Many of you would know, that I am a die hard Metallica fan. There’s this all girl Metallica tribute band, called, Misstallica. If you local readers are interested, they’ll be playing a gig at Bogie’s in Albany. I would love to go see them, but I don’t think I’ll be able to make it this week.
Misstallica’s been advertised over facebook and they got me curious. So I went looking for their youtube videos at their live shows, and wow. These girls actually fuckin’ rock, and I’m impressed!
Metallica songs are extremely hard to cover, especially their earlier stuff in the 80’s. The most complex Metallica album would have to be, “And Justice For All”, and these girls nailed all of those songs, note for note. They’re pretty tight and they look fun to see live. Their singer & guitarist Gina Gleason, shreds some pretty good solos, she doesn’t just play rhythm guitar.
Someday, I would have to go out and see them next time they come around here. Who says girls can’t be into metal? I’m sure there are tons of Metallica tribute bands out there, but Misstallica’s, the best one I’ve heard. Enjoy these killer videos. Keep up the great work ladies!
Originally, Guns N’ Roses were scheduled to play the Times Union Center, on the day before Thanksgiving earlier this week, but as predicted, the band cancelled out on us. Local people in facebook, have been putting up status’s and comments, bashing the band for it. It was blamed on low ticket sales.
To be fair to Axl and Guns N’ Roses, maybe it wasn’t their decision to cancel the show. Maybe they really wanted to play it but maybe it was the arena’s decision to pull the plug. I wouldn’t quickly blame the band.
I can see why people would quickly blame the band, since Axl’s been well known to be late at gigs and not showing up at some of them. Things like that.
Even if it was the band’s decision, maybe Axl and the rest of the guys wanted to spend their Thanksgiving with their families. Maybe it had something to do with travelling conflicts. He lives in California so it would be difficult for him to travel like that.
The Times Union Center in Albany, just announced that Guns N’ Roses is coming to perform on Nov. 23rd, the day before Thanksgiving. Yes, you heard that right. Before you local readers decide to get tickets, I want to give you a little warning about this band. If you knew Axl’s history, he had a major problem with either showing up late or not showing up at all at his concerts. He’s been well known to show up late or no show at his concerts for years.
I would never see Guns N’ Roses for that reason. I used to LOVE the band back in the day with the original lineup. They meant something back then, but now the band is all washed up and a bunch of egotistical has-beens. I know I said I respect most talent but it’s hard to respect Guns N’ Roses when Axl is nothing but a big prick.
I did like, “Chinese Democracy”, actually. I just won’t see them live. So think twice before you decide to get tickets for this show. I’m pretty sure this show won’t even sell out. Nobody cares about Guns N’ Roses anymore.
This is the yearly Kegs and Eggs party that students from SUNY Albany college have every year. They just party out in the streets, doing some wild stuff, but this year the Keg and Eggs have gotten much worse. It got way out of hand, that they were wrecking things in the streets and even destroying cars, and other vehicles.
Things like this is why Albany is not a good city to live and it’s why I stay away from there. I couldn’t picture myself living on this street while this was going on.
So I went to WWE RAW in Albany last night. It was a great show. I had a fun time. I had a feeling that the final RAW of 2010 would be a good one, they usually are. No big superstar returns, but my prediction of Nexus kicking out Wade Barrett from the group was right. A shocker at the end of RAW happened, CM Punk is now leader of Nexus replacing Barrett. (See video below)
It was a great ending to last night’s RAW, it was perfect. Of course, all the Cena fans walked out of the show with sad and disappointed looks on their faces. Believe it or not, Nexus has a lot of fans too as there were a lot of people wearing Nexus shirts and holding Nexus signs in the audience. Which means that Nexus isn’t going away anytime soon people. As long as the group is selling shirts, they’ll stick around for a long time. The Nexus is the most successful wrestling stable in the WWE.
