Michael's Musings

#TBT: Take A Bow
Michael Shinafelt

Today is the last day of the first month of 2019 - if this is any indicator of how the rest of the year is going to play out, damn slow the F#ck down! I need to take some time to smell the napalm in the morning. Or at the very least how fresh my clothes smell after I wash them, that's the practical choice. Fresh clothes smell for the win Alex.

Time to dive in...

Hello January 31st 2019!

We all know now what many have suspected, Tori Spelling is a Unicorn

The Superbowl is this Sunday, so there's that

When people tell me to go to Hell, Uh, I can't. Satan has a restraining order against me

Make out naked

If life knocks you down, get back up and tell it "You hit like a bitch"

Tomorrow is another day. The more you know.

Your legs are like jam, you can't spread them just a little

Jussie Smollett

Sending positive energy Jussie Smollett's way 

MAGA my ass!

Celine Dion, worth it, or not? Discuss...

It only takes two, but wait till you try three 

Maroon 5 declined to do a press conference regarding the Superbowl in case you care

Apparently you can now sue people for accidentally colliding with you on the ski slope, things that make me go yawn

Wake up with a dose of me at:

https://www.instagram.com/michaelshinafelt/?hl=en

https://twitter.com/MShinafelt   

OZG: Rihanna

Bad Ass To The Bone
Rihanna

With the countdown to Halloween in full force I'd like to show my support for one Rihanna. Who Turned down performing at the upcoming Superbowl in support of Colin Kaepernick. 

(Yeah, we now get Maroon 5 instead (meh) - bur considering why that happened I'm down with it.)

This is  a balls to the wall decision that I respect and admire her for. Thus it seems fitting to back her today all dressed up for Halloween as, what else? A Zombie Gangster, naturally.

"Yes" Rhi, Rhi is the OZG (original zombie gangster) and the grooviest of all the ghouls in this truly appropriate for the season and her current political stand get up.

Bend it like Rihanna this Season of the Witch and let loose your OZG, OWG or OG with a rebel yell!

Tis' a mere 11 more days until Halloween - you go ghouls!

Rihanna on IG -

https://www.instagram.com/badgalriri/?hl=en   

Michael's Musings

The Write Stuff
Michael Shinafelt

Hello Beautiful People, it's me! Right here, right now. Could you ask for anything more??? It's time to go forward, move ahead, try to detect it, it's not too late...

Step on a crack, break your Mother's ______ use your imagination and fill in the blank

Tonight I will be attending media night at Knott's Scary Farm (translation, everything is comped) can't wait...woot!

Maroon 5 to headline 2019 Superbowl half time show. Whatever.

Jessica Lange will be returning to American Horror Story as Constance Langdon. This makes sense since Constance was last seen nurturing the Anti-Christ who is a grown ass man now this season.

You were told that it's scary. Do you know that it's true?

Kelly Clarkson is getting a talk show. Perfection.

Death smiles at us all, all one has to do is smile back

And then there's Maude -

Then I was like "whatever bitches" and the bitches whatevered!

Gary Cole

Gary Cole, Gary Cole, Gary Cole

Can you hear me now???

White Punks On Dope, that is all

Do you feel dirty right now?

Smack my bitch up

I'm leaving the building, join me at:
https://www.instagram.com/michaelshinafelt/?hl=en
https://twitter.com/MShinafelt  

Welcome Back, Durbin!

James Durbin left a lasting impression placing fourth on season ten of American Idol. Not only because he was one of the few contestants who performed rock to perfection, he was the only contestant ever on the show to have autism.

His debut album the rock oriented Memories of a Beautiful Disaster was a hit, which was followed up with the pop flavored album Celebrate, which was a departure from what Durbinators were hungry to hear from their idol. 

Well James is back and ready to rock with his first new music in over two years Riot On Sunset. 

In my opinion this is James best work as an artist to date mainly because the music is 100% pure Durbin. Durbinators rejoice, here's James!

JD: Hey Michael, how's it going?

MS: Fine, I love your latest Riot On Sunset, after Celebrate it's great to hear you rocking out again!

JD: Not to take anything away from Celebrate it's a great album. But it's more of a studio album and it's not something that I like to play live too much. It still holds up, it's just not a James Durbin album necessarily.

MS: I was going to ask how you felt about it, and you beat me to it. (laughs) Are you still going to experiment with different types of music in the future?

Ready To Riot
James Durbin
Photo: Heidi Durbin

JD: Yes. I am influenced by a wide array of music genres and artists. Everything from James Brown, Maroon 5 to Judas Priest. You might even find a Bieber track on my iTunes. (laughs) It's different songs for different reasons. The Bieber song in question has incredible production. As far as the kind of music I am making now, I am definitely back in my comfort zone. 

