End of January/Post-Covid Update

     For those who missed me the last two weeks, I was sick with Covid.  After almost 3 years, I finally caught it myself.  It was rough, but it would've been worse without three shots and my age of 33, going on 34.  The worst was (legally) this last Sunday morning, when I couldn't swallow water because my system was trying to expel so much.  So I lay in my room with my Edelgard and Annette plushies and imagining Tara Platt's calm, gentle voice and Abby Trott's "Yeah, You got this!" attitude as Annette and held together, going back to sleep.  The two actresses and characters inspired me to create images combined with inspiring phrases that I posted to Facebook and Twitter a couple weeks ago.

 That's Edelgard and Annette, Godzilla; King of the Monsters, Led Zeppelin and Miley Cyrus with FLETCHER in the third image, for those who don't know.  I really am glad Abby, Tara, Yuri Lowenthal and Sarah McKnight are around during this weird and crazy decade, it gives me mental peace when my family and Church seem distant.

 

On Monday, I will be experiencing more with Tara Platt and Yuri Lowenthal by getting Fire Emblem Engage.  They will be reprising their roles as Edelgard and Marth, now in spiritual advisory/power-up form called Emblems, Edelgard sharing her time with other Three Houses characters Dimitri and Claude, though most fans have been showing Edelgard and the in-game text suggest she is the main Emblem and the others swap in at random during battles.  Characters original to the game I'm looking forward to are Alear, the main protagonist, whose woman self is voiced by Laura Stahl.  Her personality will likely be very malleable and open to interpretation.  Another is Lapis, played by Kimberly Brooks, an adorable pink-haired girl in red armor.  Then comes Citrinne, voiced by Brittney Karbowski, who I am familiar with as Wendy Marvell, a 12-year-old wind mage in Fairy Tail, and Camie, a ditzy but well-meaning superheroine with illusory powers in My Hero Academia (also the only character I got a perfect with in My Hero One's Justice 2).  Lastly is Yunaka, played by Laura Post, who considers her one of her favorite characters ever played.  She says things like "Hiya, Papaya!" and photos have appeared on Twitter where she has a conversation with Edelgard where Edelgard compares Yunaka to Dorothea.  Their friendly relationship is slightly ironic since Laura Post was in Three Houses as Catherine, leader of the knights of Seiros, and, as such, one of the characters who wanted Edelgard dead the most.  Post also voices Silvia from another Fire Emblem game, and Melony, the cutely plump snuggle-mom from Pokemon Shield.

 

My favorite songs from the week of the 13th were Black Stone Cherry's single, "Out of Pocket," a crunching, loud, Hard Southern Rock barnburner, Miley Cyrus' "FLOWERS" a lovely, smooth, relaxing pop song advocating self-care when no one else will give you what you want, and Paramore's "Cest Comme Ca," an upbeat dance-type number.

 

My favorite songs from the week of the 20th were Kurstin x Grohl teaming with Jack Black to cover Rush's "The Spirit of Radio."  I knew Jack Black was a fan of Dio and Dio-era Black Sabbath, but Rush is a pleasant surprise since I've renewed interest in them after the Envy of None project last year.  BABYMETAL announced the track listing for their new album and made their first three singles available for purchase, all smash hits I've come to expect from the band.  "Bed of Roses," the first single off 70s rocker Ian Hunter's album was released, which had Ringo Starr on drums.  The album looks to be packed with stars, featuring Slash, Robert Trujillo, Duff McKagan and Joe Elliott.  It is also bittersweet, as it features the now-gone Jeff Beck and Taylor Hawkins, and touches on a personal issue as it features a man who destroyed the life of a single mom pungeon master, and I don't care if you think she's a liar, I believe her because she only brought me joy.  The week also had a single by Metallica called "Screaming Suicide" that was pretty rocking.

 

 And as for this week, I haven't gotten to most of it yet, but Ronnie Romero's covers of "Turbo Lover," "No More Tears" and "A Light In The Black" where everything I hoped they'd be.  It makes me want to seek out his version of "Stargazer" with Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow.

