Showing posts with label Rock-N-Roll. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rock-N-Roll. Show all posts

Sunday, December 15, 2019

"Play That Rock n' Roll"

Supersuckers
The band's 13th studio album arrives February 7th via Acetate Records

Listen to the single "Ain't Gonna Stop" HERE

Pre-order HERE


"Ain't gonna stop until I stop it, Ain't gonna let it go until I drop it," growls Eddie Spaghetti on the first track off the Supersuckers 13th studio album, "Play That Rock n' Roll."  Tracked over the course of four sweltering days at Willie Nelson's Austin, TX studio, "Play That Rock n' Roll" rocks with an amphetamine intensity, delivering muscular riffs, big choruses and more than a few tricks up it's sleeve.
 
Raw, immediate and often times hilarious, "Play That Rock n' Roll' is the album a band makes after slugging it out on the road for thirty years (barring a one year hiatus while Eddie battled throat cancer).  No frills, no guest stars and no collaborations, the album earns the listener's ear - the Supersuckers have lived this shit and you can feel it.
 

Songs like "Bringing It Back" and "Last Time Again" deliver a Ramones-like wall of sound, courtesy of guitarist Metal Marty Chandler, while "You Ain't The Boss Of Me" recalls Dirty Deeds-era AC/DC - and never one to be taken too seriously, Eddie and company make sure to keep the Supersuckers tongue firmly planted in cheek with "That's a Thing?" and "Gettin' Into Each Other's Pants".   The album also includes a rousing cover of Michael Monroe's "Dead, Jail or Rock n' Roll" and a long overdue revival of the Allen Toussaint penned "A Certain Girl," which appears as an "unlisted track."
 
All in all, "Play That Rock n' Roll" delivers the middle finger brand of Rock n' Roll the band has been known for since signing to Sub Pop in the early 1990's.  Combining the ferocity of Motörhead, the off kilter humor of Cheap Trick and the swagger of Steve Earle, the 'Suckers earned their spurs playing everywhere from dirt floor dive bars to The Tonight Show. Thirty years later, they still deliver the goods, or in the words of Eddie Spaghetti himself...
 
"The Supersuckers have been doing this for a long time. A LONG time. And the fact that we're still doing it is not lost on us. We still love Rock n Roll. I mean, we must. There's no other explanation for why we would still be putting out fresh, new rock music anymore. No one NEEDS it. Hell, hardly anybody even WANTS it. But here it is. Another master class in quality Rock n' Roll. Sure it's for the few, the proud, the People of Impeccable Taste, the Connoisseurs Of Quality but it makes us happy to know we still got it. And we do. We might be better than we've ever been and that's exciting. So here it is, our love letter to good, ass kicking rock n roll. Turn it on, turn it up and listen to the Supersuckers play that Rock n' Roll!!" 
 
 
US TOUR DATES:
  • 1/16 - Steamboat Springs, CO @ Schmiggity's Live Music
  • 1/18 - Denver, CO @ Globe Hall
  • 1/19 - Albuquerque, NM @ Launchpad
  • 1/22 - Dallas, TX @ Three Links Deep Ellum 
  • 1/23 - Austin, TX @ Empire Control Room & Garage 
  • 1/24 - San Antonio, TX @ Paper Tiger 
  • 1/26- Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall 
  • 1/29 - Outlaw Country Cruise
* Full European tour starts Feb 7, US dates continue in May 2020

Monday, September 30, 2019

"Old Habits Die Hard"

Junkyard
Acetate Records unleashes Junkyard's previously unreleased 1992 album "Old Habits Die Hard" on November 22!

"Junkyard is not a band from the 80s. Junkyard is not a band from the 90s. Junkyard is pure kick-ass bar-hopping motorcycle-ridin' rock n roll that seems as relevant today as when they first started." - Riki Rachtman

Junkyard opens the vault and blows the dust off a killer collection of recordings slated as the follow up to 1991's "Sixes, Sevens and Nines." Guitarist Brian Baker's (Bad Religion, Minor Threat) opening riff serves up the concoction of raucous, bittersweet, bloozy rock that follows. Loose and tight in good measure, with stomping beats and dual guitars zigzagging around David Roach's raspy howl... make no bones about it - this band could play.
 
The strut and swagger of "Pushed You Too Far" and the soulful "Tried & True" are balanced by the slow, dirge of "Blue Sin" and the melancholic duet "Hangin' Around With My Dreams." "Old Habits" recalls everything from Sticky Fingers-era Stones and ZZ Top to the Ramones and Lynyrd Skynyrd (who they toured with in '91). More than anything else, though, it sounds like Junkyard. 
 
