So far, I haven’t been liking the lineups of any of the music festivals. I’m not so crazy about the Coachella lineup and not so thrilled with Bonnaroo either. The Bottle Rock festival looks badass though ’cause that festival has the Foo Fighters, Tom Petty and Maroon 5 headlining and I’m a big fan of all three.

This new metal festival announced pictured above looks great. Looks like Ozzy is going solo again after the end of Sabbath. The other headlining acts are great too. I would totally go to that festival if I lived in Illinois but I don’t. I would love to see Kiss, Rob Zombie, Ozzy, Megadeth, Slayer, Godsmack, Amon Amarth, etc. All kinds of killer bands on this festival. I hate most music festivals these days but this one looks good. I’d totally go to that one if I had the money to take a trip to Illinois. Looks like a badass show. \m/

Kev

For a pretty long time, I’ve been wanting to get into karate and martial arts so I can have the fighting skills to defend myself just in case. I couldn’t find local karate lessons until now. I discovered that there is a karate school in my hometown in Greenwich, the “NY Martial Arts Academy”. I just contacted them in facebook the other day and they say that adult karate classes costs about $45 a month which isn’t bad. I know right where the NY Martial Arts Academy school is in Greenwich. Not hard to find at all.

If I were to get into karate though, I would have to stop boxing bootcamp class at the Y ’cause I don’t want to do too much, ya know?

Actually, I got into karate for a little while when I was a kid but I want to get back into it. I’ll think about getting into karate this year. I’ll stick with boxing for a little while longer and might think about switching to karate in the Spring/Summer. Not sure. Karate is something I’ve always wanted to do.

I just want to learn how to fight better. Learn how to defend myself in case I run into some bullies out there, ya know? I’ll never go out there and pick fights with people ’cause I’m not a violent guy at all… I just want to be able to defend myself. Plus karate is good for your health too and it’s fun.

I won’t ever give up Yoga, though. I’m sticking with Yoga for life. I’ll have to think about getting into karate instead of boxing soon. Not sure yet.

Kev

I’m really surprised with Metallica. I didn’t think they would come back in their true form for their next album but they truly did. You want metal up your ass, you got it! I’m sure Metallica still has a lot of haters and critics but I never listen to them. I listened to every song they put out on the “Hardwired to Self Destruct” and I thought they did an amazing job with the album. In my opinion, it’s their best since the “Black Album”.

In the new “Self-Destruct” album, I thought they did a much better job with the sound quality which is what I’m impressed with. Yeah I know, the band always gets criticized for their sound quality of their records every album they do but I think the sound quality is perfect this time around. Everything sounds good. You can hear everything pretty good. I admit Metallica hasn’t been good with producing their own albums for the last several years but I think they listened to their critics and Lars said to himself, “Gee, maybe we should listen to them. Give them what they want” and that’s exactly what they did. In the “Death Magnetic” album, they got too many complaints that they couldn’t hear Rob’s bass, well this time you can hear Rob’s bass which is awesome. Lars got a lot of criticism for his drumming, that they say his drumming is annoying. Well his drumming doesn’t sound annoying at all in this album. He sounds tight and seems to be playing in time. He must be doing a lot of practicing.

I think this is their best album in a long time. Every song on it is pretty heavy. Not too many ballads like their previous albums. This album is really good and I’m definitely picking up a copy. I’ll buy it on physical CD instead of on Itunes like I said. When I go Christmas shopping which will be hopefully soon, I’ll pick up a copy.

What a great way to get people to hear an album, release an official video of every song on it which I believe no band or artist has done before. Usually bands & artists releases a music video for like 3 or 4 songs off an album. Metallica wanted to do something different. Will other bands follow? Yeah, probably.

I think the best song off of “Self-Destruct is “Now That We’re Dead” in the video above.

Kev

I love supporting local music. I’ve been a big local music supporter for way over a decade. I love local bands and acoustic artists. Whether they play originals or covers, it doesn’t  matter. I just love music.

I think it’s important to support local music as best as possible ’cause these musicians work hard for what they do. I try my best to make all of them happy by supporting their music. Just by buying their CD’s, t-shirts and going to their shows. You see these days it’s hard to get recognition and it’s hard to get noticed. I do everything I can to help local bands and solo artists out. I just enjoy being helpful.

Each time I go to a local music show, I’ll do my best to make local talent smile by watching their set and after their set, I would support them even more by buying a CD or a t-shirt off of them. When I go to a local music gig, after their performance I usually walk up to the musician and give them a compliment about their set.  That way musicians can go home feeling good ’cause I know bands & musicians don’t get too many people complimenting them these days.

I just enjoy musicians and enjoy supporting them.

Most musicians are really nice and down to earth people though. Many local musicians are pretty humble as well. They don’t take themselves seriously at all. Many local bands around here are not worried about fame or making lots of money at all. They just want to play music and that’s the end of it.

Yeah, I know not all musicians are gonna be nice, though. Some can be assholes and can be a bit egomaniacal but those are the ones you want to ignore.

Supporting local music is good for ya. Another reason is that Albany is not that much of a music scene and it’s hard to get people to support your music so I do all I can to support local bands.

Local bands really love it when you support them. When you show a band your support, they’ll do what they can to give back to ya like free stuff, shoutouts at their shows or even better they can become your friend too.

Supporting local bands is awesome. I would like to go out and see more live local music ’cause I would love to get my chance to see Candy Ambulance and Dryer live. Two other local bands that I love.

I enjoy getting CD’s and other merch from local bands. Whether they give me their stuff for free or not, it’s all good. I don’t mind paying local bands “money” ’cause they really deserve that and need it too.