 

I also made a playlist for Martin Luther King Jr. Day and African-American History Month:

1.)    Foxy Lady-Jimi Hendrix
2.)    Purple Haze-Jimi Hendrix
3.)    A Hard Day’s Night-Billy Preston
4.)    Without A Song (Jam)-The Beatles (Billy Preston)
5.)    Get Back-The Beatles with Billy Preston
6.)    All Along The Watchtower-Jimi Hendrix
7.)    Day Tripper-Jimi Hendrix
8.)    I’m Every Woman-Chaka Khan
9.)    Nobody-Ariana Grande and Chaka Khan
10.)    Good As Hell-Lizzo and Ariana Grande
11.)    Get Back-Billy Preston
12.)    Jumpin’ Jack Flash-Aretha Franklin
13.)    Fire-Jimi Hendrix
14.)    Walk This Way-Run DMC/Aerosmith
15.)    Through the Storm-Aretha Franklin and Elton John
16.)    For Once In My Life-Stevie Wonder
17.)    Finish Line-Stevie Wonder and Elton John
18.)    Faith-Stevie Wonder and Ariana Grande
19.)    Where is Our Love Song?-Stevie Wonder and Gary Clark Jr.
20.)    Come Together-Gary Clark Jr.
21.)    Old Town Road (Remix)-Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus
22.)    Party Up The Street-Swae Lee and Miley Cyrus
23.)    July-Leon Bridges and Noah Cyrus
24.)    Take What You Want-Post Malone, Ozzy Osbourne and Travis Scott
25.)    Voodoo Child (Slight Return)-Jimi Hendrix
26.)    It’s a Man’s, Man’s, Man’s World-Jurnee Smollett
27.)    Hey Baby (New Rising Sun) (Live in Maui)-Jimi Hendrix
28.)    In from the Storm (Live in Maui)-Jimi Hendrix
29.)    Foxy Lady (Live in Maui)-Jimi Hendrix
30.)    Voodoo Child (Slight Return) (Live in Maui)-Jimi Hendrix
31.)    This is Us-Jimmie Allen and Noah Cyrus
32.)    On My Way-Jimmie Allen and Jennifer Lopez
33.)    I Got My Eyes On You (Locked And Loaded)-Gary Clark Jr.
34.)    Feed the Babies-Gary Clark Jr.
35.)    Pearl Cadillac-Gary Clark Jr.
36.)    Steep Climb-Eric Gales, Zakk Wylde
37.)    Hey Ya-Outkast
38.)    I Cry-Usher
39.)    A Beautiful Noise-Alicia Keys and Brandi Carlile
40.)    The Fullest-Kirk Franklin and Josh Groban
41.)    Paper Flowers-Alicia Keys and Brandi Carlile
42.)    AM I DREAMING-Lil Nas X and Miley Cyrus
43.)    Save Your Tears (Remix)-The Weeknd and Ariana Grande
44.)    I Don’t Do Drugs-Doja Cat and Ariana Grande
45.)    Great is Thy Faithfulness-Cece Winans and Carrie Underwood
46.)    Respect-Aretha Franklin
47.)    The Long and Winding Road-Aretha Franklin
48.)    Foxy Lady (Live, Los Angeles 1969)-Jimi Hendrix
49.)    Voodoo Child (Slight Return) Part 1 (Live, Los Angeles 1969)-Jimi Hendrix
50.)    Sunshine of Your Love (Live, Los Angeles 1969)-Jimi Hendrix
51.)    Voodoo Child (Slight Return) Part 1 (Live, Los Angeles 1969)-Jimi Hendrix

That's all for now.  I'm not sure when next time will be, but, as Def Leppard always says, "there will be a next time."

Old Habits Die Hard

     So, once again I'm updating on a Thursday, though I have decent knowledge of the releases this week and what came last week.  Last week's singles by Revolution Saints and Daughtry with Lzzy Hale were among the best for singles tied to projects aimed to be released this year thus far; Joel Hoekstra delivered a stellar guitar performance for the Saints and Deen Castronovo powerfully sang beautiful lyrics about the need for mutual connection and for us to stop hating and work together.  Lzzy and Daughtry presented a Heavy Metal version of Journey's "Separate Ways," interestingly, woman-led metal band Eva Under Fire covered the same song last year and it ended up one of my favorite releases of the year.  It is likely this will do the same, checking many of the same boxes that one did.

 

    Iggy Pop had good tracks on his album with guest appearances by Stone Gossard and the late Taylor Hawkins, and Duff McKagan's bass playing was powerful on the tracks he played on, but it was ultimately a release I can wait until March to buy tracks from.  My February budget has been trainwrecked by an unexpected charge from Entertainment Earth.  The good news is that I'm getting an action figure of Street Fighter's Chun-Li as a Power Ranger two months early.  The bad news is this put me in the red so bad I have to stall buying Paramore tickets and most, if not all, MP3s until March.  Part of the problem was attempting to pre-purchase albums by Ronnie Romero, Paramore and Miley Cyrus, which are due out the end of this month, early February and early March.  They are paid for, but it wasn't worth it in hindsight.