Back in 1992, Junkyard was a well-oiled machine, their previous two releases performed well, they had multiple videos in rotation on MTV, and successful club and arena tours under their belt. Looking to infuse more of their musical sensibilities into their third effort, they began writing and recording and in a short few months, they had compiled over 20 songs. The new material reflected more of their alt/punk roots, which wasn't much of a directional change considering their strong punk pedigree.
 
But the major label's rush to jump on the next "popular music trend" quickly led to Junkyards demise. "At this point, Nirvana's "Nevermind" album had been out a few months and we all kinda knew which way the wind was blowing," singer David Roach recalls, "we didn't really 'officially' break up as a band, it was as simple as the party's over." So, with zero fanfare, the band members signed their release paperwork from Geffen (a whopping 2 page fax), gathered their gear and parted ways... the tapes were left to gather dust in the vaults.

Twenty years later, Geffen re-released the first two Junkyard albums and once again, the band was in demand. Tours of Japan and Europe followed, including a headlining slot at Serie Z Festival in Spain, and the band started writing again. In early 2017, Junkyard released "High Water", their first full-length album in 26 years on LA indie, Acetate Records. The album peaked at 24 on Billboard's Hard Rock Charts and Junkyard once again played to packed houses across America and Europe. With the band back in form, it seemed like the right time to dust of the tapes.
 
"Old Habits Die Hard" pretty well summarizes where the band was at the time," Roach continues, "The addition of Tim Mosher (yes, way back then) brought another element to what Chris Gates and I had been doing. So it was the hard rock, blues, southern thing plus some more melodic and punk which was also a natural course considering where we came from."
 
"During the months we recorded these songs we were in various stages of dealing with Geffen. Trying to write a single, but also trying to not care and write for ourselves. The songs indicate the direction we were ultimately not able to take until all these years later."
 
"Old Habit's Die Hard" will be released via streaming, CD and 'Beer' colored vinyl on November 22, 2019. A limited number of signed LPs will also be available via acetate.com.
 

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Celebrating Tom Petty


TOM PETTY’S LIFE TO BE CELEBRATED THROUGHOUT OCTOBER BY ‘TOM PETTY AND ME’ AUTHOR AS FANS MARK ROCK LEGEND’S BIRTH AND DEATH ANNIVERSARIES

Jon Scott, Music Label and Promo Man Who Saved Petty’s Career Remembers ‘One of the Most Important and Influential Rock Stars in the World’ in Latest Rock ‘n ‘Roll Adventure with Friend of 40 Years

“Six weeks before our first record was dropped by ABC Records, he went to the radio stations with a vengeance and brought that sucker onto the charts. And it wasn’t easy. We are forever grateful.” – Tom Petty, from the Hollywood Bowl stage at his last concert, dedicating “I Won’t Back Down” to Jon Scott

“We would not be listening to Tom Petty on the radio if not for you (Jon Scott), back in 1977.” -
Mark Felsot, producer of Tom Petty Radio, Sirius XM

As the rock world remembers Tom Petty with the October anniversaries of his death and birth, Jon Scott, the long-time friend and former record label radio promo man who saved the legendary rocker’s career “with a vengeance” en route to Hall of Fame status some 40 years ago is devoting the entire month to celebrating Petty’s life through the special relationship chronicled in Scott’s book, TOM PETTY AND ME: My Rock ‘N’ Roll Adventures with Tom Petty (CB Publishing, 191 pp., $25). 

On his latest rock ‘n’ roll adventure with Petty, Scott will be crisscrossing the country in October to join fans at celebrations in Gainesville, FL, where Petty grew up, and Los Angeles, where he landed 1974 in search of his first record deal with his band, Mudcrutch, and remained until his untimely passing as a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer rocked the music world two years ago, Oct. 2, 2017. 

Scott will be joining Petty fans in Gainesville Oct. 17-18 for several events at Tom Petty Weekend, honoring “Gainesville’s Favorite Son.” He returns home to Los Angeles on Petty’s 69th birthday, Oct. 20, to host Tom Petty’s Birthday, a four-hour celebration at Petty Cash Taqueria & Bar with live music by noted Petty tribute artists. 

