Category Archives: music

music

My Top Ten Favorite Music Albums of all Time???

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There’s this fun little game going around in FB for music lovers where you challenge someone to name your top 10 music albums but you name one a day and then you challenge someone else for each day to do their list. You probably know the game that I’m talking about.

I thought it be cool to show you my Top 10 Favorite Music albums of all time on here… enjoy. These are albums that meant a lot to me over the years…:

  1. Led Zeppelin III
  2. Joe Satriani – Surfing with the Alien
  3. Jimi Hendrix – Live at the Fillmore
  4. Nirvana – Nevermind
  5. The Clash – London Calling
  6. Alice In Chains – Jar of Flies
  7. Metallica – Master of Puppets
  8. Dream Theater – The Astonishing
  9. Black Sabbath – Sabbath, Bloody, Sabbath
  10.  Johnny Cash – At Folsom Prison

Yeah, Dream Theater’s “The Astonishing” is a pretty new record but I loved it. Dream Theater is one of my favorite bands and I think that’s their best album and I listen to it a lot too so that’s why I had to put it on there.

I love listening to music. It’s one of the things I’ve always done throughout my whole life ever since I was a child. I’ve always bought albums and continue to buy a lot of albums even to this day.

A lot lately, I’ve been buying albums through Itunes more than anything else, but I still do buy physical CD’s and I’m just starting to collect vinyl now. Yep, I have a vinyl player finally which I’m proud of.

Kev

 

movies, music

The Queen biopic movie trailer for “Bohemian Rhapsody” film is here… the trailer is impressive!

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I’m not really a big fan of music biopic films. Ya know, music stars and bands getting their own big screen movies ’cause most of them are not accurate but some of the best music biopics I’ve seen over the years of my life were: “La Bamba” (the Ritchie Valens biopic with Lou Diamond Phillips), “The Buddy Holly Story” (w/ Gary Busey playing Buddy), “Walk the Line” (w/ Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash) and “Straight Outta Compton” (a film about the rap group the NWA, yeah I thought this film was really good). That’s pretty much it really.

I’m really excited for this one, though. The biopic film about the band Queen which is a band that I love. I don’t think I’ve bought Queen’s records but I have a greatest hits album by them on CD that I listened to a lot in the past. I should start getting their studio albums, though and I will ’cause I really love the band.

This trailer did give me goosebumps and I can’t wait. I’m definitely gonna go see this one in October for sure. They did a really good job with the trailer. Lets just hope the movie itself won’t suck ’cause sometimes movie trailers try to fool ya like that. Ya know, make the movie look good but when you actually go see it, the film turns out to be shit. I’m sure it won’t be shit, though. We’ll wait and see the film for ourselves.

This film was obviously made for die-hard Queen fans and this film could introduce new fans too ’cause I’m sure there’s plenty of people today that haven’t even heard the band Queen before. Why? It’s because the industry today is so hung up on pop music, rap and country that people forgot real music existed. Maybe this film will give people a wake up call that real music is out there?

Kev

music

RIP Kurt Cobain who died 24 years ago today…

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Like most, I’ve first heard about Nirvana through their hit song, “Smells Like Teen Spirit”. I remember the video to that song was being played all over MTV back in the 90’s. Each time Nirvana videos came on MTV, I would crank up the volume and enjoy it. I was a teenager in high school during the 90’s grunge era. If you did too then your high school years were awesome. I bought the “Nevermind” album after they exploded all over MTV. When I was a kid, all I would ever listen to was the “Nevermind” album… those were the days when the Compact Disc was pretty new too. I love the “Nevermind” album and still do love that record. I love “Bleach” and “In Utero” too.

I don’t get all the hatred toward Nirvana and Kurt Cobain himself. This is a band that deserves more respect ’cause without Nirvana then the other grunge bands wouldn’t have happened. Yes, I’m talking about Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains, etc. All those bands were important to me during my high school years ’cause I listened to all of them. Nirvana was my most favorite, though.

