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The Black Crowes Happiness Bastards Album Review
The Black Crowes are back with a great new album called Happiness Bastards.
Released on March 15 of 2024, this album marks The Crowes’ first full on new album of original material since 2009 (they released a cover EP in 2022 called 1972 though) and many thought this would never happen.
That’s because the band broke up, and by all accounts, singer Chris Robinson and his brother, guitarist Rich Robinson, did not get along.
However, they apparently put aside their differences and got back together a few years ago, and now the band includes Chris and Rich, as well as bassist Sven Pipien (who was been in the band for many years), Nico Bereciaua also on guitar, Erik Deutsch on keyboards, and Brian Griffin on drums.
This album rocks!! It sounds like a Black Crowes rock album to me, which is how I want it to be.
Some don’t like that more classic members aren’t there, but Chris and Rich are still great, can still write very good songs, and have a tight, rocking band.
If you don’t like it, fair enough.
But I do like it very much and I’m glad The Crowes are back.
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Jon Anderson And The Band Geeks True Album Review
Original Yes singer/founder Jon Anderson’s latest album, now with his group The Band Geeks, was released August 23 of 2024.
Called True, it is very much what you expect from Jon and his massive discography.
This album is truly awesome.
Jon’s voice is still as great as ever, and his band are great.
It consists of Jon on vocals of course, along with Richie Castellano on guitar/bass/keyboards/backing vocals, Andy Ascolece on drums/percussion/keyboards/backing vocals, Andy Graziano on guitar/backing vocals, Christopher Clark on keyboards, Robert Kipp on Hammond Organ/backing vocals, and Ann Marie Nacohio on backing vocals also.
If you are a fan of Jon, you should really enjoy this.
Every song is great.
I love when my favorite musicians keep making great music, even in their later years.
Sometimes they make some of their best work then.
I wish more would do that. I know most people don’t buy music like they used to, but I know there is still an audience out there.
Many classic artists like Jon Anderson, Ace Frehley, Deep Purple, Mr. Big, and others have put out great albums just this year.
So, it is possible for new music by classic artists to still be great.
Fans need to seek it out.
So, seek this one and others out and see what you think.
Oh, and I got this album signed by Jon, courtesy of TalkShopLive. I appreciate it!!
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Alien: Romulus Movie Review
Alien: Romulus was released to theaters August 16 of 2024.
Counting Prometheus and the two Alien Vs. Predator movies, this is the 9th movie of the Alien franchise.
Let me preface by saying that I love Alien and Aliens, which are the first two movies.
Alien 3 I think is OK.
Alien: Resurrection is weird.
I like Alien Vs. Predator and I hate Alien Vs. Predator Requiem.
I like Prometheus, but I was more hyped about it before I saw it.
Alien Covenant is good, but not great.
Now to Alien: Romulus.
This movie is more in line with the first movie, in terms of story and look, but yet is still not a carbon copy.
I think it is good, however, there is one character in it that annoys me. I say that because I can barely understand what he’s saying because he has a very thick accent and speaks fast. No offence to the actor, but that just annoyed me.
Also, with help of technology, the likeness of one of the actors from the first Alien movie is in this, but yet, is a different character. I think that was cool and well done, but it also took me out of the movie some too some because I was confused as to whether he was the same character or different. But it was well done.
Aside from all of that, it is a very well made science fiction/horror/thriller.
It is set 20 years after the first Alien movie, and 37 years before the second movie Aliens.
The story consists of a group of people that want to leave their planet that has no sun to a planet that does have one.
However, they ultimately land on a ship that has at least 36 Aliens on it, and if you know about any of these movies, you more or less know what happens next.
I don’t think this ranks up with the first two, but that is unfair to say.
It is well made, the cast is good (other than me not being able to understand one of the actors), and the effects look more practical and real than just all computer generated imagery, which I greatly appreciate.
I’ve read that this movie is making big money at the box office already, and I think that is a great thing.
If you are a fan of this franchise, especially the first movie, I recommend checking it out.
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My Tribute to Jack Russell of Great White and My Review of His Book The True Tale of Mista Bone
When I got home from work on Thursday, August 15 of 2024, my girlfriend Mariah called to tell me one of our favorite singers, Jack Russell, of the bands Great White and Jack Russell’s Great White, had passed away.
