An 8/21/2020 Release and what I liked last week

 

Last week had a good dose of releases with Miley Cyrus’ single “Midnight Sky” continuing her three-year quality music streak and a surprise EP by hard rockers Halestorm called “Reimagined,” where they covered themselves, reinterpreting their music as more acoustic, more grungy and also featuring Evanescence’s Amy Lee as a duet partner to Lzzy Hale on “Break In.”  It also featured a cover of “I Will Always Love You,” which mostly consisted of just Lzzy and a piano, and is one of my favorite covers this year, up there with the release of Chris Cornell’s version of “Patience.”  Actor/Singer Anthony Ramos, famous for playing John Laurens and Philip Hamilton in the Broadway Musical “Hamilton” and G-Team Soldier Martinez in “Godzilla; King of the Monsters,” also released a song called “Stop,” which is a fun song that sounds like it should be on the radio.  My brother was pleasantly surprised when I showed him the movie I wanted to see during our weekend had an actor from the movie he wanted Mom and I to see (and we did the following night).

 

Speaking of Hamilton, I recommend watching it on Disney+.  A lot of the issues of seeking freedom from tyranny resonate to today and encourage me to do what I can for the Biden-Harris campaign.  Remember that History has its eyes on you, so don’t throw away your chance to help end this pandemic, work for the lower and middle classes and make history for African-American and South Asian women in the United States.  If not, chances are the pandemic will continue indefinitely, the military and police will be used in organized genocide against the LGBTQ+, African American, Native American, Latin American, Muslim and Reconciling Congregation Communities in this country and the United States will die, bankrupt, by being carpet-bombed by the combined forces of the European Union, China, Canada and Japan.  This is not me merely suggesting a “worse case scenario,” this is a very real possibility with that genocidal glutton for wars we cannot afford to keep fighting in power.  And how much do you want to bet he will “executive order” away term limits if given the chance?

 

On a brighter note, here’s the top release of this week:

 

The Aquabats-Kooky, Spooky, In Stereo!  I don’t blame you if you don’t know who they are.  I didn’t know until ten years ago, when the Puppet Strong Bad (from homestarrunner.com) showed up at their Atlanta concert to sing “Pink Pants” off their then-latest album.  This sparked a working relationship between Matt Chapman (the voice one at homestarrunner.com) and the band, and when “The Aquabats Super Show” began airing on The Hub (the Channel that aired My Little Pony; Friendship is Magic and Transformers; Prime), Matt would occasionally play characters while cheap, Power Rangers-esque monsters caused havoc.  Matt’s most fondly remembered character was Carl, a wizard in a wrestling mask with a familiar voice (Strong Bad’s).  The Aquabats mostly make comedy-styled rock and roll, but it’s all original music and lyrics.

 

This is also Demi Lovato’s birthday, and she was the first artist I saw live way back in 2009 at the WaMu Theater in Seattle.  I since have seen her at the KeyArena (now renamed the Climate Pledge Arena) in Seattle and hope to have opportunities in the future to see her, her song “I Love Me” from earlier this year was great.  Happy 28^th Birthday, Demi Lovato!