10/30/2020 releases and last week's highlights

 Last week something weird happened on Spotify.  I added a fairly large portion of UFO’s Deluxe live album and listened to some new releases from the album, then, as of Monday, the album was delayed to November 20^th and the tracks from the album were made unavailable.  Hopefully they will be “re-released” with the official release, though it makes you wonder why they didn’t have better quality control to make sure it didn’t get out at all.  A few nice surprise releases occurred with a new Ariana Grande track, a single for the Black Stone Cherry album releasing this week and Miley Cyrus’ cover of The Cranberries’ “Zombie” at the “Save Our Stages” Benefit Event a couple weekends ago, which also heralds her new album “Plastic Hearts,” which is now on my Christmas list.  “Zombie” is also about the innocents caught in the crossfire of extremist conflicts, it was written in response to the extreme Protestant-Catholic bloodshed in Ireland, one of the last places on the planet where what denomination you are makes a difference.  To an extent, it speaks to my fears here, that there will be mass political violence in response to the election.  One of my biggest fears these days is a massive persecution of the LGBTQ+ community that I will be powerless to stop, which has been exacerbated by the corruption of the Supreme Court.  At this point, I am convinced Biden could win 11,000,000 votes to 1,000,000 and 400 Electoral College points to 10 and Trump could just go to the Supreme Court who would declare him the winner and the ballots null and void because he put three of them on the bench so they owe him loyalty and the Constitution and Bill of Rights are just toilet paper now.

 

However, we must not riot if this outcome happens.  “Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that”-Martin Luther King Jr.

 

Anyway, here are the main releases I’m looking forward to tonight:

 

Black Stone Cherry-Human Condition: The Kentucky-based Southern Rockers who’ve teamed with Billy Ray Cyrus, Lzzy Hale and Warren Haynes are back with another album.  They’ve been responsible for some of my favorite Hard Rock in the last few years like “Cheaper to Drink Alone” and “Southern Fried Friday Night.”  I’m anticipating this to be another hit of 2020.

 

Motorhead Ace of Spades 40^th Anniversary Deluxe: “If You Like To Gamble, I Tell You I’m Your Man!” It’s been 40 years since Lemmy belted those words through vinyl speakers.  In celebration, the album gets re-released with live performances throughout Europe throughout 1981.

 

Sam Smith-Love Goes: All their singles and collaborations are finally available on one CD, with their duets with Normani and Demi Lovato both available.  I’m looking forward to this album, Sam Smith is a good singer.

 

For King and Country-A Drummer Boy’s Christmas: The lead singer of For King and Country, Joel Smallbone, was in one of my favorite religious films, Like A Country Song and I got exposed to their music buying it for my cousin for Christmas last year.  It’s hard to screw up a Christmas album and this one is somewhat more appropriately timed.

2 years ago today; Dealing with a hero's fight with cancer

 

Unlike most of my anniversary posts, this is not a memory of a happy time.  It’s a memory of one of the hardest times I’ve ever faced.  I had just seen Noah Cyrus perform the previous night, so I was in a good headspace.  I got back to my Apartment after the bus ride and settled in front of my laptop, heading into my Internet Browser.  Idly, I put in letters, seeing familiar webpages and some popular searches.  When I hit “R,” my heart sunk.  A popular search term at that point was “Roman Reigns,” my favorite wrestler.

 

Four years prior, because people on DeviantArt were big wrestling fans, I saw my first WWE event, a taping of Smackdown Live at the KeyArena, which is now renamed Climate Pledge Arena.  Many wrestlers, some now retired, others still on TV, fought that night.  The one most loved by my social media acquaintances, AJ Lee, fought in a match which she lost by being outside the ring for 10 seconds because she leapt at her rival at the time, Paige.  Other fun experiences included an intense match between Dean Ambrose, a scrappy fighter (who reminded me of Anguirus from the Godzilla series), and Cesaro, a taller Swiss wrestler.  The main event of the night, the last match, was between The Miz, a wrestler who at the time played a role like Perez Hilton or other celebrity bloggers in that he was obsessed with himself and putting down his guests, and Roman Reigns, a tall, muscular Samoan man who is the cousin of The Rock (yes, that The Rock; Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson) and a premium powerhouse at 265 pounds of muscle (I’ve watched enough of his matches to memorize his weight).  His signature moves are a leaping cross punch called the Superman Punch, and a fearsome lunge to an opponent’s midsection termed the Spear.  It was an exciting match and Roman was a powerhouse, defeating The Miz and getting help from Dean Ambrose and Sheamus when the Wyatt Family tried to ambush him after the match.  A few months later, the WWE returned for a non-broadcasted event called Road to Wrestlemania, where Roman appeared again, fighting a tall, massive man called Big Show.  An interesting note is that both Roman and Big Show played themselves in a WWE-Jetsons crossover.  The match was intense and grueling, but Roman had a “never say die” attitude, one of his trademarks, that made me love him.  He honestly reminded me of Godzilla, being attacked just made him want to fight back harder, he would take on any and every challenge and he had earned his respect instead of just being given it.  After a rough match that seemed to go on for 15 minutes, Roman pinned Big Show, heading to the top rope, taking off his shirt and posing with his arms raised over his head, presenting a dominant alpha male image that sent the crowd into a frenzy.  Both of those events made him my favorite male wrestler, my favorite woman wrestler would change depending on who was a heel, who was a face, what friendships were lasting and how adorable those friendships were.