It was not long before this that Jack announced that he was retiring from doing concerts, because his health was not good.
Even though I knew he had a lot of health problems, I did not expect this.
I’m not going to say I’ve cried, but I feel very sad that he is gone.
Mariah and I really bonded over his music and went to see Jack Russell’s Great White a few years ago and had a blast.
I got to see him again the following year and thanks to his amazing guitarist Robby Lochner, I was able to meet Jack.
He was very kind and thanked me for being a fan.
I showed him all of my Great White CD booklets, and he was quite surprised to see how many I had. I only got out three of them for him to sign because I did not want to keep him. Although I think he may have signed them all if I asked because I saw him interact with other fans that night, and like with me, he was very kind and gracious with everyone.
I’m so glad I got to meet him.
I love his albums and I can’t say enough how much I love his voice. It was always great. Truly one of the best singers I’ve ever heard, and I’ve heard many great ones.
I’d actually received his recently released book, The True Tale of Mista Bone, as a birthday present, a few weeks before he passed, but I had not yet had the time to read it.
Well, I’ve since read it and even though I wish it was longer (my usual complaint with books), I’m glad he was able to tell his story, and like all of us, the book shows that he was human too.
The book is not always pretty, but it’s the truth.
I applaud him for telling his story to K.L. Doty, who wrote the book.
Lots of stories, and if you are a fan of his, then I recommend it.
Many other people were interviewed for the book too, and they tell a lot of stories related to Jack also.
He rocked all the way to the end, and I’m so glad he made as much music as he did. Because that will live forever.
Thank you Jack Russell for your great gift of making music fans like me very happy. I will always be a fan and will listen to your music for all time.
I love and miss you forever.
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Happy 40th Anniversary to The Terminator Movie
The year 2024 marks 40 years since the release of the movie The Terminator.
There have since been 5 more Terminator movies, as well as one TV series, an anime show on Netflix coming soon as of this writing, and I’m sure more to come after that.
I love it all and I’ll watch all of the future ones, but again, it all started with the first movie in 1984.
For a one night only screening somewhat near where I live, The Terminator showed at a movie theater on Tuesday of August 13th.
Now, I’ve owned this movie for decades, on both VHS and DVD, but I could not resist going to see this movie on the big screen.
It was a great experience. I truly felt like I was in that world.
For those of you who may not know, The Terminator is a about a cyborg (Arnold Schwarzenegger) traveling back through time to kill a woman (Linda Hamilton) before she can give birth to her son, who in the future will help humanity conquer the machines who have mostly destroyed the world.
Another man (Michael Biehn) travels back through time to protect her.
I must say with full disclosure: I first watched this movie after I had seen Terminator 2: Judgement Day several times. So T1 was a shocker to me.
Also, I was still pretty young then too, and T1 actually scared me. In some respects, it still does, even though I’m quite a bit older now and think the movie is great, and actually better than T2 and the others, which I also love too.
I think that since this movie was a lower budget project, everyone had to really be even more creative with what they did, and ultimately did a lot with little.
Whereas the later movies had bigger budgets and they show it all on the screen.
And I love all of them too, but T1 really says and shows it all.
It has future war sequences. It shows how Terminators work. It really takes you into that scary world and gives you the whole scenario.
And it’s such a gritty movie too and it works brilliantly that way.
Michael Biehn (Kyle Reese) arguably plays his best character ever in this movie.
Arnold Schwarzenegger does not have a lot of dialogue, or quite frankly many scenes, but wow does he make his presence felt. Arnold is one of my biggest heroes and I’ve been lucky to briefly meet him and be around him a few times. And I can say he is a very driven, but positive person.
But in T1, he really is scary. He is brilliant in this part.
Linda Hamilton really plays her part, Sarah Connor, very well. And if you watch T1 and T2 back to back, wow do you really see her acting range, and in Terminator Dark Fate, too, which I think is highly underrated.
The supporting cast in T1 is quite good, especially the police characters (played by Lance Henriksen and Paul Winfield). I could have used more of them in the movie. They bring just a tinge of humor to what is mostly a very bleak, scary story.
Even the score, made by the amazing Brad Fiedel, is quite haunting and scary, but brilliant and perfect for this movie.
The effects may look dated to some people in 2024, but to me, they work brilliantly. Stan Winston and his team and Gene Warren Jr. and his team really brought their A+++ game, as did everyone, to this movie.
