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Punky Meadows’ Wrap Me Up Single Should Be the Next Christmas Classic!
Angel guitarist Punky Meadows has written and released a new Christmas single called Wrap Me Up.
This is a song that should be the next Christmas classic.
It’s new, but it sounds as if it was written and recorded back when the Christmas classics were made.
Punky assembled a great group of people on this song, most notably singer Gabriel Levine. Wow what a voice.
All the vocals and instrumentation on this song is phenomenal and should make you feel good listening to.
I cannot say it enough that this song should be a HUGE hit and be played at Christmas every year.
Thank you Punky for writing, playing on, and producing this song.
Seek out this song. Trust me you will love it.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone!!
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I Finally Met Michael Jai White! Thank You Sir and Thank You Galaxycon Columbus!
For the first time, I went to Galaxycon Columbus.
I had been to the one in Louisville in 2019.
It’s a HUGE event, with several stars and vendors.
I wanted to meet so many people at this event because it was really stacked with stars.
Stars such as Hayden Christensen, Weird Al Yankovic, Keifer Sutherland, Ernie Hudson, Kurt Fuller, John Cleese, William Katt, and people I had met before like Danny Trejo, Nick Castle, George Takei, and also several wrestlers I had seen or met before like Rick and Scott Steiner, Sting, Lex Luger, Jerry “The King” Lawler, Jake “The Snake” Roberts, Arn and Brock Anderson, Mick Foley, and others.
I did see most of them, but having said all of that, I only went to meet one person who I had never met before: Michael Jai White.
He is an actor/director/writer/producer/martial artist/teacher/great and humble person.
I have been a fan of his work for some time now, particularly his movies Blood And Bone, Never Back Down 2 and 3, Black Dynamite (the movie and animated series), Outlaw Johnny Black, Welcome To Sudden Death, Undisputed II, Falcon Rising, the first two Universal Soldier movies, Skin Trade, Triple Threat, The Vigilante Diaries, Accident Man, The Dark Knight, Spawn, Tyson, just to name a few.
When I went to get his autograph, I brought with me my Outlaw Johnny Black DVD.
As soon as he saw that, he lit up, saying “now that is my favorite”. And I said “well I’m really glad I brought it”.
I also asked him about whether he will do anything more with Black Dynamite, and he said he is trying to work on a sequel. I hope it happens because I love that movie and it’s 2 season animated series so much.
I later got my picture taken with him and he remembered me saying “good to see you again”.
And when I went to his Q&A later on, I asked him about Outlaw Johnny Black, and he gave me a very good answer (last video listed below).
I cannot say enough about this man. He’s very talented, but more than that, he is a very good person who does not see himself as a big deal, but he sees himself doing what he needs to do in life. And I applaud him for it.
Thank you so much sir for meeting me and being so kind. I cannot wait to see your upcoming movies (one of which he said at his Q&A) he is making right now as of this writing in Louisville, Kentucky, which I find very exciting. And he said he finished another movie recently too. Busy man.
Oh and before Michael’s Q&A, there was a “Celebrity Match Game” game that I watched live.
Based on the famous game show, this iteration of Match Game consisted of emcee Elgin David and celebrity panelists Dave Willis, Leva Bates, Roger Craig Smith, Stephen Kramer Glickman, Dana Snyder, and Guy Hutchinson playing the main part of the game with two contestants chosen out of the studio audience.
I’ve loved Match Game for many years so this was fun to see as well.
Well, that pretty much covers my day.
I wanted to meet so many others, but frankly, I could not afford to meet anyone else.
But meeting Michael was the main reason I cared to go to this event, which as I said above was HUGE, located at the Greater Columbus Convention Center in Columbus, Ohio.
When I found out Michael was going to be there, I had to go.
And if he would not have been there, I would not have gone.
So thank you Michael for coming to Galaxycon Columbus and for Galaxycon Columbus for booking him.
Thank you so much.
Video Gallery (click on thumbnail to play video)
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Van Zant Always Look Up Album Review
Brothers Johnny (Lynyrd Skynyrd/solo artist) and Donnie Van Zant (38 Special) have released their first album as a duo since 2007.
Called Always Look Up, it is a Christian album featuring Johnny and Donnie’s great vocals and songwriting in a phenomenal way.