 

Roman and his Shield teammate Seth Rollins had also teamed up with Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston of the WWE Tag Team The New Day on Xavier’s YouTube Gaming Show “UpUpDownDown,” to play the Call of Duty game that takes place in outer space and it was the first time I laughed after the 2016 election.  He is also Roman Catholic and is one of at least two pro wrestlers to make the Sign of the Cross before entering the ring, the other being luchador Rey Mysterio.

 

It should be noted, you only become a popular search item if you’ve either done something controversial, died or people are otherwise concerned about you.

 

Sure enough, I went to wwe.com.  He had to relinquish his title because he had to fight Leukemia.  This preyed at my mind.  Here was a man who had struck down opponents taller than him, more fearsome than him and giants as big and aggressive as him, and as RWBY would say less than a month later about the first life of Ozpin, the reincarnating mentor figure, “he could destroy giants, and yet a few microscopic life forms could bring him down.”

 

That night I watched his Iconic Matches DVD and would ask for more wrestling DVDs that Christmas of Pay-Per-Views, matches I enjoyed hearing about.  That night I saw him and Shield Teammate Seth Rollins defeat Kane and Aberdeen, WA’s own Daniel Bryan, win a Royal Rumble and lay low many challenges.  It was amazing to see him and Daniel Bryan smash into each other with Steel Steps, enduring a punishment that would knock most unconscious within seconds, yet still fight on for over twenty minutes of grueling punishment and ultimately reach a pinfall.  It was like watching a giant monster movie played out with men. 

 

The matches I got for Christmas were the 2017 Survivor Series where the Shield fought and defeated the New Day, the 2018 Money in the Bank event where he fought Jinder Mahal, an annoying loudmouth heavyweight Indian Nationalist (as in, he is a nationalist of the country of India) who once referred to Japanese wrestler Shinsuke Nakamura as being from “an inferior Asian country,” and his triumphant claiming of the Universal Championship over Brock Lesnar at 2018 Summerslam.

 

I got fairly obsessed with that winter’s blockbuster movie of Aquaman since Jason Momoa bears more than a passing resemblance to Roman Reigns, which makes sense, since Momoa is from Hawaii and Reigns is from Samoa.  I had already planned well in advance that Aquaman would be my Halloween costume of 2018, but I would often mimic the raised arms pose and Superman Punch poses Reigns does while alone and in costume, as well as state that the oceans were “my yard,” a variation on one of Roman Reigns’ phrases, “This is my yard.”

 

With the loss of my Uncle at the end of November, after Christmas I honestly felt dead inside.  I went through the motions, feeling like there was no point to anything and Church was my only comfort, and yet, it wasn’t total comfort as I know sometimes hardship has to happen to make us better people.  Sometimes, evil or pain does succeed no matter how hard you pray, I prayed for a different result to the 2016 election and it didn’t happen, I imagine people were praying World War II would be averted or that the Nazis tactics wouldn’t lead to the Holocaust and those happened anyway, sometimes, evil happens because Earth is not all humanity will get to experience, but that doesn’t offer much comfort when you don’t know how long it will be until you reach Heaven or if you’ll experience it at all. 

 

However, In February, he would return and announce words I was very glad to hear; “I’m in remission, y’all.”  But if there’s one takeaway I want you to know, it’s what else he said that night.

 

“Tomorrow’s not guaranteed.”

 

No matter your profession or beliefs, this is a universal truth.  If you have the ability and confidence to do something good, don’t wait.  My cousin said it this way, “I hate New Year’s Resolutions.  Don’t wait until a new year to improve your life.  Do it RIGHT NOW.”  Don’t wait, if you can, do what will help you and others right now.  You may not have tomorrow.

On This Day-2018 Noah Cyrus Concert

 

I’ve often mentioned my thrills with the “first family of music,” the Cyrus family, namely Miley, Billy Ray and even Miley’s older Half-Brother Trace opening for her back in 2009.  Now, I’d like to touch on a stripped-down show on 10/22/2018 at the Neptune Theater in Seattle.  Miley’s youngest sister, Noah Lindsey Cyrus was on a tour celebrating her first EP and chose to perform a set of singles and various songs at the Neptune Theater in the U District in Seattle.  This location is special to my family, as my brother saw Iron Man there when it was a movie theater back in 2008, starting an over-10-year cinematic universe journey.

 

Something unusual right off the bat was that Noah wore sweat pants and a tasteful lacy top.  In these days, Pop stars often take flak for what they are/aren’t wearing and she looked ready to host a sleepover, so I wouldn’t imagine many parents would’ve balked at her wardrobe.  She delivers good acoustic pop music and soulful R&B music and has been through a lot for someone just over 20 at this point in time, one of her collaborators, XXXtentacion, was murdered and Hollywood seems to have given her symptoms of, if not full-blown, depression.  However, she counter balances this by releasing songs like “I’m Stuck” (an upbeat country-pop number), the soft and sweet ballad “Almost Famous” or a cover of Stevie Wonder’s “For Once In My Life.”

