I'm a musician, singer/songwriter, blogger, writer, poet, bodybuilder, movie lover, music lover, video gamer, history/political buff, conservative/republican, etc. I like to do a lot of things.
Bono is quick to respond to today’s reports on him getting part of a share from Facebook’s IPO, filing. Reports went all over the news that Bono could be the richest rock star on the planet. The reason is, his company Elevation Partners, owns 2.3 % of Facebook, and the company gets part of the share of IPO. Today, it was discovered that Bono doesn’t really own, Elevation Partners, he is only part of the company. He claims he’ll be getting paid but not as much as people would like them to believe. Elevation Partners, is a company that helps invest in media, entertainment, and technology.
Can you believe this fucking shit? This is why I hate today’s entertainment media. I was kind of pissed when I read this article by the Associated Press. Exposing the truth about Loretta Lynn when she first married as a teen. I mean, who cares how old she was when she first married. IT’S NONE OF ANYONE’S BUSINESS BUT HERS! Cruel. If she lied about her age when she first married, who cares.
She’s a country music legend and a talented one. The media these days will do anything for gossip stories and do anything to make famous people look bad.
For many months now, Ridley Scott have been planning a project based on the “Blade Runner” movie, but refuses to say if it’s going to be a sequel, prequel or a stand alone movie. He also say he wasn’t going to direct it or not. Today, the news have finally been revealed that the secret “Blade Runner” project will indeed be a sequel and of course, Ridley Scott will direct. The original “Blade Runner” screen writer, Hampton Fancher, is also on board.
They are keeping the plot for the sequel under wraps for now, but they give a hint that the sequel will take place years after the first movie left off. So the film will obviously continue the story of, Rick Deckard. So does this mean, Harrison Ford will come back?
Reports doesn’t say anything about Harrison returning, but how much do you want to bet that they got him and they’re being quiet about it? Yep. I think Harrison will return! Before anyone slams the idea of a sequel, there were three “Blade Runner” novels. Could the plot for the sequel be based on this novel, here?
Anyway, I absolutely LOVED, the first “Blade Runner”, movie. If Harrison Ford is in the sequel, I’ll go see it. I can’t see anybody else playing Rick Deckard, so hopefully they still use the character. I’m sure Harrison will be able to play the role just fine, still, even if he is aging. Ridley Scott has been one of my favorite directors for years. I’m looking forward to “Prometheus”, too.
Van Halen was quick to respond to rumors that were started by Rollingstone magazine, and other music fans. The band wants to set the record straight, that the band, Van Halen, still get along and love each other like brothers. Even Dave and Eddie are both best friends, still. It’s just that the past 18 months overwhelmed the band, and they just want to enjoy the summer for themselves. I can’t blame them!
I have always been a fan of Van Halen, still am too. Glad the guys are all good and cool.
Whether you liked disco music or not, you have to respect the music of Donna Summer. I sure did. I never liked dance or pop music too much, but I always liked her. Throughout the years of your life, I’m sure you would hear her hit song, “Hot Stuff”, pretty much every where you go. That song is everywhere, even to this day. You will still hear it on the radio. You would hear it in TV commercials, TV shows, and big screen movies. Donna Summer has been a huge inspiration for all of our lives, love her or dislike her. Even if you never bought her music and even you hate disco. Donna Summer will always be with you. It doesn’t matter what genre of music you mostly like to listen to, whether you mostly listen to rock n’ roll, metal, or country. Donna Summer will always be a part of you in some way. That is how powerful this artist really is. She influences everybody. In my eyes, she’s not just the Queen of Disco. She is the Queen of Music, all around.
Donna Summer, was born in and grew up in Boston, Mass. She has been singing ever since she was a little girl. Like most pop stars, she got her start performing in Church choirs. During high school, she performed in school musicals and she was considered popular. In high school, she was a bit of a trouble maker, though. She would go to parties instead of going home after school. Just before graduation, she left school, to be in a blues rock band called, Crow, in New York City. Then she moved to Munich, Germany to be part of musicals there for a while.
In the 1970’s, Donna Summer got her first record deal while singing back up vocals for the classic rock band, Three Dog Night. She released her first album, “Lady of the Night”, which was recorded in Germany. The album was not released in the U.S., but the song, “The Hostage”, got a strong following in Europe. The song was sent to Casablanca records, hoping for a U.S. release. The president of that label, Neil Bogart, said he would release the song if the song was a longer version so Summer recorded a 17 minute long version of the song, which the song titled was changed to, “Love to Love You Baby”. Donna Summer was then, signed to Casablanca Records. Her hit song, “Hot Stuff”, didn’t come out ’til late 1979, which the song is considered her anthem. The song was from her album, “Bad Girls”, which became her best selling album ever.