Other thoughts on last nights show. WWE RAW opened up with a show called, “WWE Superstars” which is a weekly short show aired on Thursday nights on channel WGN. It started off with a match against Abraham Washington and some other wrestler, I don’t know who. The next match was William Regal against the other guy. I don’t watch “WWE Superstars” that much so I don’t know the wrestlers on that roster, except I am familiar with Abraham Washington who is getting very popular already. Abraham got a lot of heat and boos from the crowd, so I think Abraham is going to get moved to RAW at some point here.
In the opening show of RAW, John Cena was the first to come out, of course, like always. He came out to the ring to start a speech to confront, CM Punk. CM Punk comes out and Cena/Punk got into conversation about Vickie Guerrero. I was hoping Vickie Guerrero would come out that night, but she didn’t. She wasn’t there. Then Punk and Cena starts talking about how their going face each other later that night.
The first match after that promo, was Santino Marella (w/Tamina by his side) wrestled a match against Ted Dibiase Jr. It was a short match, but Santino ends up winning it. The next match was John Morrison vs. Alex Riley, which Morrison won, of course, the Miz was by Alex’s side but the Miz was sent to the back by the Ref ’cause the Miz kept interfering and getting in the way. The next match was Mark Henry vs. Tyson Kidd, another quick match that didn’t last long, Henry won of course. Kidd’s Bodygaurd, Jackson Andrews, confronted Mark Henry, two big giant men stared eye to eye in the ring. Mark Henry ends up beating down, Jackson Andrews, and Mark Henry celebrated the moment with the fans. Next up was Jerry “The King” Lawler vs. The Miz, Lawler actually wrestled a lot and he was actually pretty good. Lawler won with the help of John Morrison. I thought it was pretty amazing seeing Lawler wrestle and witnessing him winning. Lawler who is a legend and a Hall of Famer.
Next up, was the Divas match, Melina & Alicia Fox vs. Eve Torres & Gail Kim. Melina and Alicia Fox won of course, after the match, Natalya Neidhart (who is the daughter of Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart, btw) went up to slap Melina across the face for payback of last week’s RAW when Melina attacked Natalya. This actually a pretty exciting match. I’m glad I got the honor to see Melina who is a favorite of mine. It was also great to see Natalya, the daugther of a legend and a family member of Bret “The Hitman” Hart as well.
Next, was Daniel Bryan vs. Zack Ryder, Daniel won of course. It was a great opportunity to see Daniel Bryan who I had my eye on for a long while. He’s a great talent. After that match, the Anonymous GM rang in and announced to Jerry Lawler that he had a New Year’s suprise, guess what, Lawler got the beat down by the Miz as for payback from earlier. Of course, there were lots of strong boos all over the arena.
Now here is the main event with Randy Orton vs. Sheamus. It was great seeing these two guys live. Randy won of course, it was a clean match with no interferences. After the match got over witih, Cena came out to confront CM Punk, but instead Nexus comes out announcing they got a new leader replaced. Like I said, CM Punk is now the official leader.
What is next for Wade Barrett? I’m thinking Wade Barrett would go babyface, not a heel. So he can join Cena to fight against the Nexus. It was actually a good RAW. I’m glad we only heard from Anonymous GM only once. That laptop computer thing is annoying. They’ll reveal the GM at the Royal Rumble or sometime before the PPV. Last night was actually an exciting show. I’ll watch it again on my DVR.
Well that was quite a blizzard over night! Yes, I’m still going to WWE Monday Night RAW at the Times Union Center in Albany, tonight. The show is still on. Why? Simply put, WWE don’t postpone or cancel their shows no matter the weather conditions. They are committed at what they do. So yeah, the WWE crew and all the RAW superstars are in Albany today, and safely too.
The main event for the night is a tag team match with John Cena/Randy Orton vs. Wade Barrett/the Miz w/ Michael Cole as the special guest referee. My prediction on that match is that the Nexus group will be involved and someone is going to get the beatdown by the Nexus. Who? I have a feeling it might be Wade Barrett, the groups leader, the Nexus. There have been signs that Nexus members were going to kick their leader out of the group and it might happen tonight.