 

Nonetheless, she was adorable and confident on stage, she even looked a little like Ruby Rose of the hit web series RWBY (it was her haircut and the fact her hair was all black, mostly), and she sang songs like “Topanga” and “Punches” with confidence.  Another special thing was visiting the Japanese manga and anime store by the bus station the next day and seeing one of her first roles, Ponyo, on BluRay prominently displayed among the Miyazaki titles.  Sadly, on that evening, that day, 10/23, became famous for more bitter and difficult reasons, but that’s a story for tomorrow.

Release Highlights of 10/23/2020

 

Spotify surprised me quite a bit last time by releasing a relevant single about love from African-American music Titans Stevie Wonder and Gary Clark Jr., a protest song called “Commander in Chief” from Demi Lovato and a new rocker from Seattle-area grunge icons Pearl Jam.  There was also one last gem in the Bennington vault, a Linkin Park song called “Pictureboard,” while I heard Machine Gun Kelly and Halsey collab on a great alternative rock track called “Forget Me Too.”  Tom Petty’s re-release of Wildflowers also had some beautiful demos on it and some good heartland rock, as well, the live version of the title track was especially well-done.

 

Speaking of Heartland Rock, The Boss is back this week.  Bruce Springsteen releases a new album called “Letter To You” tonight at 9:00 PDT, with a song called “Ghosts” that is one of his best songs in quite some time.  (By the way, if you’re seeking to combine Halloween with Springsteen, his sister Pamela Springsteen played slasher Angela Baker in Sleepaway Camp 2 and 3, and she comes across as a prototype Harley Quinn)

 

Joe Bonamassa releases a completely original studio album this week with “Royal Tea.”  The album’s title track has been released as a single and sounds good, and reportedly the album is an homage to Bonamassa’s British blues-rock influences, such as Jeff Beck, Cream and Led Zeppelin.  Bonamassa covered two Led Zeppelin tracks on a live album once, “Boogie With Stu” and “How Many More Times,” the latter running 15 minutes.

 

German-British heavy metal band UFO releases a Deluxe Edition of their late 70s live Album “Strangers in The Night” with full performances around the Midwest and surrounding areas, featuring shows in Youngstown and Columbus, OH and Louisville, KY.  The band is severely underrated if they rarely ventured out of such places, with electrifying hits like “Doctor, Doctor,” “Lights Out” and “Rock Bottom.”  Most of the credit for such songs can be attributed to lead guitarist and master of the flying V Michael Schenker, who I’ve even seen perform live once.  He is a tireless player who manages to create amazing solos with his instruments, as well as memorable riffs, and I recommend at least some tracks from the normal version of this album, namely the three I mentioned above, “Shoot Shoot” and “Too Hot To Handle.”

 

We’ve also got a release from Pearl Jam.  They will be re-releasing their Unplugged Session on MTV from 1992. I look forward to acoustic versions of grunge classics like “Even Flow.”  I also wonder if they’re going to do a 12 Days of Christmas thing this year, since last year, for 12 consecutive days in December, Pearl Jam released unreleased parts of their back catalogue, some seasonal, others not.  Of note was a cover of “Someday at Christmas,” an instrumental version of “Jingle Bells” and a live performance from 12/8/1993 that included live covers of “I’ve Got A Feeling” by The Beatles and “Rockin’ in The Free World” by Neil Young.

 

It was thinking about Pearl Jam’s release and the “Save our Stages” Fundraiser with Miley Cyrus and the Foo Fighters this last Saturday that got me fired up to write that musical and political post.  I check Amazon.com’s digital pre-orders often and frequently use that as a way to gauge public/political opinions in the country, and what I feel like I’m seeing is America hasn’t changed over the last 4 years, or if it has, it’s gotten worse.  The trend I’m seeing is more albums that reject Black Lives Matter, Taking a Knee and the LGBTQ+ community end up higher on the list, as well as high-selling blatant nihilism, and more albums of a marriage of Church and State being front and center in religious releases, while albums outside these boundaries tend to start to show up lower and lower  Also, we’re in real trouble if our behavior on the Internet is how we act if we don’t feel we’ll be judged and remove all masks of decency and compassion because we want to be truly ourselves and less inhibited; because what I’m seeing is that Darren Streblow joke was completely true, “if you hate someone, you wanna kill them and the only thing holdin’ ya back is a good opportunity.”  There are so many death threats to directors and musicians for making movies or films the person simply “didn’t like,” some have suggested wiping Japan off the face of the Earth if certain characters don’t make the final four DLC slots for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and there is a general “burn the witches” attitude unseen in the United States since the Puritans ran Salem, MA with undercurrents of racism, sexism and homophobia.  Even in the real world, in my apartment complex, I’m noticing people are quick to wrath and slow to compassion, quick to insult and slow to compliment and it almost seems like we’re one misunderstanding away from violent conflict.  Trump is the villain, but curing the disease he has spread in this country requires everyone’s efforts, and sadly, I am 100% certain not everyone will pitch in.