 

    As this is music-based, I must take time to discuss this week's tragic loss.  I remember last year a Twitter page asked what my favorite Jeff Beck songs were.  I don't know the large gamut of his discography, and my distaste for some of the characters he spent time with prevents me from going to far, but I said, "You Shook Me with Rod Stewart, Train Kept A-Rollin' with Steven Tyler and Patient Number 9 with Ozzy Osbourne."  Those still are my absolute favorites, but in the last year, I got to be exposed to him on "A Thousand Shades" with Ozzy Osbourne and a live medley of "The Jean Genie" and "Love Me Do" he did with David Bowie, which were among my favorites of the year.  This morning, I had to note how talented he was at playing "Amazing Grace," the vocal line to "Immigrant Song" as Jimmy Page played the riff and an instrumental of The Beatles' "She's A Woman" with occasional talkbox.  I don't know if he'd crack my top 10 guitarists, number 10 is Vic Johnson, the guitarist for Sammy Hagar and the Circle who can play most Van Halen and Led Zeppelin riffs, but he is comparable to names like that, Jimmy Page, Jimi Hendrix, Slash, Randy Rhoads, Mike McCready, Allen Collins, Joel Hoekstra and Eddie Van Halen.  His frequent collaborations with just about anyone remind me especially of Slash, in particular, who does the same.

 

     This week, Black Stone Cherry released a killer song that entered my favorites of this year (time will tell if it stays).  Steve Vai also has a single from his Vai/Gash project, and I wouldn't be surprised to see something from Ronnie Romero.  Paramore and Miley Cyrus announced singles for this week and I want to try out the Beyond the Black album as I like women-fronted metal.

 

    I want to give a special thank you to Yuri Lowenthal, Sarah McKnight, Tara Platt, Dave Scherer, Abby Trott and my brother for their compassionate Twitter presence during my last post.  I have been waking up to enormous fear and mental pressure due to my lonely situation.  My building is a great place to live, but several of my neighbors believe in scary far-right lunacy that is scary because it says I will be in an argument that I cannot win because they have built a wall around their mind and heart I cannot talk through, made of hateful ideals I cannot understand, black and white rigidity that does more harm than good and a desire for a theocratic dictatorship that may carry out genocide.  It is why we are so distant now, when they lost to Obama, Palin and Glenn Beck stoked in them a rigidity that stonewalled rationality and made us "Satanic Communists" in their eyes.  The Tea Party changed them into a hate group desiring an anti-LGBTQ+ genocidal dictator for life and Trump fit the bill so well they called him Christ.  So, forever, my conversations with them will be this, "How about the Mariners?" with the hope we don't stray from sports.

State of my Apartment

 I just can’t take it.  Fear rules this building.  I live 2 doors down from a Trumpist who may be accusing me of drug dealing and listens to homophobia and antisemitism.  How long before he punishes me for having Queen, Miley Cyrus, Vicky Beeching and Judas Priest CDs and listening to Halestorm, having Edelgard and Byleth marry, having Samus and Zelda fight together in Smash Bros. and having a grandma whose maiden name is Ginsburg and whose ancestor wrote “A Wandering Jew in Brazil” about his willing conversion to Methodism and becoming a missionary?  How many more times must I endure proselytizers outside Planned Parenthood saying “life begins at conception” with the unwritten message “unless you choose to be a f*g.”  How many more times must I see picket signs outside my Church condemning me because we ordained lesbian weddings?  When will the hate end and they stop rioting against my soul?  I ache, not because some divine light is upon me, but because man’s cruelty knows no depth it won’t sink to.  And so Fear to the point of paranoia becomes an almost-constant companion, keeping me inside my apartment, afraid to act.  I want this off my head.  I know this isn’t what God wants for me, this is what the deeply cruel men and women have afflicted upon me and called just.  But they seem so numerous, my apartment, on-line, the bus, anywhere, someone has hate against a brutalized group on their lips and think they deserve more.  How do you be strong against such a force?