Looking forward to seeing all the superstars and the Divas performing for us Albany peeps. Also, this is the final RAW of 2010, so this is a big event for them. Something big will happen tonight. Yeah, we’re probably gonna have to put up with the Anonymous RAW GM laptop thing and deal with John Cena take over the whole show like usual, but it’s still going to be fun.
Some may think I have seen WWE live a lot. Well, honestly, I haven’t. I only saw WWE shows in the past like 3 or 4 times in my life. So this will be my first RAW live show ever. I will be going with family members that are fans of WWE. I’ll write about it when I get back. Oh, and of course, I will record this on my DVR, in hopes of me getting spotted on TV!
A family member of mine won tickets off a radio station to see Monday Night RAW at the Times Union Center on Dec. 27th and she’s giving them to me since she knows I’m a huge wrestling fan. I’m definitely going. I like seeing WWE shows live in person, it’s definitely much more fun seeing their shows live than on TV! Am I ready to see John Cena hog up the whole show, the Nexus and Michael Cole reading Anonymous GM e-mails off a laptop? Yes, I guess so. Hopefully, Triple H returns to WWE before then so I can see him live in Albany, that would rock.
The main event booked for that night is a WWE Championship match between: Randy Orton vs. The Miz vs. Wade Barrett, but we all know that John Cena is somehow going to be involved in that match. Hopefully Vince McMahon will be there to perform if he returns to TV before then.
Shall be an exciting show and looking forward to it. Should I bring a sign to hold up for the TV? Not sure, I’ll do that or not. Maybe.
A big announcement was made in the Capital District of local music today. What is that announcement? Local Capital District, singer/songwriter, Sean Rowe, has been signed to Anti Records. He’s now on the same label with other famous acts such as Tom Waits, Neko Case, Booker T, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Beth Orton, and more. Keep in mind, that Anti Records is a pretty big label, this label became well known when Tom Waits won a grammy for his album, “Mule Variations”.
I’ve admired Sean’s music for a long time. Will he ever be big & famous someday? I think he’ll get there, and him getting on this label is the right direction for him to get there. Congrats to Sean. “Magic” is my favorite local album. I’m always listening to that album on my Ipod, all the time, it’s an addicting album to listen to. That album means a lot to me and it’s very inspiring. I think he’ll go very far. Maybe we’ll start seeing him perform on national TV. I have a feeling Sean will no longer be local. He’s a talented songwriter and the best in the area.
For those who haven’t heard him, check out these videos.
Rob Skane is a Capital District local solo rock musician who has been playing gigs either solo or with a full band for over 20 years. Back in 2002, Skane released his debut solo record titled, “Self Noise”. Now that’s it’s 2010, Rob Skane is finally back with a new record titled, “Phantom Power Trip”. Skane didn’t really actually take a break from music after all this time, he has always been gigging in between those years he hasn’t released a record. Now that he finally has a new record out, I thought I would give it a review since I have his new CD and heard it.
I would like to say that I can’t stop listening to this record. “Phantom Power Trip” is very addicting. Very catchy and fun upbeat rock songs. What’s the difference between this and “Self Noise”? Well, “Self Noise” is a little mellower and slow. Every song on “Phantom Power Trip” is fast and upbeat rock n’ roll. The songs on “Phantom Power Trip” will remind you of such artists like the Ramones, Elvis Costello, The Knack, and Cheap Trick. The CD “Phantom Power Trip” gave me strong goosebumps all the way through. I was never bored listening to the record and didn’t skip any tracks. This record will make you want to listen through the whole thing. The CD has excellent sound production as some of it was recorded at Rob Skane’s home and some of it was recorded at Edie Road studios in Greenwich.