October 20th; Remembering an American Music Icon

 This is a bit of a somber day of the year for me for almost a decade now, because 10 years ago, when Billy Ray Cyrus was experimenting with Alternative Rock with his band Brother Clyde (imagine Blackfoot, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Led Zeppelin, Paramore, Nirvana and Linkin Park in a blender) I wanted to hear some of the rock music that influenced this, so I bought Lynyrd Skynyrd's Gold and Led Zeppelin IV.  I would spend the next year obsessed with Lynyrd Skynyrd, learning the ins and outs of their tours, booze-induced infighting, love of The Rolling Stones, Merle Haggard and Eric Clapton and down-home sensibilities of treating people like you wanted to be treated.

On this day in 1977, Lynyrd Skynyrd's tour plane's engines failed and plummeted, crashing in a swamp.  Only drummer Artimus Pyle was in any shape to ask for help, heading to a farmhouse where he was almost killed due to his appearance; he was covered in blood and scratched up very fiercely.  Lead singer, lyricist and force behind the band Ronnie Van Zant was killed upon impact, one of the three guitarists, Steve Gaines, also died, as did his sister, backup singer Cassie Gaines and roadie Dean Kilpatrick.  Allen Collins, who played the solo on "Free Bird," sunk into a depression and became paralyzed in a car crash, only able to help the reunion tour in 1987 from behind the scenes.  He died in 1990 from pneumonia.

Lynyrd Skynyrd has long been one of my favorite Classic Rock bands for being blatantly honest, delivering fun riffs, and having good messages in their songs as well as fun ones.  Their first album follows a song about fleeing a girl's jealous boyfriend at a dance with advice from parents and grandparents on how to live life so that you're happy; don't be greedy, be patient, pray and count your blessings.

I can only imagine what the world would be like if the crash had never happened, but I personally feel Billy Ray Cyrus is the closest the music business has right now to Ronnie Van Zant, BRC admitted to being a huge Skynyrd fan multiple times by covering their version of "Call Me The Breeze" and also writing "The Freebird Fell," a memoriam of this day in 1977 co-written by former Skynyrd band members Ed King and Artimus Pyle.

As the recently passed Charlie Daniels said, "Fly On, Proud Bird, You're Free At Last."

World Series Prediction

 Well, I'm kind of disappointed the Braves won't be playing in the World Series.  Not just because I had predicted them to win it all, but because I have friends who are Braves fans and my cousin lives in Atlanta and I was hoping she'd have a similar experience to when my brother lived in the Bay Area in 2010 and the Giants won the World Series.  However, the Braves had a tremendous year, scoring an MLB record amount of runs in a single game, having the longest postseason shutout innings streak and having their star player return from fighting a nasty bout of COVID to produce an MVP-caliber season.  Also, I can't be too mad because Billy Ray Cyrus is a Dodgers fan, so I know of people who are happy about the results and seem to be very nice people.

Speaking of, as I looked at the four possible outcomes, I made guesses on how each one would pan out.  For the Dodgers-Rays World Series, I'm thinking a 32-year Championship drought will end and it will be, as my 1989 Fleer Card said, "Dodger Blue, World Champs."  The Dodgers simply look like they're playing better baseball than the Rays are and have better offense, defense and pitching.  The Rays' offense struggled during the ALCS and the Dodgers lineup is dangerous from top to bottom, so I feel the Dodgers will be the 2020 World Series Champions.

Fire Emblem Three Houses, the American Revolution and Broadway

With apologies to Lin-Manuel Miranda and Alexander Hamilton 

The McNeary-Arnault Royal Brigid Opera Presents, VON HRESVELG:

Rising from ninth in line, leading the continent in a new way of equality and speaking their mind, What’s your name gal, what’s your name?

Edelgard Von Hresvelg, my name is Edelgard Von Hresvelg, and there’s a million things I haven’t done, just you wait, just you wait.

Hubert: Me, I coddled her

Ferdinand: Me, I fought by her

Petra and Dorothea: We supported her

Lysithea: I abandoned my cause for her

Seiros/Rhea: I tried to end her!

Byleth: And me…I’m the merc who believes in her.

Company: Edelgard Von Hresvelg!


Really got into the Black Eagles story due to the similarities to the American Revolution (taking down a leader who thought themselves god-ordained and superior to everyone else), and with the current political climate (plus finishing the route in July and seeing the musical on-demand in August), I felt rather artistic.

Music and Politics Rants

 This is going to be me screaming angrily to let some stuff out of my system.  Either read sympathetically/with the intention to be therapeutic or skip, please.

4 years and my guts are still wrenched.  4 years and it still hurts.  That man came into my life in 2012, saying all the right things, opening a door to freedom to be as you are and rebelling against tyranny that wants everyone to be a robot.  But though he opened the door, he wasn’t on the other side of it.  Rob Halford’s gay, this man called him a sinner.  Ozzy Osbourne protests the endless war; this man acted like the “satanic Muslims are getting what they deserve.”  Geoff Tate demands no wall or border closures, this man stated in opposition, “We should build a wall, make America great again.”  Miley Cyrus cries out for rights for the LGBTQ+ community, this man responded, “You’re a harlot who’s going to Hell, it’s only okay for a man to brag about being sexually active, and even then, only if he’s a Republican.”  Michael Sweet, you may claim to know Jesus, but you sure as heck don’t work for Him.