Over the years, Donna Summer continued to make music, release albums, and perform live. Donna Summer passed away of cancer, she was 63 years old.
Whether, Bill is right or wrong, Sabbath is gonna put on a rockin’ performance. I do agree that the band will sound different without Bill, but they’re still gonna do great. They’re still gonna rock your socks off.
I’m sure the band will release a live DVD/CD of their upcoming three performances sometime in the future. I’m a huge Sabbath fan, always has been. I loved both Ozzy and RJD eras. Of course, I loved the Ozzy era more like most people.
It wouldn’t surprise me if David L.R., and Eddie are fighting again. What do you expect when you bring back two icons of rock n’ roll together? Ego and jealousy will get in the way with things. It also wouldn’t surprise me if the band breaks up again.
This week I finished two different books. Reading has always been one of my favorite hobbies for years ’cause reading is good for you. It’s good for your mind and helps get your mind off things. It’s what I like to do when I am completely bored and want to relax. When I’m not working out or playing guitar, reading is what I’ll do. Here’s the two books I finished reading this week, with a brief review:
“The Wind Through the Keyhole” by Stephen King: I am the biggest Stephen King fan ever. I have collected most of his books over the years, and if you look at my bookshelf sometime, half of it is full of Stephen King books on hardcover, it is sometimes hard to collect all Stephen King books ’cause he’s always releasing a new book all the time. On with the book, “The Wind Through the Keyhole” is a Dark Tower novel. The story takes place between Book IV and V. It tells the story of Roland ka-tet group, which includes, Susannah, Eddie, Jake and Oy, arriving at a river on their journey to the Dark Tower. An elderly man who operates a ferry warns them that a dangerous storm called Starkblast is coming, and they must find shelter for safety. So the ka-tet groups hides in the shelter while waiting for the storm to go by. While waiting for the storm to go by, Roland decides to tell his group a story about his past, where he and his friend goes to the town of Debaria to hunt down a man called, The Skin Man. The second story is about a boy named Tim Ross, who he must meet someone by the name of the Covenant Man, a tax collector.
I couldn’t put this book down. It’s not very long, a little over 300 pages, pretty short. I finished in just two or three days. Not like those 900-1000 pages long which Stephen is mostly known to writing that number of pages mostly. This novel stays away from the regular Dark Tower adventure and focuses on something completely different. The story will keep you guessing and hooked to the end. It’ll remind you of those children’s fairytale books even though this book is aimed for adult readers. This is just a fill in for in between Dark Tower novels, and it’s just proof that Stephen can keep the “Dark Tower” series going if he wanted. Could the Dark Tower series be the next big franchise when these start getting made into movies? Could they easily top, Harry Potter or Twilight? Maybe not with the younger audience, but the Dark Tower movies and TV series WILL be huge for adult fans. “The Wind Through the Keyhole” was pretty unique storytelling. You gotta wonder how Stephen comes up with these crazy stories. The guy has a strange imagination for sure, which is why I love his writing so much. He’s not afraid to tell stories how he wants them to be told.
“The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest” – I finally gotten around to reading the final Lisbeth Salander story, the Millennium series. This novel was pretty addicting as well. It leaves off from, “The Girl Who Played With Fire”, the second novel. In this book, it’s about trying to prove Lisbeth innocent and make her a free woman because of her troubled past. She was wrongfully sent to a mental hospital as a teen and Blomkvist tries to help her to get her freedom back.
The book gets even more shocking than the last one. Of course, this book was hard to put down and I went right through it. The book reveals more shocking things about Lisbeth’s life. This book is less violent than the last two, but still this is a good conclusion and ended wonderfully. I love the Lisbeth Salander character. She’s so inspiring and almost makes you wish that she was a real person. You feel bad for her a lot too. She’s an honest character. After reading the three Lisbeth books makes me wish Stieg Larrson was still alive to write a fourth one.
I bought two more books from Ipad, Ibooks store, Dee Snider’s rock memoir, “Shut up and Give Me the Mic” and “50 Shades of Grey”. I’m not into romance novels too much, but I had to get “50 Shades of Grey” since the reviews says this book is pretty hot and steamy, an erotica story. Just got it out of curiosity and couldn’t resist that one.
So far, I haven’t seen anything negative said about “The Avengers” movie. Over the years, Marvel, seems to be getting mixed opinions with all of their superhero movies, you either love it or hate it, but from what I’m seeing so far, “The Avengers” is getting mostly positive reviews. I’m still hoping to see it, this weekend. I’m dying to see it myself. I don’t read comics anymore like I used to, but as a kid, I used to read all the comics of Marvel and DC. I also enjoy superhero movies. I love all the characters in the Avengers: Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, and Captain America. Definitely looking forward to seeing the film. I see that the film is long though, about 2 and a half hours, but that’s good.