This album is extremely positive, powerful, and inspiring.
You don’t have to be a Christian to enjoy this album, although it would help.
Either way, I find this album to be a feel good album and we as a world need words and songs like this more than ever.
Johnny and Donnie have provided a great service with this album and I thank them both very much.
All of these songs would sound great in churches or anywhere for that matter.
Give it a listen and I dare you to not feel good afterwards.
And thanks guys for signing it too (courtesy of Talk Shop Live)!!
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Wrestling With The Devil By Lex Luger Book Review
I’ve been a wrestling fan since I was six or seven years old.
One of the wrestlers I grew up loving was “The Total Package” Lex Luger.
After reading his book, Wrestling With The Devil, I am an even bigger fan of Lex.
The book covers his upbringing, playing sports, getting into wrestling and what I think was a great wrestling career, his unfortunate problems, and ultimately his great redemption and finding God and Jesus Christ.
This book is very inspiring and even with the problems that Lex has had and experienced, he proves that it is never too late to come out the other side and be a better person and have a better life.
Thank you Lex for this great book. I’m so glad I became a fan of yours when I did and as I said, I’m an even bigger fan now. Thank you sir and God Bless You.
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Yes Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus Movie Review
I’ve been a Charles Bronson fan since I was in the 3rd grade.
I grew up watching his movies and am still a fan to this day.
I’ve even made my girlfriend Mariah a fan of Bronson.
However, as much of a fan as I am, there was one movie in particular I had never seen until many years after it aired on television.
Yes Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus was a TV movie released in 1991, actually when I became a fan, but I just missed it.
Hey better late than never.
This is quite the departure for what Bronson had become known for at this point.
He started off playing all kinds of different roles, but later on, he became known for playing killers, cops, and basically all tough guy roles. And he did them well.
This movie brought him back, I think, to being a more well rounded character actor.
He plays Frank Church, a newspaper reporter who has covered so many big stories in his career. However, his editor/friend played by Ed Asner, gives him the assignment of a lifetime: writing a piece in reply to a little girl named Virginia asking the newspaper if there is indeed a Santa Claus.
Bronson’s character is also self destructive, having lost his wife recently, so he is struggling. However, he does find inspiration and is able to respond to Virginia with this great, touching piece declaring that there is indeed a Santa Claus.
This is a very heartwarming and inspiring movie.
Also starring Richard Thomas as Virginia’s Dad, this is a great Christmas movie and just a great movie for the whole family to see.
Yes quite a departure from what Charles Bronson had become known for, but if you only know of his tough guy roles, this movie I feel will pleasantly surprise and show you that he really could act.
Although he does have one moment in the movie where he punches someone, his character here has much more depth and it was refreshing to see, even though I love his tough guy roles tremendously.
Also, I miss him very much.
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Red One Movie Review
The day after I saw the great movie Wicked (review here), I went back to my local theater to see the movie Red One.
I’ve been looking forward to this one for some time and I was not disappointed.
Dwayne Johnson (The Rock in WWE) plays Callum Drift, the body guard and friend of Santa Claus (J.K. Simmons), and is one day away from retiring.
However, Santa is kidnapped and Callum has to find him.
A great cast includes Chris Evans (Jack O’ Malley, who ends up helping Callum and he’s awesome in this movie), Lucy Liu (Zoe, who is a top government agent working alongside Callum), Kiernan Shipka (Gryla, the main villain who is a shape shifting witch plotting to imprison every person on the naughty list in a snow globe), Kristofer Hivju (Krampus, Santa’s brother), and Bonnie Hunt (Mrs. Claus).
This is already a favorite of mine and I want to see this movie many more times over the course of my life.
It is a fun action movie (which I’m all about) and it’s also a fun Christmas movie for everyone to see.
Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans make a great team in this very fun, action packed, Christmas thrill ride.
Red One is a great movie. Period.
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Wicked (2024) Movie Review
My girlfriend Mariah went to see the movie Wicked and loved it. She really wanted me to go see it so I did.
I was not sure I would like it, but as it turned out, I loved it.