Random stuff from the first weekend of 2023

 Top 20 Favorite Duets (not necessarily in order):

 

1-Night Crawling by Miley Cyrus and Billy Idol

2-Separate Ways by Daughtry and Lzzy Hale

3-Dub Love by Tara Platt and Yuri Lowenthal

4-Great is Thy Faithfulness by Carrie Underwood and CeCe Winans

5-Hope (Let It Find You) by Billy Ray Cyrus and Glenn Hughes

6-Every Beginning Ends by Noah Cyrus and Ben Gibbard

7-Easy by Demi Lovato and Noah Cyrus

8-Naturally Wild by Ray Wylie Hubbard and Lzzy Hale

9-Mama Kin/Train Kept A-Rollin’ by Axl Rose (with Guns N Roses) and Steven Tyler

10-Simple Things by Elton John and Brandi Carlile

11-I got so High I saw Jesus by Noah and Miley Cyrus

12-Noah (Stand Still) by Billy Ray and Noah Cyrus

13-E-Ticket by Elton John and Eddie Vedder

14-Stand by Billy Ray and Miley Cyrus

15-Ready, Set, Don’t Go by Billy Ray and Miley Cyrus

16-The Chase by Geoff Tate (then part of Queensryche) and Ronnie James Dio

17-Love of my Life by Ann Wilson and Vince Gill

18-The Boxer by Nancy Wilson and Sammy Hagar

19-Close My Eyes Forever by Lita Ford and Ozzy Osbourne

20-Hunger Strike by Chris Cornell and Eddie Vedder (Temple of the Dog)

 

When asked for music recommendations by someone into pop music:

 

Musicians:

Queen, Demi Lovato, Miley Cyrus, Noah Cyrus, The Beatles, Ringo Starr, Bon Jovi and Carrie Underwood

 

Specific albums/songs:

Queen: Jazz, Hot Space, A Kind of Magic

Demi: Confident, Party, Dancing with the Devil...the art of Starting Over, HOLY FVCK

Miley: Meet Miley Cyrus, Breakout, Bangerz, Younger Now, SHE IS COMING, Don't Call Me Angel, The Thrill Is Gone/Django, I got so High I saw Jesus, Plastic Hearts, Nothing Else Matters, ATTENTION LIVE

Noah: Make Me (Cry), I'm Stuck, Almost Famous, Good Cry, July, This is Us, For Once In My Life, I got so High I saw Jesus, The Hardest Part

Beatles: Help, Rubber Soul, Revolver, Abbey Road, 1, Let it Be, Let it Be...Naked, Yellow Submarine Songtrack

Ringo Starr: Ringo, Photograph (The Best of), Vertical Man

Bon Jovi: Slippery When Wet, New Jersey, Keep the Faith, 2020

Carrie: Some Hearts, Storyteller, Cry Pretty, My Gift, My Savior, Denim and Rhinestones, Apple Music Sessions.

 

 

I don’t know if I should’ve done that.  I feel like I just gutted all the energy remaining in my body.  I honestly want to die.  Twitter is exhausting and I can’t take the constant stream of people babbling nonsense at me, insisting I’m defective and that I need to be fixed for their God of choice, rock music, video games, politics, control of the masses by manipulating Scripture…there are a few who do not judge me, do not condemn my mistakes or over-eager enthusiasm, yet despite how numerous they are I can only remember 4.  I think I’ve lost all trust in mankind from seeing how evil we can be in the name of Donald Trump or Johnny Depp.  “Art” depicting Trump murdering Biden and Harris is online, and I’ve seen Depp skin Amber Heard and wear her remains like a human suit in someone’s photoshop renderings.  These aren’t on Twitter, but they’re on a website I used to deal with the loneliness of lacking a partner for physical intimacy.  I never thought what would be considered porn would get political, much less side with misogyny and homophobia.  But, ultimately, too many of these people see it as “product,” not “art,” meaning they are detached from the human being they are photoshopping or recreating in their own, twisted image, not caring if they depict them in character, only caring about personal popularity.  It’s why the website descended into being run by memelords and AI art has become popular there, wiping out variety of styles.  I can’t even bring myself to find it erotic in the slightest.  So, I have to turn to following 5 artists from that website with no political art and more concern about their craft on Twitter to carry through my internal desires.  I often wish I didn’t have them, because so many appear sexless in the real world.  But I have these desires and I do not know what to do with them as the old guard wanes to the dark ways of misogyny and homophobia.

 

The best songs of the first week of 2023 for me were Daughtry with Lzzy Hale covering Journey’s “Separate Ways” and “Need Each Other” by Revolution Saints.  Iggy Pop had 5 good tracks on his album, I’m going to get them later to see if they grow on me throughout the year, they lacked the immediate MAN THIS IS GREAT the other two did, but Duff McKagan, Stone Gossard and Taylor Hawkins did good jobs on their tracks.

