Category Archives: music

music

Chuck Berry announces new album on his 90th birthday today…

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Chuck Berry is one of my heroes and inspiration in guitar playing. I love his music. Grew up listening to him. I never really heard much of his actual studio albums, I have a greatest hits album of his that I listen to a lot but anyway, even at 90 years old, Chuck is still making music ’cause he just announced a new studio album on his birthday today. Yep, Chuck announced a new studio album of new original songs which he dedicated the album to his wife it looks like. He hasn’t released a new studio album since 1978’s “Rock It” which was 38 years ago.

What kind of music is gonna be on his new album simply titled, “Chuck”? Probably the same music he always played. Rock n’ roll, rhythm and blues. I’m definitely looking forward to the new album, though!

http://shorefire.com/releases/entry/chuck-berry-celebrates-90-birthday-new-album-dualtone

Remember, age is just a number. I’ll never give up playing guitar and making music myself. Even whenever I turn 90, I still won’t give it up!

Happy birthday, Chuck!

Kev

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Slayer’s “Reign In Blood” album celebrates 30 years today…

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Some of you know that I’m a huge fan of metal and Slayer is one of my favorite bands. I’ve heard all of Slayer’s albums. Yep, their entire discography and I only own about 6 of their albums myself. Slayer celebrates 30 years of “Reigning Blood” today which to me is their best studio album and I always found myself listening to this one the most. It’s definitely their best record for sure. Congrats to Slayer on 30 years of their iconic album. Slayer is a great band.

Kev

music

Classic Rock magazine names Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven” as no. 1 guitar solo ever but what are Jimmy Page’s thoughts about that?

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Classic Rock magazine has named Led Zep’s “Stairway To Heaven” as their no. 1 guitar solo but did Jimmy Page, the man himself accept that honor? Not really. Page said the solo on Led Zeppelin IV for “Stairway” was pretty good but not his best. Everyone may say that the solo is the best but Page begs to differ. Page says there are a few different versions of the “Stairway” solo and Page likes the other versions better.

http://www.guitarworld.com/artist-news/jimmy-page-his-stairway-solo-there-are-others-i-prefer/29973

I wonder why Page ended up picking the version that’s on “Led Zeppelin IV” but not the others? Probably for radio airplay, I bet.

Gotta give props for Jimmy’s humbleness and honesty. Whenever a musician has made it on a best of poll or whatever, the musician would be like, “Oh that’s great, I’m honored” but not Jimmy. He’s just trying to keep it all real. Trying to leave his ego at the door which is a great attitude to have.

Fuck all those best of poll things, I don’t pay any attention to that garbage.

Kev

music

Is Lars Ulrich pretty much the director of Metallica? This video pretty much proves that…

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Everybody would like to think that James Hetfield is the leader of Metallica and would like to think that James does all the work but not really. James does indeed work hard but it’s really Lars Ulrich, the drummer doing all the work. He’s been in charge of Metallica from day 1 ever since the band started… probably because Lars was the one who formed the band himself back in the day.

People are always hating on Lars and saying mean and nasty things about him but I can never understand why. Lars is pretty much the primary songwriter of Metallica. That dude knows what he wants out of Metallica songs. You watch all the behind the scenes stuff in the studio with Metallica, you would see Lars directing everything. He would tell James what to play. He would tell Rob what to play. He would tell Kirk what to play too. If the other guys play something that Lars doesn’t like, he’ll explain to them how to make it better. Lars is pretty honest, he knows what he likes and doesn’t like and he’s not afraid to say so.

Lars is the hardest working man I’ve ever seen. If it wasn’t for him, Metallica wouldn’t have been so successful today. Do you think James or Kirk would have made Metallica for what it is if Lars wasn’t in the band? You gotta give lots of props to Lars for his work ethic.

Lars really believes in Metallica and he’s really proud of what he does with them, you can totally see that in this video. Lars was largely responsible for Metallica’s success so I don’t understand all the hate toward the guy.

On top of that, Lars seems like a really nice dude to me. He seems fun to talk to. Ah well, haters are gonna hate, I guess.

I’m looking forward to the new Metallica album and I dig, “Moth Into Flame”.

Kev

music

Happy birthday, SRV…

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Stevie Ray Vaughan, the legendary blues rock guitarist turns 62 years old if he was still alive today. If SRV was still alive now, would he still be doing his thing? Playing blues rock guitar? Oh yeah! I can’t see him giving it up ever.

I’m a big SRV fan. He’s an important hero of mine and he’s one of the very few guitarists that inspired me to pick it up and play. I even tried to learn some of his songs and guitar licks here and there when I was first starting out.