This is Director/Co-Writer James Cameron’s arguably finest work, in my opinion.
He’s gone on to do bigger movies, but for me, none of them have the impact this one does, and I’m a fan of his work.
He and Producer/Co-Writer Gale Ann Hurd (who I have a ton of respect for and consider to be a pioneer in the movie and TV industry), along with everyone else who made this movie, really made magic here.
And to me it is a very powerful movie that has a story that I feel is more topical and current than it was then.
The story is very straight forward, but also has a lot of layers to it.
And even though this movie still scares me (I’ve had several dreams over the decades of a Terminator coming after me or of me just being in that world because of this movie.), I find it to be a great thrill ride that does not let go.
I love the whole franchise, but to me, T1 is the best.
It was great seeing it on the big screen for one night only.
And the special edition DVD I have of it is phenomenal. It includes a few awesome documentaries and Easter eggs.
If you’ve never seen The Terminator, give it a watch. And watch the others too.
One of my favorite movie franchises.
Thank you to everyone who made T1.
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Summer of 99 Tour w/Creed, 3 Doors Down, and Finger Eleven Concert Review
- Date of Concert: August 2, 2024
- Location of Concert: Riverbend Music Center in Cincinnati, OH
I was taken back in time when I went to see Creed, 3 Doors Down, and Finger Eleven.
This tour is called the Summer of 99.
I was in high school in 1999 and these three bands were HUGE then.
And they’re still doing well now.
The first band, Finger Eleven, started the night with a solid, rocking set.
I was actually surprised I knew as many of their songs as I did. Quite a few hits.
The band includes original members Scott Anderson (Vocals), Rick Jackett (Guitar), James Black (Guitar/Vocals), Sean Anderson (Bass) and Steve Molella (Drums, who joined in 2013).
They really rocked and I’m glad I saw them.
They have a new album coming out in 2025 (they played one song Adrenaline from it at the show) and I look forward to that.
Next up was 3 Doors Down. I only knew of their hits (Kryptonite, Loser, and When I’m Gone), but they played quite a few songs, even a new song, and definitely sounded very good.
The band includes Brad Arnold (Vocals), Chet Roberts (Lead Guitar/Vocals), Chris Henderson (Rhythm Guitar/Backing Vocals), Greg Upchurch (Drums), and Justin Biltonen (Bass).
As good as they were, though, I was anxiously awaiting the main event, which was Creed.
This was their first tour since 2012 and I must say if appearances are true, they are really back this time.
The band is still the original lineup (Scott Stapp on Vocals, Mark Tremonti on Guitar and Vocals, Brian Marshall on Bass, and Scott Phillips on Drums) but also includes for the tour guitarist Eric Friedman to fill out the sound when Mark plays leads.
Honestly, I liked Creed when they were arguably the biggest band in the world in 1999, 2000, and 2001, but I also didn’t worship them either.
But when they reunited in the late 2000s and made an incredible album (Full Circle in 2009) I got more into them.
I missed them on tour then and hoped that someday they would reunite again.
Aside from Scott Stapp, who still has a solo career (just put out a great album called Higher Power) the rest of the band has been the band Alter Bridge for 20 years with Myles Kennedy singing and playing guitar with Mark, and Mark has a solo band (Tremonti) and also now sings Frank Sinatra songs and does Sinatra concerts too.
So, they have all been busy, but the hope always was that they would reunite as Creed.
Long story short made longer, Creed did reunite for two Creed Cruises, both of which sold out quickly. They then announced this tour and many of the dates, including this one, sold out.
They have an arena tour booked in the fall, and hopefully this is the start of another great chapter in the Creed story.
They looked and sounded great. They appeared to be having fun. The crowd loved them. It was a great rock show.
These guys are really really good live. Go see them if you can.
I hope they will make more Creed music someday, while also maintaining all of their other music pursuits.
Rock on guys.