With a foreword by John Mellencamp writing he’s “grateful for the immense amount of work that (Scott) did on my behalf and others,” Scott’s book similarly recounts how the author, as a radio promo man, was one of the main forces in helping to get Petty’s music heard on radio stations around the country. It began when Petty’s debut album, ignored and miscategorized as punk by the label eight months after its release, literally fell off the record company shelf and into Scott’s hands as ABC Records was preparing to drop the artist from its roster. So moved by what he took home and discovered in the grooves, Scott risked his job at ABC to convince his bosses he personally needed to give the album a second chance at radio and resuscitate Petty’s career from the music industry precipice.  

Petty acknowledged Scott’s importance from the stage of the Hollywood Bowl on September 25, 2017, at his last concert ever, dedicating “I Won’t Back Down” to Scott: “Six weeks before our first record was dropped by ABC Records, he went to the radio stations with a vengeance and brought that sucker onto the charts. And it wasn’t easy. We are forever grateful.” Watch that moment here.  

In TOM PETTY AND ME, Scott shares the series of coincidences and serendipity that brought him and Petty together, altering both of their careers. This is the story of incredible talent realizing a seemingly once-impossible dream by overcoming obstacles through the passion and commitment of one man who created a movement. In the process, the course of rock ‘n’ roll history was forever changed. 

Jon Scott was raised in Memphis, Tennessee, and like many young Memphis kids growing up in the ’50s, he was exposed to all types of music, including gospel, blues, and rock ’n’ roll. Jon had music running through his veins.  

When Jon was young, his mom would request songs and smile when the local country DJ would dedicate a song to her on the radio. That was when Jon knew what he wanted to do — make his mother smile, because she meant the world to him. Jon told his mother he would someday be a DJ. He began practicing with a tape recorder his father bought at Sears & Roebuck. At 16, Jon heard the Rolling Stones on the radio. He immediately went out and bought a Stones album and heard “Under Assistant West Coast Promo Man.” Jon thought that sounded like a pretty good job too.  

His father’s dream, however, was for Jon to go to Memphis State University and get a business degree. Jon dropped out to pursue the radio career he longed for at the famous Keegan’s School of Broadcasting in Memphis. His father was not pleased and told Jon he’d have to pay for tuition himself, so Jon found work at a local movie theater, where he had the good fortune of meeting Elvis one night.   

Jon’s dream finally came true when he graduated from Keegan’s and was hired by a small-town Tennessee radio station in Lawrenceburg. A year later, a premonition told Jon to go back home to Memphis, where he knew there would be a job waiting.  

Within two weeks, Jon was hired by WMC-FM100, a station that had been playing soft music, and whose general manager was ready to turn it into a rock 'n' roll station. On February 7, 1967, FM100 started playing rock ‘n’ roll that had never been heard before on Memphis Top 40 stations. It would become a part of the progressive radio movement, and Jon developed a huge nighttime audience, free to play whatever he wanted. FM100 helped break acts like ZZ Top, David Bowie, Pure Prairie League, the Doobie Brothers, Henry Gross, Billy Joel and Elton John. 

Another dream came true for Jon in 1973 when he left FM100 to work for MCA Records, first as a local promo man in the mid-South and then as a regional promo man in Atlanta. Soon after, he was offered his dream job at MCA as head of national album promotion and moved to Los Angeles in 1974. At MCA, he worked and traveled with Lynyrd Skynyrd, Elton John, the Who, Olivia Newton-John, Keith Moon, Roger Daltrey and Golden Earring, among others. 

Jon was offered a job at ABC Records, again as national head of album promotion, in 1977. This was when many serendipitous, cosmic coincidences would take place, especially with a relatively unknown band, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Fate stepped in, and Jon has been credited with breaking the career of Tom Petty. He worked with Tom and the band for more than 40 years. 

TOM PETTY AND ME is available on Amazon and Amazon Kindle at 

TOM PETTY AND ME on the Web:





Saturday, July 27, 2019

Just Because....I Called It

Love Me Tender
Austin Butler & Vanessa Hudgens

Just Because they are a cute couple, Just Because they are in my hood & Just Because I called it (we'll get to that in a moment) Here are Austin Butler & Vanessa Hudgens!

Aren't they cute out and about in Los Feliz (part of my immediate hood)? Aren't they cute I said, no answer me and answer me now!!! OK, have it your way.

What's that, oh yeah the I called it part of the "Just Because" - Well remember when I ran a piece on the actors in contention to play Elvis in Baz Luhrmann's upcoming biopic and Austin was one of them? Fine if you don't remember but you missed out. Why? Because I said Austin would (and did) land the role of Elvis Presley.

My reason was, while I am sure all the guys in the running were talented enough Austin bore the most physical resemblance to the late Rock-N-Roll legend. 

