgil Donati, while “Taxman” rounds it out with vocals by Dug Pinnick, guitar by Steve Lukather and some fantastic bass by Tony Levin.

“Keep Calm and Salute Queen” had a tender version of “Somebody to Love” sung by Geoff Tate with guitar provided by Doug Aldrich, while “Immortal Randy Rhoads” started with a cover of “Crazy Train” sung by Serj Tankian, guitar by Tom Morello, bass by Rudy Sarzo and drums by Vinny Appice.  Other standout tracks are “Believer,” with vocals by Tim “Ripper” Owens, guitar by Doug Aldrich, bass by Rudy Sarzo and drums by Vinny Appice, “S.A.T.O.” with Owens, Sarzo and Appice resuming their roles as the guitars are Bob Kulick on rhythm and Dweezil Zappa on lead, “Killer Girls,” with Sarzo and Owens again, Brett Chassen as the drummer and Joel Hoekstra, one of the finest guitarists I’ve ever heard or seen, playing the guitar part, and “Suicide Solution,” featuring Sarzo, Chassen and Owens in their familiar roles while guitar duties are handled by Brad Gillis from Night Ranger, who replaced Randy Rhoads on the tour after the plane crash that took his life.

I’ve seen enough from Frontiers Records and other musicians working independently to know these one-off supergroups are not likely to be a thing of the past (check out the Echobats or Jeff Scott Soto’s cover of “Another One Bites The Dust”) but it feels like a huge, fun part of music has been silenced with this passing.  There were many covers that are now scattered throughout digital music retailers which bear his style, such as Glenn Hughes singing “Young Lust” from Pink Floyd’s “The Wall,” Tommy Shaw singing “Money” from “Dark Side of the Moon,” or Van Halen’s “Panama” performed by the late Jani Lane of Warrant and George Lynch of Lynch Mob and Dokken fame, but it feels like an important part of seeing rock and roll history behind the scenes has been tragically silenced.  I had some great times with these albums and I hope this will convince people to go out to digital retailers and give them a try as well.  They are a chapter in classic rock and hair metal history that deserve to be heard.

7/26/2020 Sermon Notes and Recent Music Releases

In the 1^st Century, Mustard wasn’t in people’s gardens, it was on hillsides and abandoned gardens, therefore, Jesus is comparing God’s Kingdom to an annoying weed like crabgrass or dandelions.  It takes over everything and is uncontrollable.  It changes what is comfortable into unfamiliar.

Perhaps this is good, it offers hope that the racism and bigotry of the present will be uprooted and destroyed by God’s Kingdom coming.  “Hope is the only thing more powerful than fear”-The Hunger Games villains, attempting to use hope to control the masses.  John Lewis was like the Mustard Seed, standing up to racism his entire life, without violence, inspiring others to stand up.

Edelgard reminds me of the Mustard Seed, she could’ve sunk into despair, but dared to act on her firm desire that no one have to go through torture to create a “perfect ruler.”  She ended the unjust society and rule that placed such value on crests, a noble inheritance that separated the nobility from the commoner, the rich and inherited rulers from the ones less fortunate, fought and slew a dragon who had created and maintained this society for 1,200 years with her professor Byleth at Edelgard’s side, and in the aftermath of the battle, with Annette, Catherine and Gilbert never even getting close enough to enter the conflict.  Due to Annette’s song in the Blue Lions’ portion of the game (which is why I will try to recruit her if I play this again), I’d like to think she decided to lay down her weapons and as such, just took some time off to learn the new, more free ways of Adrestia before starting a bakery and meats shop.

This is the song:  ♪ Today's dinner is steak and then a cake that's yummy yum... Now it's  time to fill my tummy tummy tum... ♪ ♪ Oh, this mountain of sweets, and  treats that I long to eats... Oh, stacks of steaks and cakes and crumbs  and yums... ♪

Here are some music releases from the last two weeks that I enjoyed; The Dead Daisies EP was fun and the live version of “Fortunate Son” was actually an unreleased recording from when John Corabi was still the lead singer, so prior to last October.  Paul McCartney also released four tracks related to the song “Beautiful Night” from his forthcoming “Flaming Pie” deluxe edition.  “Beautiful Night” is my favorite track from that album as Ringo Starr plays the drums and sings on the last chorus.  Metallica also announced a new live album with the San Francisco Symphony, releasing a live version of “Nothing Else Matters” as a single, which was another good release. 