This movie mainly focuses on the characters Elphaba Thropp (played by Cynthia Erivo), later known as the Wicked Witch of the West, and Galinda Upland (played by Ariana Grande-Butera), later known as Glinda The Good. It focuses on their relationship, which is not good at first, but they both later become friends.
If you are a fan of The Wizard Of Oz or a fan of this story, then I think you will enjoy it.
Along with Erivo and Grande, Oscar winner Michelle Yeoh plays Madame Morrible, Jeff Goldblum plays The Wizard of Oz. That’s just some of the great cast.
And the songs are phenomenal too and it’s a beautiful looking movie.
This movie is also part 1 of a 2 part story. I know some people may not like this aspect of it, but I’m ok with it. It’s more to look forward to.
Like I said, if you are a fan of The Wizard Of Oz or of musicals, I cannot imagine you not enjoying this movie.
I’m not an expert on this story and I loved it.
Go see it!!
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Alex Van Halen Brothers Book Review
I’ve been looking forward to this book being released for some time.
Brothers by Alex Van Halen, the drummer of the band Van Halen and brother of guitarist Edward Van Halen (RIP).
I also bought the Audio CDs of the book because I knew that Alex himself read it for this and wanted to hear him read it as I read along too.
It was worth the extra money because you can hear it in his voice than he means what he says and that you can hear that he’s gone back in time while reading the book.
The book Brothers covers a lot of ground. Alex and Edward’s upbringing, coming to America from Holland, starting to play music as kids, swapping instruments, playing in earlier bands, forming what became Van Halen, their relationship with singer David Lee Roth, playing backyard parties, clubs, making a demo with Gene Simmons of KISS, getting signed to Warner Brothers Records, making their first 6 albums, and more.
I loved this book and especially hearing Alex tell these stories.
I only wish the book went beyond the Dave years and focused on the other years of VH also. There are a few mentions of some of those times, but not much.
But either way, if you are a VH fan, this is a MUST READ.
And if possible, please get the audio too. You won’t regret it.
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The Substance Movie Review
My girlfriend Mariah and I watched the movie called The Substance this past weekend.
We became aware of this movie some time ago and thought it looked really good.
Well, we were right.
If you have not seen this yet and want to, avoid reading the rest of this because I will be giving spoilers. Otherwise, please read on.
Demi Moore, in may I say one of her best roles, plays an Academy Award winning actress who is now hosting an exercise show. However, she finds out indirectly from her boss (played by Dennis Quaid in a very over the top performance) that she is being fired for being too old.
After this, she gets in a car accident (she suffers no injuries) and while she is at the hospital, a nurse gives her a USB drive that features an ad about a way to be young again.
Intrigued, she goes to this very shady, isolated looking place to get the stuff needed to make the procedure happen.
And let’s just say it initially works. What happens is that another form of her (played by Margaret Qualley) comes out of Demi and for 7 days, this part of herself will exist and Demi will basically not exist. But after 7 days, she has to “not exist” and Demi will exist for 7 days.
This goes on for awhile and as I said initially, it works. However, both get greedy let’s say with their time and how they handle things, and in the end, it does not work out for either part.
I think this movie is excellent.
Again, Demi gives one of her best performances.
Dennis Quaid is soooooo over the top.
Margaret Qualley is great.
The cinematography, sets, music, everything is phenomenal.
This movie I consider science fiction, but also an extreme story of how people will do anything to remain young.
Seek out The Substance.
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Mark Farner Closer To My Home Album Review
I’ve been waiting for this for some time.
The great singer/songwriter/guitarist Mark Farner (Grand Funk Railroad) has released a new solo album!!
Released on November 8 of 2024, the album is called Closer To My Home and it is a phenomenal album.
Produced by Mark and Mark Slaughter (Slaughter, The Vinnie Vincent Invasion), this album has everything you want if you are a fan of Mark or Grand Funk.
Every song is phenomenal. It even closes with a Grand Funk classic (I’m Your Captain/Closer To Home).
I can already say this is one of the best albums of 2024 and one of Mark’s best albums.
Thank you sir for making this album and for signing it too!!!!
It rocks, but is yet soulful and has tons of melody and great lyrics.
Rock on Mark Farner and thanks for giving me a shout out recently on a Facebook Live chat too (video below).
Video Gallery (click on thumbnail to play video)