Some may think he’s overrated but I don’t think so. I thought he was a genius. He was also one of the best live performers. His studio recordings maybe good but it’s his live concerts is what mattered. LIstening to him live is way better than his studio albums.

Check out the badass performance above. I love how he makes Jimi Hendrix songs sound like his own.

Kev

music

Metallica on Howard Stern… one word… WOW!

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Is it just me or has Lars Ulrich improved on the drumming? It definitely seems like Lars has gotten way better on the drumming ’cause I admit he has falling off with the drumming a little bit in the past. So I guess he listened to the critics of his drumming skills and he decided to get better. Metallica has been sounding so tight lately and it’s Lars’s drumming is key. Lars’s drumming is the one that has been making Metallica sound tight. Lars seems to stay on tempo and keeping in time this time around which is good. His drumming doesn’t sound annoying like he used to.

Even if Metallica performs in a small room to a few people, they still play like they’re in Madison Square Garden. Look at them, just 4 guys enjoying themselves. That’s what music is about. You can tell they love what they do by looking at their facial expressions as they play.

I don’t care what the haters think, Metallica is an excellent band and they still are. I will always love them and will always respect them. I can’t wait for their new album and I will buy it. I’ve heard everything Metallica has done in the past and still loyal to them now.

Kev

music

Happy birthday Jerry Lee Lewis who just turned 81 today…

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Jerry Lee Lewis, the legendary rockin’ piano man just turned 81. Many people would think that Elton John and Billy Joel invented rock n’ roll on piano but not true. To me, Jerry Lee Lewis will always be the rockin’ piano guy.

I love Jerry Lee Lewis’s music. He’s a huge inspiration and a hero of mine. The guy wasn’t just a killer piano player, he was also a fearless showman when he performs live. When Jerry Lee performs live on stage, you can tell he’s having fun. Whenever he’s playing a tight show and he starts to go nuts, he’s not afraid to kick his piano stool and stand up while playing. He did some pretty wild shit on stage. Jerry Lee certainly loves to perform and he has fun doing it.

What’s even more amazing is that Jerry Lee Lewis still performs live. The guy’s a freakin’ genius. I’ve listened to his music for a long time.

Kev

music

Think I’m pretty much done with Apple Music streaming, don’t really need it…

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So I let my subscription for Apple Music streaming go and let it run out. I don’t think I’m gonna get it back either.  I don’t really need online streaming services ’cause in my opinion, they’re pretty pointless. Apple Music streaming can be pretty frustrating admittedly. A lot of glitches and problems still. So I got out of Apple Music streaming and went back to regular Itunes. So instead of streaming albums online, I’ll go back to buying albums from Itunes on a regular basis which I like better.

Online streaming of albums is trying to change the world but I think it’s gonna fail. Another reason I don’t agree with online streaming services anymore is ’cause I would rather own the album for myself ’cause you don’t own the album when streaming online. Streaming online is kind of like a video rental store which is what I don’t like about it. I would rather buy the album and own it for myself.

So I think I’m done with online music streaming services for good, I think.

While I did used to stream music on Spotify and Apple Music, it was a good opportunity for me to listen to albums I’ve always wanted to hear and I got to hear a lot. I got to stream the entire discography of albums by my favorite artists and bands which was pretty cool anyways.

On top of that, I think it’s better to buy albums off of Itunes as a way to support the artist ’cause they need it. I’m coming to a realization that online streaming services are pretty unfair to the artists.

Kev

music

Seriously what happened to Corey Feldman? This is just sad!

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I used to love this guy. He was in so many good movies when he was younger: “The Goonies”, “The Lost Boys”, “Gremlins”, “The Burbs”, “License to Drive”, etc. I know Corey wants to follow Michael Jackson’s footsteps and become a pop star but I think Corey should stick to acting… especially if he can’t handle any negative criticism.

http://www.people.com/article/corey-feldman-sobs-reacting-today-performance

If he can’t handle negative criticism then why get into music? The song he performed on the Today Show wasn’t all that bad but the performance itself was pretty silly and ridiculous. Corey dressed up like the Grim Reaper and has hot women dressed as angels? I’ll have to agree with the critics that this was an embarrassing performance.

I like Corey but the guy is a bit of a nutjob in real life. More proof that the music industry is getting worse.

Why do movie stars think they can pursue music careers? There are too many movie stars that has a music career like Jeff Bridges, Russell Crowe, Kevin Costner, Kevin Bacon, Steven Seagal, Ryan Gosling, Johnny Depp, Billy Bob Thornton, Juliette Lewis, Gwyneth Paltrow, etc. The list goes on. Most of them suck musically too except for Jeff Bridges who is actually pretty good.

If it wasn’t for their movie careers then they wouldn’t get record deals.

Kev