A power trio supergroup called Morse/Portnoy/George released a trio of cover albums called Cover to Cover, Cover 2 Cover and Cov3r to Cov3r, which featured great renditions of Cream’s “Badge,” George Harrison’s “What is Life” and Ringo Starr’s “It Don’t Come Easy.”  Chris Cornell’s estate released a recording of him covering Guns N Roses’ acoustic song “Patience,” and Noah Cyrus and Whethan with K.Flay also released good pop singles.  There was also a good Pop song by Bainbridge Island native Dove Cameron, I didn’t know that’s where she was from until the All In WA COVID-19/BLM event last month with performances by The Black Tones, Sleater-Kinney, Brandi Carlile and Pearl Jam.

The personal importance of Fire Emblem; Three Houses

There's not going to be a releases thing this week, but I felt I needed to share this about a video game I finished on the 12th. 

When E3 2019 came around and they showed little trailers of the characters in each house in Fire Emblem; Three Houses, The Black Eagles stood out to me for a number of reasons.  They were the only house whose head was a woman, that woman was voiced by Tara Platt, who I was familiar with for voicing Mitsuru Kirijo in the Persona series and Kali Belladonna in RWBY, and they had a character named Petra who reminded me of Starfire from the 2000s Teen Titans cartoon.  In the time between then and the Christmas I actually got the game, I discovered the Black Eagles were opposing the “Pope-equivalent” in the game, earning the ire of both other kingdoms, but the reason why was to make crests no longer valued as a means to rule or considered “better” than someone else, since Edelgard, the Black Eagles house leader, had undergone torturous experiments in her youth in which a second crest was forced into her.  She wanted to create a society where what she went through would never happen again.

Quite often, when I was growing up, people would insult me or insult something I loved and it made me miserable.  Mom would ask me why I didn’t respond in kind, hurting their feelings the same way.  I couldn’t stand the idea of responding by inflicting the same hate backwards, not with how terrible it felt.  In that sense, I identified with the Black Eagles’ cause, and I would identify with it more and more as the game progressed.

Classes take place at Garreg Mach Monastery, under the command of the “Pope-equivalent,” Lady Rhea.  Lady Rhea thinks nothing of sending your house out to arrest dissenters so she can execute them, executing people for speaking their minds and dehumanizing people for not following her rules, rallying people to do her dirty work.  Also, Rhea’s true form is a giant dragon known as the Immaculate One.  Throughout the game, with her spiritual and political influence, Rhea reminded me of Politics in modern-day America, stating the only Christians are Republicans, that all who are Democrats are Satanists, Communists and Abortion Fanatics, that the LGBTQ+ and African-American Communities need to either accept their status quo as second-class citizens beneath the dictator’s heel or prepare for genocide.  When Rhea said “Execute Edelgard for being a rebel,” if you’ve achieved a C+ Support Rank and attended her coronation, you can choose to defend Edelgard.

And I did, with a great sigh of relief that I would no longer have to do this madwoman’s whims again.  Thus we began our campaign to eliminate this “theocratic” dictator, this monster who we even gave the chance to surrender before the final battle.  Her response?  Set the city ablaze, even though that will kill many innocent civilians.  So I made a beeline to her in the final battle.  Forget any opponent unless they’re in your way, end the fight quickly so we can save Fodlan.  Eventually, Rhea was down and Byleth and Edelgard were free to be married.

I made at least two same-gender couples during this playthrough, Byleth, my avatar who I chose to be female, ended up with Edelgard, who is like someone I’d like to marry in real life, someone who can speak her mind, someone unafraid to indulge in silliness now and then and someone independent, and Dorothea ended up with Petra.  This further resonated the importance of ending the lies of the current administration and elevating reconciling congregations.  This game was what I needed when I needed it, challenging an authoritarian figure with an army that felt like a quirky, dysfunctional family.  But there was another message.  There were many times in this game I lost the fight, all the units died and I had to start over.  Therefore, I urge everyone, persevere, don’t give up and keep trying until you succeed.

Smash Bros/Fire Emblem LGBTQ+ Fan Fiction

Last week I finished Fire Emblem; Three Houses' Black Eagles Route.  It was extraordinarily helpful to me right now because I was fighting against a theocratic dictator who had distorted faith to gain power and having my characters pursue same-gender relationships.  Honestly, I've gotten slightly stressed out since finishing it because I'm no longer able to channel my rage against people who view me as worthless because I disagree with the leader into something like a video game.  To that end, I wrote this story last night since both the player character Byleth and the head of the Black Eagles (who I had Byleth marry) Edelgard appear in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.  This was helpful to me.

