Catching up on two weeks of music

                I must apologize for my post on Monday, I was feeling very outraged because it was Victoria Day, Canada’s Independence Day, which got me frustrated at this country because Canada wouldn’t make our Political Mistakes, plus the song "American Woman" by Canadian rock band The Guess Who points out our mistakes by saying "I don't need your War Machines/I don't need your ghetto scenes."  I really don’t like the direction one of our two major political parties has been on in the last 11 years and they are getting dangerously more delusional and are endangering their fellow citizens with their belief in lies and their Messiah complex.  But today shouldn’t be about Politics, I have two weeks of music to fill you in on and a couple new releases available at 9:00 pm PDT.

 

               First, May 14^th.  Myles Kennedy and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young were worth looking forward to, a nice assortment of music I am considering purchasing after I find employment.  It was especially nice to hear the demo with Joni Mitchell.  I also got to hear the debut album of Tommy’s RockTrip, a solo venture by Tommy Clufetos, the Ozzy Osbourne/Black Sabbath and now Dead Daisies drummer I mentioned in that post.  It had several enjoyable tracks and was a good showcase of hard rock, plus I found out his full name is Thomas Daniel Clufetos, which made me smile that he has my first name as his middle name (and like my full name, both of his given names have Biblical origins, one Old Testament and one New).  Another surprise then was the announcement of a debut album by KK’s Priest, a new band from Judas Priest guitarist KK Downing.  The thing that surprises me most of this is that according to Rob Halford’s autobiography, he declared he was retiring and walked away from the band, suggesting an amicable split, but part of this release’s press and the hiring of Tim “Ripper” Owens as the singer make me question if he’s trying to “get back at Judas Priest.”  Only interviews will tell, I personally hope it’s just that he decided he didn’t like doing nothing in retirement and decided to make music again and with Richie Faulkner filling his shoes in Priest, he chose to make his own band.

 

               On May 21^st, there were more exciting releases, mostly singles and some good surprise albums.  J-Pop singer LiSA had a good release called LADYBUG the preceding Tuesday, with some great Japanese language women-sung rock.  Olivia Rodrigo of the High School Musical TV Show also had some great tracks on her album “SOUR,” which captured the swarm of emotions of being a teenager.  K.Flay released a new song called “TGIF” with Tom Morello on guitar, and fittingly, she used the phrase “Raging Against The Machine” in the song, referring to Morello’s first band.  Spotify let me now of a Deluxe Edition of Ariana Grande’s “Dangerous Woman,” with two new bonus tracks, and I also really liked the track before the two bonus tracks, so I bought all three.  A band called NEEDTOBREATHE released a single with Carrie Underwood, and while her appearance and the appearance of Jon Foreman of Switchfoot on a yet-to-be-released track suggests they’re a Gospel outfit, they seem more Country than actual Gospel; the song didn’t feature a mention of God or Jesus and didn’t seem to be a metaphor for our relationship with Him.  It was still a great song, though.  Bainbridge Island native Dove Cameron also released a collaboration with Rezz that was a fun listen, as well.

 

Now for the releases for this week:

 

Kansas-Point of Know Return Live and Beyond: 70s Rockers Kansas, famous for “Carry On Wayward Son,” are still around, this release capturing recordings from their last tour, which celebrated their album “Point of Know Return.”  While the album is played in full, there are also songs from different albums played in the show, including the aforementioned “Carry On Wayward Son.”  Though Kerry Livgren is no longer with the band, I am curious to hear how the band sounds now and if they measure up to their Classic Rock legacy.

 

Various-Still Wish You Were Here: In 1975, Pink Floyd released “Wish You Were Here,” one of their best albums between the title track, “Have a Cigar,” and the epic two-part mega song “Shine On You Crazy Diamond.”  This album features various Rock and Metal artists teaming up to cover the album start to finish, such as Ian Paice (drummer for Deep Purple on all releases), Rick Wakeman (former keyboardist for Yes), Bellevue native Geoff Tate (former Queensryche lead singer, current lead singer for Sweet Oblivion and tours as himself), Steve Stevens (guitarist for Billy Idol, has also played with Billy Ray and Miley Cyrus), Carmine Appice (drummer for Vanilla Fudge, Cactus, Beck, Bogert and Appice, Pat Travers and an Ozzy Osbourne tour, brother of Dio/Black Sabbath drummer Vinny Appice), Joe Satriani (guitar virtuoso who played for Chickenfoot, has massively impressive solo career) and James LaBrie (lead singer for Dream Theater, Progressive Metal Band with a series of impressive Classic Rock covers).  This promises to be an enjoyable album and reminds me of the late Bob Kulick’s tribute albums (he even made some Pink Floyd covers with Tommy Shaw of Styx and Glenn Hughes of Deep Purple, Black Country Communion and The Dead Daisies on vocals).