Creed Set List:
- Bullets
- Torn
- Are You Ready
- Never Die
- My Own Prison
- What If
- Weathered
- Overcome
- Say I
- Faceless Man
- One
- What’s This Life For
- With Arms Wide Open
- Higher
- Encore: One Last Breath
- My Sacrifice
3 Doors Down Set List:
- Train
- It’s Not My Time
- Loser
- Duck And Run
- Here Without You
- Time Of My Life
- Away From The Sun
- Never Look Down
- Let Me Go
- Landing In London (All I Think About Is You)
- Kryptonite
- When I’m Gone
Finger Eleven Set List:
- Above
- First Time
- Quicksand
- Together Right
- Adrenaline (New Song)
- One Thing
- Paralyzer (w/parts of That’s All by Genesis and Back In Black by AC/DC)
Photo Gallery (click on thumbnail to view larger image)
Video Gallery (click on thumbnail to play video)
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John Carpenter Lost Themes and Anthology Music Reviews
Filmmaker John Carpenter has done a lot of music for his movies over the decades.
He has also, along with his son Cody and nephew Daniel Davies (son of The Kinks’ Ray Davies) have recorded some original albums and re-records of some of his musical pieces.
The original albums are Lost Themes, Lost Themes II, Lost Themes III Alive After Death, and Lost Themes No. 4 Noir.
These albums could easily be soundtracks, but they are original instrumental albums.
Classic Carpenter sounding throughout, but yet still new and fresh.
The first instrumental on the first Lost Themes is one of my favorite pieces of time, called Vortex.
And the re-records are called Anthology (Movie Themes 1974-1998) and Anthology II (Movie Themes 1976-1988).
Both are excellent compilations of various pieces Carpenter has written and recorded over the years.
And Carpenter and his son and nephew have done some concerts too (I wish they would do more so I could see them.) and documented that on a Blu-ray called Carpenter Live Retrospective.
Awesome awesome stuff.
Check all of these out, as well as Carpenter’s many soundtracks.
He is awesome!!!
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Deadpool & Wolverine Movie Review
This movie has been a LONG time coming.
I’ve been wanting Ryan Reynolds (Deadpool) and Hugh Jackman (Wolverine/Logan) to a movie like this together for a LONG time.
I know they did it in the X-Men Origins: Wolverine movie that everyone but me hates, but this is more like it.
I still want them to do a buddy cop movie together too, but I digress.
This movie, Deadpool & Wolverine, is a lot of fun.
Very violent and very vulgar, which is the way you want it to be.
Very funny too, although for me, as much as I enjoyed this, the first Deadpool is the best for me, in terms of the humor.
But it is awesome to see these two play these parts together the way it should be done.
It’s great seeing Hugh back as Logan/Wolverine, and in the suit this time. Spoiler: he even puts on the mask too.
Both Hugh and Ryan interact very well together.
Lots of great action, tons of funny/silly dialogue, and lots of cool cameos too (Spoiler: Wesley Snipes returns as Blade!!!!! That’s just one of others.)
Fun movie.
Go see it.
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Night Ranger Midnight Madness Album Review
The band Night Ranger released their second album, Midnight Madness, in October of 1983.
Consisting of Jack Blades (Vocals/Bass), Brad Gillis (Guitar), Jeff Watson (Guitar), Kelly Keagy (Drums/Vocals), and Alan Fitzgerald (Keyboards), Night Ranger is a very good rock band, with some good melodic songs too.
This album features their biggest hit, Sister Christian, which is still being used in movies and TV shows and commercials.
The album also features the hits (You Can Still) Rock In America (also featuring one of my favorite singers Glenn Hughes on backing vocals!!) and When You Close Your Eyes.
This album is very good and this band is still around over 40 years later (still has Blades, Gillis and Keagy in the band).
Rock on guys!!
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Night Ranger ATBPO Album Review
Night Ranger released their 13th studio album, ATBPO, on August 6 of 2021.
The band still consists of 3/5 the original lineup (Jack Blades on vocals and bass, Brad Gillis on guitar, and Kelly Keagy on drums and vocals). It also features guitarist Kerri Kelli and Eric Levy on keyboards on the album.
This album really rocks, but also has some mellower songs too.
I was super late to these guys. I always knew their HUGE song Sister Christian, which is still featured in movies and on TV, but I just never got into them.
Although I always respected Jack and Brad for their other work (Jack with Damn Yankees and Brad with his brief tenure in Ozzy Osbourne’s band).
So I knew the band were solid, but again just never got into them.
I’m glad I finally did. They really do rock.
And this album is a great addition to their discography.
I hope they continue to release albums and rock for many years to come.