Samus and Zelda sat in the Pizza restaurant in Hyrule, seeing Byleth and Edelgard take their seats.  “Are you two sure Yang and Blake won’t get jealous?” asked Edelgard.

“I told them I wanted to get to know you two better, we’ve fought together a lot, but I don’t think I know much about Fodlan.” Replied Zelda.

“They’re spending time with Yang’s sister and their other teammate, they’ll be fine.” Smiled Samus.  “So, I hadn’t heard of Fodlan until your ‘pack’ appeared here, what’s the concise history?”

“Well, we actually are re-writing Fodlan history.” Began Edelgard.  “But over 1,200 years ago, a civilization existed on Fodlan, in harmony with the powerful being Sothis.”

“However, her daughter, Seiros, seeking her power, killed her, then the King Nemesis in order to subjugate the people of Fodlan under a class system of nobility and the idea that possessing a crest made you inherently better than someone without one.” Added Byleth.  “Seiros spent the next 1,200 years in several guises as the leader of her Church, making sure everything was under her thumb.  It…should I tell them this?” she turned to Edelgard.

“I’ll tell this.  My Uncle had decided to try to experiment with crests to create a supreme ruler for the continent.  Many people died under his reckless experiments and I was also one of his experiments.  I decided at that point to change Fodlan society to end the focus on crests and remove the Church of Seiros for preaching that Crests were so important.  One night, Byleth saved me from bandits, then becoming my professor.  We fell in love, I confided in her and she defended me from Rhea, the current identity of Seiros.  Seiros knocked Byleth out for five years in our next battle, but when she returned, we picked up where we left off and defeated our foes, getting engaged the day after we ended Seiros’ draconic Immaculate One form.” Explained Edelgard.

“And are the people happier now?” asked Samus.

“They are free to complain without fear of execution, anyone can rise to be an advisor in a city, state or the whole nation of Fodlan and many freedoms your people enjoy are now available to everyone in Fodlan.” Smiled Edelgard.

“Hard to believe that a place like that would exist in this day and age.” Muttered Samus.

“Some people willingly choose obedience to a dictator, setting up a long-term reign of their family simply because they don’t challenge status quo.” Replied Zelda.

“Status quo doesn’t work if it victimizes people!” stated Edelgard.  “No one knew what happened to me or my family until I took a stand!”  Samus backed away from the enraged Empress.

“I’m sorry that happened to you, it obviously hurt you a lot.” She stated.  Edelgard rubbed her eyes.  Byleth turned to Samus and Zelda.

“All her siblings were subject to the same experiments, there were ten of them.  And all of them…were killed.” She said sadly.  Samus and Zelda gasped.

“No wonder you didn’t mention that at first.” Replied Zelda.

“I’m so sorry.  I can somewhat relate.  Ridley…that space dragon in Smash…he killed my parents in front of my eyes.  Ever since then, I’ve wanted to end him, but they keep reviving him!” said Samus.  Edelgard touched Samus’ hand.  She smiled softly at her.

“Us four, we’ll stick together.” She stated.  “We’ll stop our foes, together.”

“Together.” Smiled Samus.  Zelda and Byleth brought their hands to Edelgard and Samus’.

“Together.” They agreed.

The End

Music Releases 7/17/2020

Happy Thursday, everyone.  Yes, it is Thursday, even I’m losing track at times, but it’s time to shine a spotlight on some new music releases available at 9:00 pm PDT.  Before that, I’d like to get into some musical stuff I found out about in the last week.  Spotify has apparently changed their shuffle rules regarding albums, I can’t go into the album and select tracks to go into my personal playlist of new music (which I call “Unheard” for obvious reasons), I can only do that with tracks from the playlists that already exist on Spotify.  This means I’ll have to set aside time for each release individually, rather than listen to them all shuffled together.  It’s not a terrible thing, it’s just frustrating to have to do something new after 15 months of doing it one way. 

