I haven’t gotten all the way through last week’s releases, but I did get through Dream Theater, Keb’ Mo’ and AURORA‘s albums, the first two of which were pretty good examples of hard rock and acoustic blues, respectively. The Ferrymen also had a pretty good album, though it really just whet my appetite for his work on the Leslie West Tribute album at the end of March. AURORA’s album wasn’t anything special for the most part, but Brittney Spencer, an up-and-coming African-American woman country singer, has some great music already released over the last few years. A pair of exceptional releases last week were the live version of “Boyfriend” by Tegan and Sara and Carrie Underwood’s song for the Cobra Kai soundtrack, which is apparently a TV show that spins off from the “Karate Kid” movies. I also heard Satriani’s first single from his new album, it was nice, but not as fun as the singles from Steve Vai’s album have been.
Speaking of, Steve Vai’s album releases tonight at 9:00, with a tour delayed until October/November due to a recent injury. Eric Gales, a great African-American blues singer and guitarist, also has an album releasing tonight, and the Summer of Soul soundtrack, an album of the 1969 Harlem music festival, is also getting released. This event was often called the “African-American Woodstock,” featuring B.B. King, Gladys Knight, Sly and the Family Stone and Nina Simone, and looks like a lot of fun.
I’ve also seen more than a few posts on “mental health” and decided to lend my voice to them, saying, “Mental Health is a regular uphill climb for me due to my anxiety and depression disorders, but what helps immensely is the medication my psychiatrist prescribes. What also can help me may be YouTube videos, video games and especially listening to music.” I hope that can help other people in similar situations to me. Also, emotional release video games like Fire Emblem; Three Houses and Persona 5 Strikers are best. I would recommend the Black Eagles route, but I’ve been told the Blue Lions route is also helpful (in that you help someone battling their mental demons), though I think you get more of a sense of battling homophobia/lesbophobia/biphobia and the resulting corruption when Church and State Marry in the unholiest of matrimonies in the Black Eagles route. It ultimately depends on how angry the last 6 years have made you, if you’re mad enough to smash something just to let the anger out or if you’re not and feel that doing so in a video game is ethically wrong. Personally, I did get mad enough and I will say the game does offer the solution that at the end, you may WANT to smash your enemies, but what you NEED is someone who loves you, regardless of what choice you make or what reason you made them. SPOILERS; when Byleth and Edelgard kill The Immaculate One, Byleth then presumably dies. Edelgard has everything she wanted at this point, and she cradles Byleth’s body and weeps. Sothis then leaves Byleth, causing her to be restored to life and hug her empress. Edelgard wanted to end the government that looked the other way on what ruined her childhood, but really needed someone who loved her as she is, not demanding she change to be different in any way, but a helper who would be there and be a supportive ear, a friend who was close enough to become family. Becoming that someone was liberating and helpful for me (because I can relate to that need and that sense of fury from pain), but if it doesn’t work for you, I think the Blue Lions route may, because you help Dimitri with his mental issues.
On the less spoiler side of video games, I tweeted at Elizabeth Maxwell (voice actress of Ymir in Attack on Titan, Urbosa in Legend of Zelda, Winter in RWBY and Sae Niijima in Persona 5) when she tweeted that she was giving her cats silly names, to which I responded that one reminded me of “Snoogy Woogy” from an old Calvin and Hobbes strip. She replied that she missed the comic, and I like that I got replied to, that tends to happen only when I’ve brought up old Tara Platt merchandise and YouTube videos (she and Yuri Lowenthal have a channel with videos such as “Out of Time” and “Topsy McGee and the Sky Pirates,” which are impressive for a budget of pocket change, I’d recommend them if you’re curious and have less than 10-15 minutes to kill, especially since they have low views. The second also has John deLancie, as in Q from "Star Trek; TNG," Discord from "My Little Pony; friendship is magic" and a one-episode role in "Touched By An Angel" where he was mad enough at God to try suing Him because his town was facing severe drought).
I feel I should say something about the latest death in the music business, Meat Loaf. I wasn’t a big fan, but in 2014, I saw Blue Oyster Cult at the Emerald Queen Casino with Kasim Sulton on bass. He was also the bass player on Meat Loaf’s “Bat out of Hell” album and also worked with Todd Rundgren and Joan Jett. He’s an impressive bass player and someone who recognized his talent should be honored for that, if nothing else. It took me until now to articulate this because life can get pretty cyclical and irritating, with athletes and actors who want to be known for their “faith” making themselves more known for their homophobia, racism and/or misogyny, which makes us all look bad, even if we reject these “ideals.” This can wear me down because it makes the world untrustworthy and a lot more painful than it already is and it’s gotten worse in the last few years, being bolstered by fascism and what I can only describe as a hunger for genocide in the Republican party.
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