Nirvana proved that you don’t need to be technical to make great music. All you need to do is get a few guys together and just make some noise and that’s it. Yeah, Nirvana songs were very simplistic, but that’s what I loved about them. You can still make tight as hell songs even with just playing barre chords, power chords and basic open chords. Sure, that was all Kurt mostly played on guitar but it’s his style I’m most impressed about.

I’ve been loyal to Nirvana ever since they exploded in the 90’s. Still am a fan of them now. At some point I’d like to video tape myself covering their songs. I used to cover some of their stuff when I used to perform live gigs and open mics so I’ll have to relearn them. I remember playing songs like “In Bloom”, “Breed”,  “Polly” and “Come As You Are”.

Nirvana was a great band. It’s too bad that their career was cut short.

Kev

music

Varg Vikernes finally explains why his music project Burzum never plays live concerts… a must watch!!!

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Varg Vikernes black metal band, Burzum has made a total of 11 albums. Is Burzum a band? Yes but the band only has one member which is none other than Varg. Yep, Varg is the only member of the band with him playing all the instruments himself and sang all the lead vocals.

Varg explains that Burzum never played any live concerts over the years simply because he feels there’s no point in it. He feels that there are better things to do in life and he can’t see himself playing on stage with other metal acts. He believes that performing onstage is pretty lame. He’s goes on saying that playing live is just musicians seeking attention for themselves and he believes musicians performing are pretty egotistical.

This video is actually pretty interesting insight.

I somewhat agree with him that playing live on stage is pretty pointless and kind of silly. I played live shows myself for a little while in the past but seemed to have stopped. I guess I kind of lost interest in live performing admittedly. You can release music publicly and not play live if you don’t want to.

The reality is when you’re a musician, you don’t need to perform live if you don’t want to. Just enjoy music for yourself really and that’s what it should be all about. There’s nothing wrong with playing music for yourself and that’s what Varg is trying to say here.

This is a great video and Varg has a lot of balls for this. Varg saying a lot of things that musicians don’t want to hear.

Black metal music is not a well-known music genre but Burzum is the most well-known and legendary band in the genre if that makes a lot of sense. I love Burzum. I’ve been listening to Varg’s music for a pretty long time. I have his album “Filosofem” from Itunes and was meaning to get the rest of his albums soon. Varg is a very talented and underrated musician. He may have had a dark and controversial past but I find myself listening to his music a lot.

Kev

music

I’m totally siding with the Washington Armory suing the Migos rap group over the 2015 riot in Albany…

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I’m totally siding with the Washington Armory venue in Albany on this ’cause why? Simply because everything they’re saying about the Migos rap group is true. The Migos are no stranger to starting fights with people if you look them up in youtube. The Migos think they’re tough guys for sure but what do you expect from rappers?

This story is big in the local news and it even attracted some attention in the national news too. There is lots of video of the Washington Armory riot that took place back in 2015 and I posted a few videos of the riot. Check ’em out, it’s pretty crazy.

http://thealt.com/2018/03/05/albany-armory-owner-sues-migos-2015-brawl/

Of course as soon as this story hit the news, it’s no surprise to find local media outlets and some national media, sucking up to the Migos instead of siding with the Armory. You know how the media are very protective of the black community.

The Armory accuses the Migos of being really late for the concert and refusing to do meet and greets. Well, this wasn’t the first time the group did stuff like this ’cause they did the same thing at the 2015 George University concert. At the Georgia University show they were arrested for possession of marijuana and firearm possession as well. Look it up.

Funny, I’ve never heard of the Migos before until this story broke out. I listened to them in youtube a little bit and they’re absolutely horrible.

One thing I’m noticing in the Albany local music scene is that this scene have been booking rap artists to venues around this area a lot lately. Rap music is getting bigger locally. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against all rap music — I actually like some of it. It’s just that you got to realize that not all rappers are good people. Many are trouble makers ’cause they think they’re “gangster” or something. I’ve been to some rap concerts in the past myself.

I wish the Armory good luck on this as they have every right to defend themselves.