Over the weekend at the Eastbound Throwdown festival, I bought 6 local albums from four different local acts. Eastbound Throwdown was a total blast. I’ll write a full post about the festival with pics and video tomorrow.

Kev

The band Eastbound Jesus will hosting their 2nd annual “Eastbound Throwdown” this weekend. A two day festival with a bunch of bands.

https://www.facebook.com/events/1174261855931793/

I may not be online much for the next two days.

I’m just gonna go there enjoy the bands, hang out with people and enjoy myself. I’ll probably dance and go crazy when The Mallet Brothers, EBJ and Green hits the stage. Green is a cover band from my hometown of Greenwich so I’m looking forward to seeing them too. The band Green is always a good time.

I wonder how many drunk women will want to dance with me this weekend? By the time EBJ hits the stage, I’m sure everybody will be drunk by then. WIll I get drunk myself? Not sure. I try not to get drunk but I guess once in a blue moon won’t hurt. I probably will end up getting hammered ’cause I know people will probably end up offering me drinks anyways. Last year, I’ve had drunk women wanting to dance with me so I did and the same will probably happen this year. I’ll probably end up being all weird and crazy with the women.

Nothing wrong with that, though. That’s a part of what EBJ shows are for to be weird, crazy… get all rowdy and have a blast.

I’ll be bringing my Ipod Touch so I can take photos and video for my instagram. I’ll write about the show when on my blog when I get back.

Kev

So I started writing about the Jaliek Rainwalker missing child case on my twitter and blog lately and it’s already getting a reaction. It’s already creating some controversy and a huge debate blew up on twitter about it. My blog posts about the story is picking up some views too. Ya know, I’m not doing this to get more attention for myself. I’m doing this hoping to get a closure of this case that’s been open for almost 9 years now. Jaliek disappeared Nov. 1st, 2007 and there are still no answers. I’m doing this for Jaliek pretty much ’cause I simply care and I’m just like everyone else. I want answers too and I want to know what happened to him.

There was a heated debate on twitter about this. I don’t want to name any names but there was this dumbass who kept defending Stephen Kerr and Jocelyn McDonald like if they were innocent people and he thought those two don’t deserve all these accusations from the Greenwich Town and the news media. This guy who should be nameless was going off about something and he said something like, “I can’t blame Stephen for moving out ’cause if I had a kid missing and if everyone was accusing me of murder, I’d move out too”. I’m like really? It seems like he was praising this couple for moving out of town ’cause of the flak they were getting from the news media and the police. The news media and the police kept their focus on Stephen Kerr ’cause he’s the “person of interest”. He was the last person to see Jaliek Rainwalker alive and Stephen was in that house on Hill St. in Greenwich with Jaliek the night he disappeared.

You see when you have a missing kid, the last thing you want to do is move out of the area and not cooperate with law enforcement. If you do that, it’ll make it look like you have something to hide. If they were really innocent then why don’t they prove it? This guy on twitter I was debating with kept saying this couple is innocent and believes the Greenwich Town should leave them alone. So I decided to challenge this nameless guy on twitter by asking him, “If you think they are innocent, did they prove it yet?”. He dodged the question twice. His response was “They’re innocent until proven guilty” or “They don’t have to prove their innocent, this is America”. This nameless guy on twitter didn’t give me a straight answer so I believe I stumped him. He couldn’t answer the question ’cause he knows Stephen and Jocelyn never proved their innocence yet. So yeah, next time someone tells you that Stephen and Jocelyn are innocent, ask that person, “Did they prove their innocence yet?”. I’m pretty sure they can’t come up with a straight answer and they’ll be stumped.

Yeah, there are gonna be some people out there who are gonna think Stephen and Jocelyn are innocent. If they were innocent and if they had nothing to do with the disappearance of Jaliek Rainwalekr then they would stay home and work with law enforcement. They would cooperate with police. Stephen and Jocelyn and their shady lawyer keep maintaining that Jaliek is still alive and ran away from home which is a bullshit claim. How would they prove that Jaliek is still alive? A recent photo of Jaliek would help. Maybe a phone call or a video. Even better Stephen should take Jaliek to the police to show them that he’s still alive but did they do any of that yet? NO! Stephen and Jocelyn never proved their innocence yet but instead they lawyered up and moved to Vermont like a couple of cowards.

I’m sorry, y’all but I’m not gonna believe that Stephen and Jocelyn are innocent until they can prove it. If they can prove it then I’ll forgive and forget but as long as they haven’t yet (9 years on), I’m gonna continue to believe that Stephen and Jocelyn are guilty all the way.

There’s no doubt that Jaliek was murdered by his own adoptive father and I’m sticking with that opinion until they can “prove” their innocence which they haven’t yet. Jocelyn will get some prison time too ’cause she helped to protect Stephen and lie to law enforcement.

It seems to me that this couple has no remorse at all. I’ve seen Jocelyn’s facebook (which she deleted) and they’re all smiles and stuff in their family photos. If you watch the videos below. Look at the differences of the reaction to Jaliek being missing. Stephen shows no concern at all for Jaliek while Barbara (Jaliek’s grandmother) does show concern. What does that tell you? Who would you support more? Stephen or Barbara? I support Barbara and totally siding with her. Anyone who defends Stephen & Jocelyn or feels sorry for them is a delusional lunatic.

Stephen and Jocelyn think they can kill their own kid and move on with their lives? No way. They’re gonna get busted somehow and they’re gonna get caught. I think it’s possible that this case could get a closure soon but how much longer do we have to wait? This couple should really turn themselves in if they want this case to go away ’cause it’s not gonna go away as long as they’re out in hiding. They don’t know what’s coming for them.

Kev