 

I can only imagine that right now you’re mourning Eddie Van Halen and don’t know who George Floyd or Jacob Blake are.  I can only imagine you think military actions against Portland, OR were necessary.  I can only imagine you see no connection with greenhouse gases, an overuse of automobiles, wildfires in the Pacific States and more and more dangerous Hurricanes!  I can only imagine the mindset of someone who doesn’t believe a scientist’s word that a disease exists, but instead, believes a Politician’s baseless claim that it’s a plot to win an election and discredit him!  And yet, I would love nothing more than to hear you say that I’m wrong and you don’t really believe these things, but you have done NO actions to indicate so whatsoever!

Pearl Jam is right now with Miley Cyrus, Demi Lovato, Sammy Hagar, Billy Ray Cyrus, K.Flay, Tom Morello, Cheap Trick, Geoff Tate and Joan Jett as one of my personal heroes of the American music business in this time of fascism, standing up for the disempowered against tyrannical politicians.  50 years from now, I will remember these individuals and bands like we remember Jimi Hendrix, Black Sabbath, John Lennon and John Fogerty today during the era of Nixon and Vietnam.  The current musicians are heroes against the evils of claiming God is tyrannical, African-Americans don’t matter, the LGBTQ+ either doesn’t exist or is made up of whores and sluts, that God is on the side of the censorship and oppression of minorities and the erroneous claim that war is patriotic, which the Government manifested during Vietnam and has brought back in an attempt to subjugate us with a combination of Hitler (targeted genocide of minorities) and Stalin (alters history to make himself look better and political enemies look like traitors) in charge.  When I was in High School, it broke my heart to see people apparently despise Jesus, but over time I learn people don’t despise Jesus, they despise how the Church distorted Jesus into a conservative dictatorial figure and now uses His name to control the masses in any and every way possible.  That is why jokes like on Family Guy get made (that and Seth McFarlane thinks being offensive=being funny), why movies like the Da Vinci Code can get made, why trying to be serious about God goes nowhere in this country, and why Church attendance in this country has been falling, because the majority of what is known as the Christian school of thought has married a political party, denied having a problem keeping itself out of polyamorous relationships, thinks abuse is necessary in child-rearing, wants to fight war as the first option to any disagreement, is rapacious to a ludicrous degree, is willing to let rape charges slide, believes men can say the phrase “grab them by the [vagina]” and get to be President, doesn’t feel anything when people are murdered and in some cases, cheers it on, believes orientation can be tortured away, has a fascination with using torture, period and often treats loss of life through murder or natural disaster of anyone who’s not white, male, straight and conservative as “they deserved it,” then tries to justify everything they do by quoting John 3:16 and Leviticus 20:13 when questioned.  I would pay a large sum of money for my musician heroes to “band” together and cover Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs.”

1 Year Anniversary of BabyMetal show and some thoughts on Godzilla films

 It’s rare to celebrate 1^st anniversaries, but this is a rare year and until things get better, this will one of my most recent live concerts.  A year ago today I went down to Seattle, WA to the Paramount Theater to see BabyMetal, a trio of Japanese girls who combine J-Pop with thrash metal.  Imagine the intro to a popular anime mixed with Metallica or Pantera and you’re not far off.  I’ve been a huge fan of Japan since the King of the Monsters entered my life in 1998-1999 and have since absorbed a great degree of their pop culture, such as Nintendo, Pokémon, various animes and mangas, the Super Sentai series (the basis for Power Rangers in the west), Ultraman and other things involving superheroes, superheroines and giant monsters.  In fact, BabyMetal received a licensed appearance in Super Mario Maker for the Wii U where you can play as them using a Special Mushroom if you beat a downloadable level.  They have also opened for American Titans Guns N Roses and Metallica in the East, opened for the Red Hot Chili Peppers in the Southeastern United States and even performed a set with Rob Halford of Judas Priest fame.

 

The song that convinced me the group was worth checking out was “KARATE” off their second album, released in 2016.  The music video mixed choreographed air-punching, intense cries and Evanescence-style vocals.  The group followed this with several singles over 2018 and 2019 and soon announced their tour and show, which apparently got some of their fans from their homeland to come across the Pacific as some people apparently from Japan sat next to me and we sang along to Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” on the PA.  Other PA songs included “The Trooper” by Iron Maiden, “Whole Lotta Love” by Led Zeppelin, “Doctor, Doctor” by UFO and “Cowboys from Hell” by Pantera, which was contrasted by the audience mostly consisting of college age women.  The opening act was The Hu (no, not “The Who,” The Hu, The Who was playing in Seattle that Saturday at T-Mobile Park) a Mongolian-based group with intense percussion who would later collaborate with Papa Roach and Halestorm.  Their delivery made you want to clap along to their intense, driving music, creating a powerful sound.  They had low slung, guttural vocals about Mongols, Genghis Khan, being a warrior and horseback riding, if I’m to believe the translations of the song titles Spotify put up and their Western collaborators’ English lyrics in the collaboration versions of the songs.  They were a treat to the ears with how loud they could be.