"Yes" I missed my calling I should have been a casting director.

Just Because I am a smarty pants have a groovy day!

Austin's casting announcement via Variety 
https://variety.com/2019/film/news/austin-butler-baz-luhrmann-elvis-biopic-1203257957/

Friday, July 26, 2019

KISS My Poster Book!


This takes me back to the days of yore...

Fantasm Media Releases The Official KISS Poster Book #2

New edition offers 6 pull-out posters, exclusive interviews, extensive "End Of The Road" tour photo gallery, and a completely new collectible KISS card set

With an epic 45-year career that changed music and entertainment forever, KISS will be hanging up their touring boots at the conclusion of the current multi-year "End Of The Road" tour. To celebrate their legacy, Texas-based publisher Fantasm Media has teamed up with the rock icons again to release The Official KISS Poster Book #2. For die-hard KISS fans, collectors and completists, the second issue brings the current bombastic stage show to life and celebrates their amazing past. This issue is packed with 6 giant pull-out posters featuring the current band members onstage doing what they do best, as well as classic era shots. It's also loaded with articles, interviews, and photos covering both the current and classic incarnations of the band.

"We're absolutely thrilled to continue working with KISS," says Publisher/Editor-in-Chief Brian Steward. "As a lifelong KISS fan and collector, I approach creating The Official KISS Poster Book from the perspective of, 'What would I want to see as a fan?' That's what's most important." And one thing KISS fans definitely do is collect. To meet that collector need, Fantasm Media is offering six alternate covers, each featuring different images not only on the front but also the back.

As with issue #1, this issue of The Official KISS Poster Book features exclusive interviews and a completely new collectible KISS card set. Fans also get an extensive "End Of The Road" photo gallery. Featured interviews include director Adam Rifkin on the 20th anniversary of the KISS film, Detroit Rock City; Jim Neff on how he helped orchestrate the historic 1975 appearance of KISS in Cadillac, Michigan; and David Pea on designing Sammy the Serpent and Gene's current Demon costume.


The Official KISS Poster Book #2 and The Official KISS Poster Book #1 and the two issues of The Official KISS Magazine are available exclusively at Fantasm-Media.com. The next issue of The Official KISS Poster Book will be released later this year and will be accompanied by yet another original KISS card set.

Wednesday, September 5, 2018

Hump Day & Chill

He Is The Champion
Freddie Mercury
"Farrokh Bulsara, known professionally as Freddie Mercury, was a British singer, songwriter and record producer, best known as the lead vocalist of the rock band Queen. He was known for his flamboyant stage persona and four-octave vocal range." 

Happy Birthday to Rock Pioneer Freddie Mercury who would have been 72 today. Honestly I don't get the impression Freddie would have wanted to have lived that long. He was born to be a legend and I think he knew it.

Freddie is, and always will be a Rock-N-Roll as well as a Gay icon. Nobody, and I mean no one other male singer (with the exception of Adam Lambert) has come close to matching his vocal prowess.

Mr. Mercury is also the subject of an Oscar bait film opening November 2 bearing the title of one of Queen's classic songs Bohemian Rhapsody

Starring a perfectly cast Rami Malek of Mr. Robot fame as the rocker. 

Here's an overview of what the bio pic will cover:

All Hail The Queen
Freddie Mercury
"Bohemian Rhapsody is a foot-stomping celebration of Queen, their music and their extraordinary lead singer Freddie Mercury. Freddie defied stereotypes and shattered convention to become one of the most beloved entertainers on the planet. The film traces the meteoric rise of the band through their iconic songs and revolutionary sound. They reach unparalleled success, but in an unexpected turn Freddie, surrounded by darker influences, shuns Queen in pursuit of his solo career. Having suffered greatly without the collaboration of Queen, Freddie manages to reunite with his bandmates just in time for Live Aid. While bravely facing a recent AIDS diagnosis, Freddie leads the band in one of the greatest performances in the history of rock music. Queen cements a legacy that continues to inspire outsiders, dreamers and music lovers to this day."

 It's time to Hump Day & Chill with Freddie, he will, he will rock you!

Freddie on Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freddie_Mercury 

Saturday, August 4, 2018

"Suck It" Saturday


It's Saturday, Tell Someone To "Suck It"...