Last week, Katy Perry also announced a new album called Smile; the cover features her dressed as a clown complete with a round red nose and white makeup.  She’s released several singles since I’ve been on Spotify and the title track to this album is easily the best single she’s released for this album.  Also, Black Stone Cherry teamed with Monster Truck to make a protest song under the name The Cherry Truck Band called "Love Become Law."  It's always refreshing to see people from the South take up Social Justice, reminding us that stereotyping everyone in the red states as racist and homophobic is inaccurate, there are quite a few white people there who care about the problems people not like them face, in fact, that was the point of "Sweet Home Alabama," to remind Neil Young that not every person in Alabama was racist, mostly just those who loved the governor at the time.  There are also new WWE entrance themes for Bayley and Liv Morgan I didn’t know about until Sunday and both are great pieces of music.  Both women are among my favorite wrestlers in the sport and it’s nice to hear new music for when they head out to the ring.  My all-time favorite is still “The Truth Reigns” for Roman Reigns, however.  On Tuesday night, Joan Jett’s track from the Marc Bolan/T-Rex Tribute album due out in September, previously mentioned in Kesha’s bio back in June, was released.  Kesha did “Children of the Revolution” and Joan Jett’s done “Jeepster,” which I previously heard recorded by the Hollywood Vampires, a supergroup formed by Alice Cooper, Joe Perry and Johnny Depp.  The Vampires’ version was louder, but this version confirmed “Girl I’m just a Vampire for your love” wasn’t a lyric change Alice Cooper made for the supergroup, and Joan Jett delivers the lyrics very well, making it another great cover.

On a comedic note, I didn’t know Rihanna’s “Don’t Stop The Music” by that title until Sunday, I had first heard it at a San Francisco Giants game in 2010 and misheard “Please don’t stop the music” as “Weasels at the movies.”  I knew those weren’t the actual lyrics, but since I didn’t know what the real ones, finding the song was impossible (especially since I didn’t know what would happen if you asked a music store employee “what’s the song that sounds like it’s saying ‘weasels at the movies?’”).  Thankfully, Spotify suggested it for a Pop Music playlist, I put it in “Unheard” and finally figured out what the words were.  Admittedly though, sharing the story on Facebook gave me a lot of joy, with comments like “I like yours better, it raises questions like ‘what kind of movies do weasels like?’” and “Pitch this to Disney.” (I especially like this, because every time I misheard the lyrics, I thought of “Who Framed Roger Rabbit”)

Without further delay, here are the major releases I’m looking forward to this week.

The Aces: Under My Influence-I don’t know much about this group, but the album art suggests they are four young women and they released a great LGBTQ+ love song from this album called “Kelly.”  They have other enticing song titles for this album like “My Phone is Trying To Kill Me.”  “Kelly” presents a nice upbeat pop sound that sounds good for dancing and has a great drum beat and a nice guitar line and I hope to hear more songs like that on this album.

The Dead Daisies: The Lockdown Sessions-This is a 4-track Live EP performed by The Dead Daisies, recorded semi-recently with new lead singer/bassist Glenn Hughes (Deep Purple/Black Country Communion/Kings of Chaos/2 tracks on Billy Ray Cyrus’ Thin Line album).  This will feature Glenn Hughes’ debut single with the band “Righteous Days,” as well as him singing Creedence Clearwater Revival’s Classic “Fortunate Son” and Humble Pie’s “30 Days in the Hole.”  I’m guessing this EP may have been recording and mixed through online chat collaborations due to the pandemic, but since music releases have kept being released and there have been very few slow weeks, it seems to be working.

Kansas: The Absence of Presence-Yes, that’s right, classic rock band Kansas, responsible for 70’s radio rock hit “Carry On Wayward Son,” is releasing a new album.  However, Kerry Livgren, who wrote that song, is no longer with the band (he is making music, but I forgot the name of his current band).  Kansas’ first three singles off this album show they’ve still got that hard rock fire, backed with some strings.  They’re enjoyable to listen to and I hope the whole album continues in that direction.

James 1:26-27

The longer I live, the more I think people refuse to seriously look at the consequences their actions have on others and take evil seriously.  Too many people consider all the world’s evil a product of some “thing,” some group of politicians or religious leaders or celebrities who “make the world a worse place by being lawless.”  For me, that’s not what evil is.  Evil is the absence of compassion.  Evil is telling someone they have no talent at their passion, they will accomplish nothing in life doing what they love and that their goals are ridiculous, too lofty and flat-out stupid.  Evil is insulting someone with a bigoted slur or mocking accent/gestures over a trait such as skin color, nation of origin, mental capacity or sexual orientation, something that can’t be changed.  I cringe every time I see someone do the mock-Asian accent on TV. 