Sounds like the Migos are unprofessional jackasses.

Kev

Books, music

Bruce Dickinson’s book, “What does this Button Do”, a brief review…

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Over the weekend, I’ve just finished reading Bruce Dickinson’s rock memoir titled, “What Does This Button Do”. If you don’t know who this guy is, he is the lead singer of the legendary metal band, Iron Maiden. Even though the book was a short read, it’s still an entertaining as hell book to read. It was definitely different than all the other rock memoirs I’ve read in the past.

You know how in most rock memoirs over the years mostly focuses on sex, drugs and rock n’ roll? Well in Bruce’s book talks about mostly rock n’ roll but doesn’t talk about sex and drugs. He mostly talked about his career with Iron Maiden and his solo career as well. When it comes to Maiden, he talked about how he made every album he did with them including the newer Maiden albums. I liked reading all the Maiden stuff in the book.

This book is more than just rock and metal, though. Bruce also talks a lot about his love of flying and airplanes. Flying airplanes is his second passion other than music and he also loved fencing. He also talked about how he got into doing radio, writing books and doing film projects. Of course,  he also talked about his experiences of having tongue cancer. He went into depths of having tongue cancer toward the end of the book which was all interesting to read.

If you’re expecting to read a lot about his love life and sex life and all that like a lot of rock memoirs seem to do, you may want to find a different book ’cause he doesn’t talk  about any of that which was refreshing to read. I hate it when rock stars write books and they talk about their problems with women and all that shit. Bruce’s book is NOT an anything goes tell-all book like all the others. He mostly focused on the things he liked to do in his life and of course talked about cancer.

When I was reading the book, he wrote the book as if he was really talking to you and he wasn’t writing it as a novel if you know what I mean. This is just Bruce speaking his mind. This is like Bruce writing a journal or whatever.

If you’re an Iron Maiden fan or a fan of  metal, it’s a great read for all. I’ve been an Iron Maiden fan for a while now. I’m late getting  into their music, but I’ve just started listening to them. I have 5 of their albums on my Ipod now. They’re one of my favorite bands and I find myself listening to them a lot especially their new album, “The Book of Souls”. I find myself listening to that album repeatedly.

Kev

music

10 songs that Smashing Pumpkins should play on reunion tour that are not on Billy Corgan’s tour list…

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https://www.instagram.com/p/BfiugheDYDc/?utm_source=ig_embed

Yeah, I’m posting that list again so I can name a few of my choices of Pumpkins songs that should be played on the tour that are not on this list.

Here they are:

“Bodies” from the Mellie Collie album

(I was surprised that Billy neglected this song from the list. This is a fucking tight song and it should be played on the tour. I love this song!)

“Fuck You (An Ode to No One)”

(Another sick song off of Mellie Collie and I can’t believe Billy forgot that one)

“I Am One”

(Another badass song from their earlier days that they neglected from the list. This is probably my favorite song off the Gish album)

“Once Upon a Time”

(I love the “Adore” album. Since the Reunion Tour was meant to play songs from the first five albums, this song counts. This is my favorite song off of “Adore” and I  hope it gets played on the tour)

“Daphne Descends”

(Another brilliant song off of “Adore” that should be played on the tour. Fuckin’ love this song so much! “Adore” wasn’t everyone’s favorite Pumpkins record but I loved it and it’s an underrated album for sure!)

“Tear”

(Another sick song off of “Adore”. I’m not ashamed to love this album even though fans called it the worst album. I didn’t think so. It’s a great record!)

“I Of the Morning”

(This is in my opinion the best song off of Machina/The Machines of God. Can’t believe Billy didn’t think about this one.)

“Glass and the Ghost Children”

(This song is pretty awesome. Another favorite song of mine off the first Machina album. Long track but really really good stuff. I hope Billy plays this one. Even though this song wasn’t a smash hit, it still gets a lot of attention.)