 

BabyMetal was not to be outdone, with slick choreography, well-styled dance routines, great harmonies and blistering instrumentals.  “KARATE” was on the set, and their treatment of the semi-recent single “Distortion” was a treat, showing a wrecked cityscape with a fiery red sky, it reminded me of a Shinji Higuchi effects-directed Godzilla film (Godzilla 1984, Shin Godzilla).  It’s especially reminiscent of the 1984 movie after the two nuclear missiles collide above Tokyo, spurring awake a slumbering Godzilla.  Higuchi also worked with Hideaki Anno and Shusuke Kaneko on Neon Genesis Evangelion and the 1995-1999 Gamera movies respectively, so it’s not impossible he had some influence on the design of the video (in fact, the protagonist of Evangelion, Shinji, is named after Higuchi). 

 

Side Note: I’ve actually seen two episodes of Evangelion, and maybe it’s that they were early in the series, but I liked Asuka’s “the job needs to get done and done right, I don’t have time for BS” attitude the best of the main characters.  The two episodes I saw were where Shinji and Asuka are tied together to synchronize themselves against a monster than can become two monsters and Asuka has to wear a thermal suit that makes her look obese in order to destroy a monster in a volcano’s magma chamber.

 

Lead singer Su-Metal was a commanding force on stage, while backup singer/dancer MoaMetal was adorable.  I have a Funko Pop of her, in fact, and she is my favorite of the current members with her long pigtails, boundless energy and enthusiasm and slick dance moves.  Yuimetal isn’t a permanent member and was replaced that night with someone else unnamed (she is currently pursuing a solo career, but it is an amicable split), but whoever filled her role was very glad to be on stage and filled her big shoes well, so much so you wouldn’t have guessed these weren’t the original three.  The current world situation may be tough on the young group, but I hope they will continue reaching high, the world needs their brand of “kawaii metal” as they term it (Japanese for ‘cute metal’).  Keep reaching for the heavens, BabyMetal!

 

There is another side note I wanted cover about Godzilla 1984 since I didn’t know this until this year, when an article was published on tohokingdom.com.  It’s not very nice news, it’s rather upsetting and depressing, so you can skip it, but I really wanted to get this out after finding this fact out.  At the end of Godzilla 1984, High Frequency sound, designed to mimic a reactor Godzilla would seek for a meal, is broadcast from the rim of the nearly active Mt. Mihara.  This Stratovolcano has an incredibly twisted and dark history in Japan.  The island had a long history of banishing exiles, and the Mountain was also famous for suicides of desperate young people, shorn by society.  A couple who met at a Christian fellowship, which wasn’t granted Government Protection in Japan until 1945, took their lives in a volcano like Mt. Mihara.  In a way, it’s a depressing, gut-wrenching, tear-jerking yet perfect reflection of a quote by Godzilla’s first director, Ishiro Honda.  “Monsters are tragic beings.  They are born too tall, too strong, too heavy.  They are not evil by choice.  That is their tragedy.”  Meaning that Raymond Burr’s narrative was completely right in the edit to call Godzilla “that strangely innocent and tragic monster.”

 

“These are not monsters, these are animals, fighting to reclaim a world that was once theirs.”-Dr. Ishiro Serizawa, Godzilla; King of the Monsters 2019

The week of 10/16/2020 In Music and more

 Good morning, let's start with last week.  There weren’t many good new releases last week, but that’s somewhat to be expected when the main releases I was expecting were anniversary re-releases.  There was a fantastic new track off the new Blue Oyster Cult album called “Train True” and Jimi Hendrix had a good “new” performance of “Foxy Lady” from Maui in 1970, from an album expected in November.  It was good to see the origins of Linkin Park, but nothing holds a candle to the great emotional resonance Chester Bennington made during his days making music for Transformers and his final album with Grey Daze.  The Doors were all right, but not as good as their contemporaries around that time like Hendrix, Santana or John Lennon.  Nonetheless, there were good tracks that I was glad to hear and put into playlists so I can access them down the line.  I guess not every week is going to be amazing, is all.

 

Anyway, this week has two key releases on tap, but I’m not going to mention one of them because I’m already listening to what appears a previous MP3 release of it to determine if it will make a good Christmas present.  Also, I don’t want the knowledge of it to get out as a Christmas present.  I think my Brother will enjoy this, though he’s probably unfamiliar with the artist.  I heard of this musician back at my old Church (he also has fans at my current one) and he’s a British Classic Rock keyboardist and Christian who’s collaborated with Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne.  I’m not going to mention any more, he might be able to figure it out just from that, though I hope he doesn’t to keep himself surprised.  If the MP3s on Spotify correspond to this release, it will be a good collection of new versions of classics and some songs I don’t think either of us have heard before.  Merry Christmas, Andrew.