Skane sings with passion in all of these songs and the guitar playing is just what the song needs. Tight, energetic and powerful. The songs are very simple and pretty short, but that’s all you need to write great rock n’ roll songs! Skane knows how to write true rock n’ roll songs. He knows the genre and knows the sound. I absolutely love the entire record all the way through but my favorite tracks are, “I Waited”, “You Preach Peace”, “Girl Next Door”, “The Idiot Show”, and “Army of Individuality”. The songs on the CD makes you want to sing along to them and bop your head up and down all the way through. Congratulations to Rob Skane on a fantastic record. Some of the best local rock n’ roll I’ve heard in years! Skane is a musician friend of mine. I’ve seen him perform live lots of times and we’ve shared gigs lots of times! He is also a cool as hell guy!
Check out “Phantom Power Trip” at his official website, you can listen to the whole thing there, click the play button next to the album cover:
I have came up with a cool idea for my blog site. Each month, I will do a Q&A session interview with a different local band. This month, I will start off with a Q&A session interview with Albany local rap and R&B band, Ill Funk Ensemble. They are a five piece band that is fronted by, Jermaine Wells, who is a local rapper, and he is also an actor. This band does a mix of both covers and originals at their live gigs. They are fun, entertaining, and you can dance to their music. So if you go check out a show of theirs, be sure to bring your dancing shoes!
Q&A with Ill Funk Ensemble:
When did the band first form? Ill Funk formed in 2005 with the idea to create a live hip-hop R&B experience in the Albany area.
How did you guys find each other to form a band? BJ hand-selected the members of the band because of their combination of professionalism, musical ability, and positive personalities.
What made you want to start a rap/hip hop/R&B band? It’s a genre we love and is underserved in the area.
You guys do a mix of originals and covers both, who does the writing for the originals? Does Jermaine do all the writing or all of you guys write together? The originals came from Jermaine and BJ writing the outline of the song- chord progression, lyrics, flow- and then they present the songs to the band to create the whole sound.
You just released a brand new song called, “Summertime”. What inspired you to write that and what is the song about? Our best moments have occurred in the summer, and we’re pretty sure people relate well with the subject.
Got any crazy road stories to share? We plead the 5th Amendment.
What other local Capital District bands do you support around here? We’re big fans of The Getdown, Soul Session, The Hillbilly Horns, and IMI, but there are loads of others we respect and enjoy performing with!
Since you released, “Summertime”, does that mean you got a new album in the works? When do you expect the new album to be released? Right now, we’re focused on getting Catching Wreck to be the biggest album that it can be. We’ve received a number of great reviews from media types and fans alike, so we’re running with that for the time being. Jermaine and BJ are always full of ideas, so the next album won’t be far off!
How did you learn to rap and how long have you been rapping for? Jermaine Wells: I started writing poetry at 5 and rhyming at that point. I have always been a writer and a fan on rap.
Who are some of your favorite rap artists of all time?
Jermaine Wells: I am a fan of Jay-Z, Big Pun, Nas, Biggie and Pac and others but these are my favorites.
Do you like Eminem at all? What do you think of his new album, “Recovery” if you’ve heard it yet? Jermaine Wells: I have alot of respect for Eminem. What I like most about him is his ability to create what he feels freely. I have not heard the Recovery yet.
What do you like to do in your free time other than music?
Jermaine Wells: Other then music, I write books, stories, etc. I also volunteer and help youth.
Do you like any other type of music other than rap and R&B? Do you like rock n’ roll or other genres? Jermaine Wells: I am a fan of good music. So I do listen to many genre’s of music.
On your website, it said, you are also an actor, do you want to be a movie star one day or is your main focus is on music? Jermaine Wells: The plan is to do movies and TV in conjunction with the music. I started acting before doing music.
I would like to thank the band for this opportunity in working on this Q&A for this blog.
If you would like to learn more about Ill Funk Ensemble check out these links:
K'Brocking 
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