“Cash Star Car”

(Probably the best song off of Machina II. This is my favorite track off the album. Fucking tight)

“Quiet”

(Probably my favorite track off the “Siamese Dream” album. What was Billy thinking when he didn’t include this song)

There you have it! Enjoy!

Kev

music

Billy Corgan shares list of songs for Smashing Pumpkins tour… yeah, you want a full fledged greatest hits tour, you got it!

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https://www.instagram.com/p/BfiugheDYDc/?utm_source=ig_embed

Pretty cool. Billy Corgan shares a list of songs the Smashing Pumpkins plan to play at the new tour this year. This isn’t a setlist ’cause if you read above, it’s a list of songs they plan to play so the order would be different at each show. He is also asking for fans input on what songs they would like to hear on the tour. Songs that aren’t on this list.

The Pumpkins doing a cover of Led Zep’s “Stairway”? Well, that should sound interesting! Can’t wait for the bootleg youtube video of that one.

Kev

music

Turns out the Smashing Pumpkins already have several new songs to play on the tour and they’ll probably release a new album this year too…

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More good Smashing Pumpkins news. Not only will the band reunite to play material from the band’s first five albums on the tour, it looks like they are going to be releasing a new album this year after all. Billy Corgan revealed the Pumpkins already have 8 new songs and Billy revealed the names of them. They’ll probably play the new songs on the tour. The band will also hit the studio as soon as possible to record these new songs and they’ll probably write more new songs for the next album. The band will be working with iconic producer, Rick Rubin. Billy is also working on a new solo album as well.

http://ultimateclassicrock.com/smashing-pumpkins-song-titles-2018/

Yeah, I predicted that the Pumpkins will release a new album too and I was right. What will the new Pumpkins songs sound like? Will they be heavy and rocking songs like they used to sound like or will they be ballads? Probably a little bit of both. That’s what I love about Corgan’s songwriting. His songwriting is always unpredictable. Sometimes his songs are heavy & rocking, sometimes he writes happy songs and he writes a lot of slow ballads too. I’m sure the new Pumpkins record will have some heavy rockin’ songs on it ’cause Billy would know what the fans would want. Hopefully the new album will be heavy rockin’ like “Siamese Dream” and “Mellie Collie” were.

Speaking of the Pumpkins, I’m gonna have to try and collect the rest of their albums for my Ipod this year ’cause I love their music. I bought “Siamese Dream” for my Ipod earlier this year ’cause I used to have the album on CD but don’t know what happened to it. It’s good to have that album again. I also need to buy “Mellie Collie” from ITunes soon ’cause I used to have that album on CD but want to get it back. I have “Oceania”, “ZeitGeist” and “Adore” on physical CD. I also need to get “Machina I & II” and “Monuments to an Elegy”.

I think Billy is a very talented songwriter and he’s a good live performer too. I can’t stop listening to his solo album “Ogilala” too ’cause that album is pretty amazing stuff.

Kev

music

Happy Birthday, Kurt Cobain…

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I don’t know why Nirvana gets so much hate. They still do get a lot hate after all these years. I’ve always loved Nirvana ever since they started emerging in the 90’s and still love them now.

I love Nirvana so much ’cause they prove a rock n’ roll band doesn’t need to take themselves seriously just to rock, plus they made great music. I’ve followed Nirvana’s career for years and still follow everything they release. Even if the band’s career only had three albums, I thought they wrote beautiful music. I loved everything they wrote. “Bleach”, “Nevermind” and “In Utero” are all rock masterpieces for sure.

I remember buying the Nirvana album “Nevermind” when it first came out in the 90’s and I still have that same CD sitting on my CD shelf now. I’ve had that album on CD ever since I was a young teenager in high school. In high school, that’s when Nirvana started getting big. I would play the “Nevermind” album over and over obsessively and still listen to that album a lot. That’s an album I’ll never get tired of listening. “In Utero” was a great record too, though.

I love Nirvana. It’s a shame their career was short lived. Love ’em or hate ’em, they changed a lot of people’s lives especially mine. I’ve always been loyal to this band.

Kev