Evil is assaulting someone verbally, physically or emotionally for seeing this and knowing it’s wrong, saying “the status quo is good enough.”  Evil is saying “Trump don’t bother me none.”  Evil is pronouncing Kamala Harris’ name “Camel-a” (it’s Kah-MALL-a).  Evil is sending aggressive so-called pastors to what’s left of the CDC to convince them COVID is God’s punishment for America not using genocide against the LGBTQ+ community.  Evil is strangling an innocent man with your knee because he doesn’t have the same skin color as you.  Evil is being unable to believe that someone with a different skin color than yours could be successful enough to own a ranch.  Evil is being so nation-centric that you call making room for other religions persecution while in Egypt and Thailand, you can lose your life and/or your freedom for saying Jesus is your Lord and Savior.

But no, these evil people with such myopia cannot see past their borders, cannot see past the last pew in their church sometimes and don’t give to the homeless because they think he’ll just spend it on beer.  And they try to raise the younger congregants in their own boxes, dropping guilt bombs like Marie Barone in Everybody Loves Raymond (“I can’t stand Led Zeppelin and Van Halen, they write about SEX, but you do what you want”-actual thing said by fellow congregant in Church I went to from 2006-2015).  And in these times, the Church as the body of Christ must distance itself from all hate, all racism, homophobia and bigotry.

This is Faith against Prejudice Weekend, it is time to start if you haven’t already.

Famous Musicians' Birthdays Playlists

Recently, we've had a few famous musicians have birthdays, Paul McCartney on June 18th, Ann Wilson of Heart on June 19th and Ringo Starr on July 7th.  To celebrate them, I've made each a playlist in Spotify and I feel like posting these at this time.  I do have others, like Chris Cornell and John Lennon, but I'll get to those somewhere down the line.

Paul McCartney (as presented in Spotify Shuffle 6/18/20):

1.)    Helter Skelter (Live)-The Dead Daisies

2.)    Good Day Sunshine-The Beatles

3.)    Let Me Roll It (Live at Citi Field with Foxy Lady Coda)-Paul McCartney

4.)    Day Tripper-Whitesnake

5.)    I’m Down-The Beatles

6.)    Paperback Writer-The Beatles

7.)    Day Tripper (Live)-Cheap Trick

8.)    Paperback Writer (Live)-Paul McCartney

9.)    Let Me Roll It-Paul McCartney and Wings

10.) Rocky Racoon-The Beatles

11.) Let It Be-Glenn Hughes

12.) Helter Skelter (Live)-Gillan

13.) Oh! Darling-Graham Bonnet

14.) The Long and Winding Road (Live)-Paul McCartney and Wings

15.) The End-The Beatles

16.) Hey Jude-The Beatles

17.) Yesterday-The Beatles

18.) Helter Skelter-The Beatles

19.) She Loves You-The Beatles

20.) Can’t Buy Me Love-The Beatles

21.) Maybe I’m Amazed (Live)-Paul McCartney and Wings

22.) Oh! Darling-The Beatles

23.) Wanderlust (Give My Regards To Broad Street Version)-Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr

24.) Looking For You-Paul McCartney, Jeff Lynne, Ringo Starr

25.) Let It Be-The Beatles

26.) All My Loving-The Beatles

27.) Band on the Run-Paul McCartney and Wings

28.) Lovely Rita-The Beatles

29.) 1985-Paul McCartney and Wings

30.) Get Back-The Beatles

31.) I’ve Got A Feeling-The Beatles

32.) The Night Before-The Beatles

33.) Hey Jude-Elvis Presley

34.) Drive My Car-The Beatles

35.) The Hippy-Hippy Shake-The Beatles

36.) Day Tripper (Live at Citi Field)-Paul McCartney

37.) Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Live)-Jimi Hendrix

38.) Lady Madonna (Live)-Paul McCartney and Wings

39.) I’m Down-Aerosmith

40.) I Saw Her Standing There-The Beatles

41.) Blackbird (Live)-Paul McCartney and Wings

42.) When I’m Sixty-Four-The Beatles

43.) She’s A Woman (Live at the Budokan)-The Beatles

44.) Helter Skelter (Live at Citi Field)-Paul McCartney

45.) Letting Go (Live)-Paul McCartney and Wings

46.) Rocky Racoon (Outtake)-The Beatles

47.) Day Tripper-The Beatles

48.) Back in the USSR-Lemmy, John 5, Eric Singer

49.) The Long and Winding Road (Naked Version)-The Beatles

50.) Live and Let Die-Guns N Roses

51.) Birthday-The Beatles

52.) I Want To Hold Your Hand-The Beatles

53.) And I Love Her-Matthew Grant

54.) What You’re Doing-The Beatles

55.) Day Tripper/We Can Work It Out-Fever Tree

56.) Let Me Roll It (Live)-Paul McCartney and Wings

57.) Something (Live at Citi Field)-Paul McCartney

58.) I’ve Just Seen A Face-The Beatles

59.) Cut Me Some Slack-Paul McCartney, Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic, Pat Smear