MS: My favorite song off of Riot On Sunset is the title track. Was that inspired by your performing at the The Viper Room?

JD: You know I actually wrote that song when I was twenty. Probably a good year and a half before all the "Idol" stuff happened. I had started a band with some friends called Hollywood Scars and I was looking up different things about the Sunset Strip I wanted to embody that in a song. That ended up being Riot On Sunset which was an actual event that happened in the 1960's basically it was about kids wanting to have freedom of expression, to be yourself whether "the man" has anything to say about it or not. I kept pushing for the song to be on my other two albums and the label kept saying it's not good, we don't like it, it's not going on your album. When I was in Nashville working on my second album with James Michael, we had a talk about it, he said to me: "This is one of those songs that you write once in your lifetime, it's on of those songs that comes from somewhere else." That message spoke to me to open myself up to letting songs pass through me. 

MS: Seriously?! I can't believe the label said those things to you about that song.

JD: There ended up being a struggle with it actually, after I left the label. They were going to keep it and not give it back to me. It fell in with my publishing deal with them. The fact that somebody can say they own a song that they don't think is good enough to go on a record is just stupid. We fought really hard and that's the one thing I got out of my termination deal with the label. This incident falls right in line with the story and vibe of the song, standing up for what you believe in, regardless of the fact that somebody tells you "No."

Photo: Heidi Durbin

MS: Your single Smackdown is doing really well, congratulations!

JD: Yeah, yeah it's doing pretty good right now on the Loudwire Battle Royale. It's gone up to number one, it's still in the top five on the liter board. That's all thanks to my awesome adoring fans, they're truly something else. 

MS: They sure are! Every time I tweet about you, whoever runs J.D's Outcast Army is on it! They re-tweet me within five minutes usually.

JD: When I was in Florida on a layover I went to Walmart at one in the morning and tweeted something about it. Immediately after I did it there were like four or five responses to it. It's a blessing to have such devoted fans.

MS: Here's a somewhat off the cuff thing that I've always wanted to ask you. Have you ever been skydiving?

JD: I have not. They were trying to get me to skydive to promote my single Parachute off of the Celebrate album, yeah, that wasn't going to happen. Now I would have totally done the indoor skydiving at Universal City Walk. 

MS: Does skydiving scare you?

JD: It depends on what mood I'm in. (laughs)

James  Performing
@ Universal City Walk
Photo: Michael Shinafelt

MS: Speaking of City Walk the last time I saw you was there performing for the organization Autism Rocks. It was a great show, you are always good live, how did you feel about that night?

JD: It felt great! The idea of the organization is to bring awareness to autism. That it is not something to be feared. All we want is to be loved and accepted just like everyone else.

MS: Personally, I accept people as they are, things like that don't scare me.

JD: Good. People may look at us and think we act funny, but we could be looking at you thinking the same thing. (both laugh)

MS: Thanks Buddy!

JD: Thank You Michael!

Riot On Sunset is out...now!

Follow James at:

Official website: http://www.jamesdurbinofficial.com/

Twitter: http://twitter.com/durbinrock

Facebook: http://facebook.com/durbinrock

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/durbinrock/

Get Riot On Sunset at: 

CD Baby

http://cdbaby.com/cd/jamesdurbin3

Riot on Sunset by James Durbin

https://itun.es/us/CPpFdb

Amazon

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01I629H70/ref=dm_aw_dp_sp_bb_sfa  

Adam Levine Is A Stalker

Adam Levine & His Wife, Model Behati Prinsloo
Give Us A Halloween Treat

"Baby I'm preying on you tonight

Hunt you down eat you alive

Just like animals" - "Animals" Maroon 5

That's right, Adam Levine is going as a stalker for Halloween in the video for the latest Maroon 5 single: Animals.

His costume of choice is quite controversial apparently among organizations that are advocates for stopping violence against women.

Everyone has the right to their opinion, and here's mine. Having seen the video and being a fan of horror, to me this is pretty standard fare and no big deal.

Personally I find Anaconda by Nicki Minaj or Robin Thicke's date rape song Blurred Lines way more offensive and degrading to women than Animals.

Animals is essentially a short slasher film about a stalker that has premiered during the perfect time of the year, Halloween. Translation, it's a great video and brilliant marketing, nothing more.

Sorry if I do not share in the outrage over something that is seen in TV shows and movies all the time.

I love the video, it's creepy, sexy and has great imagery, everything a gritty horror movie should be! Check it out below!

                                                               

Unleash Your Beast at: http://www.maroon5.com/v