Clarifying the last post

 

I just can’t get past how evil I’ve seen this country be in the last 11 years.  We are going to Hell and I’m powerless to fight this path.  I have screamed, posted and written hundreds of rants.  I have written stories with LGBTQ+ protagonists, I have gone completely insane in the name of defending liberty and it all feels like a waste of time, because nobody listened.  75 million people, how many of them were just incensed when they saw somebody like me online?  Has all my work just been for naught?  I still see darkness and evil on a regular basis.  Sharon would tell me I seek it out, but I’ve never known how to respond to that.  It does happen, you do go to someone’s page, curious who they are, and see them say the most hurtful things.  You see it not just on DeviantArt, but also Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.  There is no online haven, and in a time when computers consume most of our lives because we have to talk online until the all-clear sounds, seeing such hatred makes me weary and depressed.  Why can’t we move past our selfishness and self-destruction?  Why can’t we love each other?  I’ve tried to fight for this, but no one listens.  If we’ve just encased ourselves in echo chambers to the point decency and love are going to be unheard forever, we have truly entered the end times, and the 45^th “President” is truly the antichrist, leading his disciples to a war path of destroying freedom and compassion with oppression and rigidity.  I don’t know how to fight this, I’ve done all I can and the world is still as demonic as it was when I started, in fact, it’s worse than ever.  I feel I have failed in my Mission Work.

Letting rage out

 The following are some thoughts I've had over the last five years that I honestly have to let out right now.  It infuriates me how stupid, aggressive and thoughtless this country can be.

The United States disgusts me.  We apparently blamed the victims of the Pulse Nightclub Shooting for the event happening, because all I’ve seen in the five years since is a path to sending the LGBTQ+ community to concentration camps for the new American Holocaust.  We were 6 million votes away from that occurring now.  And it will happen with Republicanazi victories in 2022 and 2024, because they just have to rile up their mindless drones with racism, sexism and homophobia and they’ll take care of the rest by silencing the opposition.  “We’re doing this for the good of America!”  “Shut up, you don’t understand how God works!”  Right, because Jesus preached hatred, violence and destruction of everyone you disagree with.  But their God is not Jesus, they worship the antichrist, the Beast incarnate, Donald Trump.  They want us all dead and will stop at nothing to ensure that happens, cheat, subjugate, murder and destroy.  Voting Boxes in Blue States and Swing States will be destroyed, their will be mass bombings to turn the country red and keep the spirit of Nazism alive, thriving and in control.  The Satanic Nazis in Congress have already made a pact to prevent Biden from doing anything productive and keep their demonic and oppressive laws in charge.  They will repeal the legalization of gay marriage and then strip away the community’s right to vote and own property and rent apartments.  Afterwards, they will blame them for World War II, the War on Terror and the COVID-19 pandemic, rewriting history so 2+2=5, the sky is green and we’ve always been at war with Japan.  By 2034, we will be living the book 1984.  We need to imprison Trump, Rick Santorum, Ted Cruz and Pat Robertson for their Nazi/Stalinist ways, but we don’t have the guts or spine to do it.  Due to that, we will all die to those ways.  The United States deserves to be smote, erased from the world and destroyed, because we’re a nation of apathetic cowards, emphasis on the pathetic!  You want the country saved, protest the Nazi occupation of Congress and the Supreme Court and order those people jailed/sent to the electric chair!  Save America now, end the Nazi threat that is the Republican Party.  Until that happens, we don’t deserve Memorial Day, Veterans Day, the Fourth of July or the National Anthem being played.  Right now, we deserve to be bombed into oblivion by Canada, Japan, China and the European Union.  Go to Hell, do not pass Go, do not collect $200, in fact, pay that to repair the damage you’ve done to Native Americans, African Americans, Asian Americans, Latin Americans, the LGBTQ+ community and the Environment!