I’m hoping “The Avengers” movie, will inspire DC/Warner Bros. to get that, “Justice League” movie going.
Gigging may sound like an easy thing, but a lot of times it can be difficult and a bit of a pain in the ass. If you want to be a successful musician and keep gigging at the same club, or other clubs, then you must be as professional at the gig as possible. How do you be a professional? Professional enough, that will make the owner or booking agents happy enough to book you back again? Well here’s a short list…
Do as the soundguy or club owner tells you to do – When you get booked at a venue, you don’t make yourself at home, the world doesn’t revolve around you at the gig. If they want you to use their provided sound equipment, do so. If they want you to play at a certain order either first or last or somewhere in the middle of the gig, do so. If they want to shorten your set, do so and take it all gladly without bitching or complaining. If they won’t pay you enough money, take it gladly anyway, without bitching or complaining. A positive attitude at all times, no matter what happens, will give you the respect you deserve. Things may not turn out the way you want at gigs, but that’s the way life is, get over yourselves and accept things for what they are.
Be prepared – Have all the equipment you need at the gig. If the venue allows you to use your own equipment, bring your usual amps, guitars, or whatever sound systems you guys use. Bring extra packs of guitar strings at all times. Bring an extra amplifier and an extra guitar for back up in case that stuff goes out. If you need to unplug your instruments, turn the amps down, so the amps won’t make this loud popping sound. I’ve seen too many bands where they unplug their instruments without turning the volume down first. Also bring extra guitar stands, so you can set your guitars on the stands instead of putting them on the floor or leaning them against the wall, when you don’t need it anymore.
Be positive, be happy and smile a lot – Like I said before, having a good attitude and being a nice person will want to have the venue owner have you back.
Practice & rehearse before the gig – Some bands would mistakenly rehearse like once or twice a week. I disagree. You need to practice as often as possible. Memorize the lyrics, don’t read off lyrics sheets ’cause that’s cheating. If you want to play the best performance possible, practicing is key.
Save the drinking ’til after the gig, not during – I’m amazed at the large number of bands who drink beer while they perform on stage. In my opinion, it’s pretty stupid and unprofessional. If you want to win the respect by people save the drinking ’til after the show. Plus, you can play a much better performance when you’re not intoxicated.
Make sure you are able to bring in a crowd and actually entertain them – This is the big thing that owners will want to bring you back. If they see you can bring in people and put smiles on their faces after the gig, they’ll definitely bring you back for a second gig. I know from experience.
Show up early before the gig – I’m also amazed at the large number of bands who show up really late on the night of the gig. A lot of them like to show up like 5 or 10 minutes before their time slot schedule. They don’t show up early to check out the other bands or acoustic acts. It’s always professional to show up early. Me? I always show up at my gigs either a half hour early or an hour early. It really makes the owner happy. Being on time is important.
If for some reason, you aren’t able to make the gig, let the booking person know asap: There are too many bands that aren’t able to make gigs, but they do a “No Call, No Show”, kind of thing. A lot of them just don’t show up at all, not letting them know a thing. I have bailed out of several gigs in the past for my own reasons, but I always let them know, by either calling or e-mailing ahead of time. Sometimes booking agents will still get pissed at you even if you let them know you can’t make it, but don’t let that bother ya. It’s life. If you can’t make a gig, you can’t make it. Free country and we have things going in on our lives too. Just be a professional about bailing out of gigs and things will be fine.
Support other musicians and bands booked on the lineup, no bashing or hating – Stick around to see the other acts perform on the gig. Don’t just go to your gig to support yourself. Support other musicians. Make friends with other musicians on the gig. If the owner sees that you are friendly with other musicians, that will give you a pretty good chance of coming back to the venue.
Clean up after yourself – After your gig clear out your stage and start putting your equipment back out in your vehicles, make sure you get everything that you own. Also, stick around the venue so you can help the owners and employees clean up the place. I always do this. Help them close the venue, by putting up the chairs on the tables, wiping things down, etc. When booking gigs, I always try to be buddies with the owners just to be professional and a sneaky way of getting another gig booked. They did your service by allowing you to play at their venue, so you should help them in return.
That’s all I can think of. Knowing from my own experience, gigging in the past, those things will indeed bring you back and get you more gigs at places.
Kev
The Official Music Website of Kevin Brock – Brocking N' Rolling
K'Brocking 
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