 

The other release I am anticipating on Spotify is a live Allman Brothers release called “The Final Note,” likely the last concert Duane performed with the band before his fatal motorcycle accident in late 1971.  If you’re unfamiliar with the band or Duane Allman, I can sum them up as such:

 

In the late 1960s, the landscape of rock and roll was changing as bands like Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath began forming in England.  In Georgia, US, brothers Gregg and Duane Allman started a unique blend of country and rock and roll behind Gregg’s songwriting, vocals and keyboards and Duane’s intense slide-guitar work.  Dickey Betts provided another guitar line, which created the “dueling lead guitar” element of Southern Rock which would be carried by bands like Lynyrd Skynyrd.  The band also had two drummers, like The Outlaws or The Charlie Daniels Band after them.  Duane’s intense work, famously highlighted in 20-minute live performances of the song “Whipping Post,” became legend, to the point that Eric Clapton, fresh from the split of Cream, hired him to help make his “Derek and the Dominos” album, “Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs.”  Duane duels with Clapton and provides the “bird cry” guitar sound at the end of the famous track “Layla,” but didn’t accompany the band on tour because Eric was hooked on heroin at the time.  Another interesting note is that Duane disapproved of the term “Southern Rock,” since rock and roll originated in the South, so to him, it was like calling it “Rock Rock.”  While touring with the Allman Brothers Band, recording several live albums throughout 1971, Duane sadly crashed his motorcycle one night, ending his life.

 

This ended the Allman Brothers band being Brothers and also ended Derek and the Dominos, sinking Eric Clapton into a depression he wouldn’t recover from until Pete Townsend gathered a special concert in 1973, inspiring him to record “I Shot the Sheriff” and the album 461 Ocean Boulevard the following year.  I can’t imagine how devastating it felt to lose his guitar brothers of Hendrix and Allman so soon to each other, but he was able to keep going through the 1970s with his friends at his back and make a great career with “Wonderful Tonight” as well as patch up his friendship with George Harrison.  Revisiting his, Chester Bennington and Chris Cornell’s careers on this past week of World Mental Health Day, reminded me how tough life can be and how sometimes people like me may express ourselves in unusual ways, but it’s because we feel things so intensely.  I posted this picture of a Mii (avatar character for Nintendo system) of Chris Cornell when I was aware Mental Health Day had happened.

 

The man truly had a God-given voice and a great sense of humor, and I would love it if he could’ve said something funny/awkward during this time of such intense stress.  This is a man who made swearing in public hilarious, he could certainly make our stress of politics and COVID have a bit of levity in them.  Instead, we have to bear with a lack of levity, forced to live with a sense of “just stand by, maybe things will be better in a few weeks with the election.” 

 

On two positive notes, tomorrow I’m going to begin Actions-Tober, a lineup of action movies and related action-like movies throughout this month into next, mainly to keep myself busy and make some joyful times.  Here’s the lineup as of now, a couple of the days’ movies have significant reasons I will get into in blog posts on those days.

 

10/16-Godzilla 1984, Shin Godzilla

10/20-Godzilla Against MechaGodzilla, Godzilla; Tokyo SOS

10/21-Godzilla; Final Wars

10/23-WWE Extreme Rules 2019

10/27-Wonder Woman

10/28-Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn

10/29-Friday the 13^th Part VI: Jason Lives

10/30-War of the Gargantuas

10/31-Godzilla vs. Monster Zero, Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla

11/3-Godzilla vs. Mothra 1964, Godzilla; King of the Monsters 2019 (Godzilla’s 66^th Birthday aka “avoid the current events even if it’s a good day” Day.  It should also be noted the second film involves a blasphemous false king who claims rulership of the planet while fulfilling prophecies from the Book of Revelation and is ultimately ended by the alpha male and alpha female of nature for attempting to destroy the world.  Just a little bit of hope for the election and the times to come)

Another is that of this morning, I finished one of my themed Best of Years Playlists by owning all the MP3s in it, in this case Party Rock 92.  Here's the music in the playlist:

1.)    Achy Breaky Heart-Billy Ray Cyrus

2.)    These Boots Are Made For Walking-Billy Ray Cyrus

3.)    Never Thought I’d Fall In Love With You-Billy Ray Cyrus

4.)    Some Gave All-Billy Ray Cyrus

5.)    Lounge Act-Nirvana

6.)    Breed-Nirvana

7.)    Come As You Are-Nirvana

8.)    Smells Like Teen Spirit-Nirvana

9.)    Into The Void (Sealth)-Soundgarden

10.) Outshined-Soundgarden

11.) Crazy Train (Live)-Ozzy Osbourne

12.) War Pigs (Live)-Ozzy Osbourne

13.) No More Tears-Ozzy Osbourne

14.) Road To Nowhere-Ozzy Osbourne

15.) I Don’t Want To Change The World (Live)-Ozzy Osbourne

16.) Time Machine-Black Sabbath

17.) Feed My Frankenstein-Alice Cooper

18.) Even Flow-Pearl Jam

19.) Once-Pearl Jam

20.) Alive-Pearl Jam

21.) Black-Pearl Jam

22.) Love Buzz (Live)-Nirvana

23.) Negative Creep (Live)-Nirvana

24.) Smells Like Teen Spirit (Live)-Nirvana

25.) Breed (Live)-Nirvana

26.) School (Live)-Nirvana

27.) Hands All Over (Live)-Soundgarden

28.) Outshined (Live)-Soundgarden

29.) Hey Stoopid-Alice Cooper

30.) Wind-Up Toy-Alice Cooper

31.) Tears In Heaven-Eric Clapton

32.) Layla (Acoustic)-Eric Clapton

33.) Weight of the World-Ringo Starr

34.) Porch-Pearl Jam

35.) Mama I’m Coming Home (Live)-Ozzy Osbourne

36.) Black Sabbath (Live)-Black Sabbath

37.) Bark At The Moon (Live)-Ozzy Osbourne

38.) Hunger Strike-Temple of the Dog

39.) Pushin’ Forward Back-Temple of the Dog

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

41.) Party With the Animals-Ozzy Osbourne

42.) Light Out Of Black-Rob Halford

I also started two new ones, Party Rock 81, which continues to cover the early days of Ozzy Osbourne with Randy Rhoads and Black Sabbath with Ronnie James Dio, as well as the music behind the animated anthology film Heavy Metal:

Party Rock 81:

1.)    Diary of a Madman-Ozzy Osbourne

2.)    SATO-Ozzy Osbourne

3.)    Over The Mountain-Ozzy Osbourne

4.)    Suicide Solution (Live)-Ozzy Osbourne

5.)    Believer (Live)-Ozzy Osbourne

6.)    Crazy Train (Live)-Ozzy Osbourne

7.)    Paranoid (Live)-Ozzy Osbourne

8.)    Mr. Crowley (Live)-Ozzy Osbourne

9.)    The Mob Rules (Demo/Film Version)-Black Sabbath

10.) Country Girl-Black Sabbath

11.) E5150-Black Sabbath

12.) The Mob Rules-Black Sabbath

13.) Heavy Metal (Take A Ride)-Don Felder

14.) Heavy Metal (Film Version)-Sammy Hagar

15.) Veteran of the Psychic Wars-Blue Oyster Cult

16.) I Must Be Dreamin’-Cheap Trick

17.) Reach Out-Cheap Trick

18.) Open Arms-Journey

19.) Mother, Father-Journey

20.) Escape-Journey

21.) Keep on Runnin’ (Live)-Journey

22.) Don’t Stop Believin’-Journey

23.) I Got A Line On You (Live)-Blackfoot

24.) Hooked on Music (Live)-Pat Travers

25.) Stevie (Live)-Pat Travers

26.) Boom, Boom, (Out Go the Lights) (Live)-Pat Travers

27.) Godzilla (Live)-Blue Oyster Cult

28.) (Don’t Fear) The Reaper (Live)-Blue Oyster Cult

29.) Roadhouse Blues (Live)-Blue Oyster Cult

30.) Black Blade (Live)-Blue Oyster Cult

31.) Unchained-Van Halen

32.) For Those About To Rock (We Salute You)-AC/DC

33.) I Love Rock and Roll-Joan Jett and the Blackhearts

34.) Crimson and Clover-Joan Jett and the Blackhearts

And also Party Rock 86, which covers music from 1985, 1987 and my brother's birth year of 1986, effectively the heyday of Hair Metal.  It also ends with two tracks from the epic 1980s movie Highlander and includes two songs from the film Maximum Overdrive:

Party Rock 86:

1.)    Rainbow in the Dark (Live)-Dio

2.)    Rock and Roll Children/Long Live Rock and Roll/Man on the Silver Mountain (Live)-Dio

3.)    Good Enough-Van Halen

4.)    Dreams-Van Halen

5.)    Why Can’t This Be Love?-Van Halen

6.)    Sweet Child O’ Mine-Guns N Roses

7.)    Nightrain-Guns N Roses

8.)    It’s So Easy-Guns N Roses

9.)    Rocket Queen-Guns N Roses

10.) Out Ta Get Me-Guns N Roses

11.) Whole Lotta Rosie (Live)-Guns N Roses

12.) Paradise City-Guns N Roses

13.) Is This Love-Whitesnake

14.) Still of the Night-Whitesnake

15.) Here I Go Again-Whitesnake

16.) Bad Boys-Whitesnake

17.) Rock of Ages Medley-Def Leppard

18.) Hysteria-Def Leppard

19.) Pour Some Sugar on Me-Def Leppard

20.) Rocket-Def Leppard

21.) Animal-Def Leppard

22.) To Hell with the Devil-Stryper

23.) Free-Stryper

24.) Livin’ On A Prayer-Bon Jovi

25.) You Give Love A Bad Name-Bon Jovi

26.) Wanted Dead or Alive-Bon Jovi

27.) I’m Down-Aerosmith

28.) Dude (Looks Like A Lady)-Aerosmith

29.) Rag Doll-Aerosmith

30.) The Last in Line/Children of the Sea/Holy Diver (Live)-Dio

31.) Who Made Who-AC/DC

32.) Sink the Pink-AC/DC

33.) Yankee Rose-David Lee Roth

34.) Shy Boy-David Lee Roth

35.) Instruments of Destruction-NRG

36.) Shot in the Dark-Ozzy Osbourne

37.) Killer of Giants-Ozzy Osbourne

38.) Lightning Strikes-Ozzy Osbourne

39.) Walk in the Shadows-Queensryche

40.) Gonna Get Close To You-Queensryche

41.) Screaming in Digital-Queensryche

42.) Neue Regel-Queensryche

43.) Walk in the Shadows (Live)-Queensryche

44.) Talk Dirty To Me-Poison

45.) Gimme The Prize (Kurgan’s Theme)-Queen

46.) Who Wants To Live Forever-Queen