Early lists of 2023 and a rant about Politics

 Top 10 Absolute Favorite songs of 2022:

1-Burn (Live) – The Dead Daisies

2-Wrecking Ball x Nothing Compares 2 U (Live) – Miley Cyrus

3-Patient Number 9 – Ozzy Osbourne and Jeff Beck

4-Immortal – Ozzy Osbourne, Mike McCready and Duff McKagan

5-Parasite – Ozzy Osbourne and Zakk Wylde

6-Degradation Rules – Ozzy Osbourne and Tony Iommi

7-Dub Love - Big Lugg, Yuri Lowenthal and Tara Platt

8-Becky’s So Hot– FLETCHER

9-Her Body Is Bible – FLETCHER

10-Crazy Angels – Carrie Underwood

 

Top 5 Beatles songs:

1-Yellow Submarine

2-Day Tripper

3-I Want You (She's So Heavy)

4-Something

5-Here Comes The Sun

 

Top 10 singers who need to be critically respected:

1.)    Rob Halford (Breaking the Law by Judas Priest-Wacken 2015)

2.)    Geoff Tate (Jet City Woman by Queensryche)

3.)    Robert Plant (Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin-Los Angeles 1972)

4.)    Hayley Williams (Ignorance by Paramore)

5.)    Ann Wilson (Stairway to Heaven by Heart-Seattle 2013)

6.)    Brandi Carlile (The Story)

7.)    Glenn Hughes (Like No Other 2021 by The Dead Daisies)

8.)    David Coverdale (Stormbringer by Whitesnake)

9.)    Chris Cornell (Be Yourself by Audioslave)

10.) Miley Cyrus (Nothing Else Matters)

 

Top 5 picks for Album of the Year 2022;

-ATTENTION LIVE by Miley Cyrus

-Patient Number 9 by Ozzy Osbourne

-Fire Style by Big Lugg and Yuri Lowenthal

-Denim and Rhinestones by Carrie Underwood

-Envy of None

 

 

I’m so tired, I don’t want to repeat my stupid routines from last year, playing zillions of songs because a Tweet I made was “liked.”  I’m exhausted of feeling like I’m catering to a group I do not know or understand and whose enjoyment is entirely arbitrary.  One day, you’re some kind of hilarious hero, the next, forgotten and ignored.  It’s already 8:30?  It feels way too early to be 8:30. I wish I could disappear for a while, but I always feel guilty when I do, because it’s just fear of something that isn’t likely to happen stressing me out, like the ceiling will open up and God will smite me for reconnecting with DeviantArt artists, or Mom and Michael will bust the door down and start lecturing me, or, the worst fear, I’ll lose access to Tara, Yuri, Colleen, Brittney and Abby.  I worry about that the most as I feel it’s the most likely to happen.  I often try to censor myself just to make sure nothing potentially offensive can be seen, and I don’t even know what they’d find offensive aside from far-right-wing politics that endorse runaway capitalism, fascism, a theocracy that may look the other way on genocide and will exorbitantly punish the LGBTQ+ community and desires than all women be stay-at-home breeders.  But, unless you endorse and are okay with such things, why would you not be offended, it removes the 1^st Amendment, devalues human beings across the country in a wide variety of walks of life and creates an elite class of overseers who only see humanity as worshipers and breeders or pests to be exterminated, nothing more.  This is medieval serfdom, not the country we fought and died for.  Endorsing it destroys the hard work of the founding fathers and removes compassion from the message of God, which is the tentpole of the law.  Nobody in this country should endorse it, yet they do because after McCain lost to Obama, Republican politicians decided they had no desire to work in a system in which they could lose and doubled-down on efforts to create a homophobic theocracy they could control.  Romney was merely their first attempt at this.  After they succeeded for 5 years with Trump, they decided to embrace Domestic Terrorism and Internet Troll behavior while refusing to acknowledge the role they played in increased violence in the country, denying the events of Trump’s terrorist attack on the capitols even happened, and doubling-down on their misogynist and homophobic assault while fully embracing the National Socialist rhetoric in Germany in the 1930s with books being banned and burned.  This is highly offensive and these politicians should at least face a life sentence without parole.  Internally, I desire them to receive capital punishment, restoring the ideal that the United States takes a “zero-tolerance” stance to Nazis.  They have claimed themselves as the “true” patriots and the “true” Christians, putting this country on the fast track to become another paradise for those who supported Hitler, either through elections or violence, and if we do not either arrest them all or sever the vehemently red parts of this nation, we will lose our ideal of equality before I go to be with God.

 

 So, from what I gather, tonight at 9:00 pm PST, we're going to have a new Revolution Saints single, a new cover of Separate Ways by Daughtry with Lzzy Hale and a new Iggy Pop album with Chad Smith, Andrew Watt and Duff McKagan.