60.) Here Today-Paul McCartney

61.) Helter Skelter-Roger Daltrey

62.) I’m Down (Live at Citi Field)-Paul McCartney

63.) Beautiful Night-Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr

64.) Blackbird-Billy Preston

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

66.) Can’t Buy Me Love-Monalisa Twins

Ann Wilson (as presented in Spotify Shuffle 7/10/20)

1.)    I Jump-Heart

2.)    Alone (Live)-Heart with Carrie Underwood

3.)    Even It Up-Heart

4.)    Rockin’ Heaven Down-Heart

5.)    Barracuda (Live at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 2012 or 2013)-Heart with Jerry Cantrell, Mike McCready and Chris Cornell

6.)    Fallen Ones-Heart

7.)    Rock and Roll (Live)-Heart

8.)    No Quarter (Live)-Heart

9.)    Stairway to Heaven (Live with Seattle’s Total Experience Gospel Choir)-Heart

10.) Magazine-Heart

11.) Beautiful Broken-Heart

12.) Bebe Le Strange (Live)-Heart

13.) Magic Man-Heart

14.) Crazy On You-Heart

15.) What About Love?-Heart

16.) If Looks Could Kill-Heart

17.) Santa’s Going South-Sammy Hagar and Heart

18.) I am the Highway-Ann Wilson

19.) Manic Depression (Live)-Ann Wilson

20.) Crazy On You (Live)-Heart

21.) Love Alive-Heart

22.) Misty Mountain Hop (Live)-Heart

23.) Battle of Evermore (Live)-Heart

24.) Love Alive (Live)-Heart

25.) Straight On-Heart

26.) These Dreams (Live)-Heart

27.) Isolation (Live)-Ann Wilson

28.) Black Dog (Live)-Heart

29.) Heartless-Heart

30.) I’m Down/Long Tall Sally (Live)-Heart

31.) Never-Heart

32.) Silver Wheels (Live)-Heart

33.) Kick It Out-Heart

34.) Life In The Fast Lane-Ann Wilson

Ringo Starr:

1.)    Yellow Submarine-The Beatles

2.)    Octopus’s Garden-The Beatles

3.)    What Goes On-The Beatles

4.)    Act Naturally-The Beatles

5.)    Honey Don’t-The Beatles

6.)    I Wanna Be Your Man-The Beatles

7.)    Boys-The Beatles

8.)    Octopus’s Garden (Love Version)-The Beatles

9.)    Matchbox-The Beatles

10.) Boys (Live)-The Beatles

11.) Octopus’s Garden (Anthology 3)-The Beatles

12.) Octopus’s Garden (Take 9)-The Beatles

13.) Don’t Pass Me By-The Beatles

14.) Yellow Submarine-Piano Project

15.) Photograph-Ringo Starr

16.) It Don’t Come Easy-Ringo Starr

17.) I’m The Greatest-Ringo Starr

18.) It’s All Down To Goodnight Vienna-Ringo Starr

19.) Snookeroo-Ringo Starr

20.) Early 1970-Ringo Starr

21.) Never Without You-Ringo Starr

22.) Six O’clock (Extended Version)-Ringo Starr

23.) One-Ringo Starr

24.) What in the…World-Ringo Starr

25.) Love Me Do-Ringo Starr

26.) Drift Away-Ringo Starr, Tom Petty, Alanis Morrissette

27.) I’ll Be Fine Anywhere-Ringo Starr

28.) I’m Yours-Ringo Starr

29.) Walk With You-Ringo Starr

30.) What’s My Name-Ringo Starr

31.) Grow Old With Me-Ringo Starr

32.) Send Love Spread Peace-Ringo Starr

33.) Thank God For Music-Ringo Starr

34.) Money-Ringo Starr

35.) Hey Baby-Ringo Starr

36.) Back Off Boogaloo-Ringo Starr

37.) With A Little Help From My Friends-Eric Gales, Beth Hart

38.) With A Little Help From My Friends-Santana

39.) With A Little Help From My Friends-Ringo Starr

40.) It Don’t Come Easy (Live at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 2015)-Ringo Starr, Joe Walsh