SUPERSUCKERS
to release new album "Suck It" on September 21st

30th anniversary tour confirmed for the Fall
"We've finally become the band that we've always threatened to be," says singer-bassist Eddie Spaghetti, calling, as ever, from the road. With the Supersucker odometer clicking on three decades this very year, the self-proclaimed Greatest Rock n' Roll Band in the World is marking the occasion with a loud, resounding Suck It. Off the blocks, this 12th studio album from the band showcases a ruthless, get-it-done trio that sounds rebuilt from Motorhead parts, with a singer-bassist transmuting Lemmy's mojo to rasp "You said to grab it / Just hook or stab it / And now I gotta have it - All of the time." 

"Once we tapped into that vibe, we really ran with it," Eddie says of All the Time, which opens an album he and core 'Suckers Marty Chandler (guitar) and drummer Chris Von Streicher (drums) recorded early this year at Bismeaux Studio in Austin, TX, cutting all ten tracks in four days. "And it sounds great," says Eddie. "There's not a lick I wish we could have back."
One upside to putting 30 years of work in: You get better. One downside: Few around you do. The History of Rock n' Roll begins by lamenting a key knowledge gap among youngsters: "The difference between what sucks and what's good" - going on to illustrate the latter with an exuberant chorus: "Like Rocket From The Crypt / And the New Bomb Turks / Let's hear it for the Hangmen / Yeah they know how it works..." The list goes on: "How 'bout Zen Guerrilla man / They were fucking killer / And I am just amazed / Every time I see the Bell Rays." In the tradition of "Dancing in the Streets" or "Land of 1,000 Dances," the rhyming list song flips a crank's tirade into a roll call of fallen heroes: "Don't forget Danko and the Didjits / And the motherfucking Dwarves man / Yeah the Dwarves!" Eddie Spaghetti says it's all from the heart. "I had the line in my head for a long time - 'a footnote to an anecdote in the history of Rock n' Roll,'" he recalls. "I'm happy it came off snarky and crotchety but at the same time, celebratory about all these great bands that I really love, wish everybody else loved, and get bent out of shape that they don't."
By rights, Eddie Spaghetti should be way more than bent out of shape. Three years ago, he packed his wife Jessica, their sons Quattro and Zeke, and daughter Elvis into an SUV pulling a 29-foot Argosy Airstream, setting out from Seattle to spend a year as a family on the road - a year that was ended eight days later by a patch of black ice in Oklahoma. "That turned everything upside down," Eddie says of the crash, which was swiftly followed by a diagnosis of throat cancer and put the uninsured sometime country singer on a blue-collar trajectory from trailer to ICU room in just under six months. With his family living out of a minivan, Eddie got treated at City of Hope in Los Angeles, spending four days intubated and another six months fed by a tube before clawing his way back to Rock n' Roll. "I'm back, for sure," he says now. "It was a rough one though."
Since this is the first batch of Supersuckers released since then, some come from genuine darkness. "Everything happens for a reason" begins the track Dead Inside. "What a stupid thing to say." Four-on-the-floor cowbell and singsong chorus turn this telegram from the abyss into what Eddie rightly calls "a pop song. Back when bands used to have hits, this one could totally be a hit." The Worst Thing Ever describes the bottom in these same straight-shooting terms, the kind you hear throughout the Supersuckers oeuvre-giddily trashy paeans to hooch, Satan, or deviant sex in offhandedly-witty light verse.
This has been more or less their métier since the group of high school buddies from Tucson first moved to Seattle in 1990, signing with Sub Pop and becoming grunge's sole country-music dabblers, going so far as to back up Willie Nelson on the Tonight Show. On Suck It, Eddie's forays into country are reflected solely in the bluesy nod of Cold, Wet Wind. Otherwise, their expansive hardcore-band aesthetic came through time-tested Supersucker methodology: "writing songs in hotel rooms, dirty back stages, and all the shitholes we're always play at," says Eddie, whose fleet pen and nimble wit aren't to be overlooked-the gifts of a NSFW James Thurber or an inhalant-abusing Dorothy Parker.
"If somebody is a carpenter for 30 years, they're gonna be a fucking good carpenter, you know?" says Eddie. "So it shouldn't be such a surprise that a band just gets better over time and I really genuinely believe that we have," he says. And near-death experiences aside, Eddie says "It's really sort of a miracle. I mean, who does anything for 30 years anymore?" On this summer's 30th-anniversary tour, the band will play songs from Suck It, some country faves, and two of their Sub Pop records in its entirety.
As a whole, Suck It brings to mind that old friend who's awesome to hang out with even if his life is in the shitter. "I tend to do my best work when I'm feeling good," Eddie says. "I don't tend to channel dark stuff into my Rock n' Roll, but it makes for a more interesting record. I've come to realize what we do is not for everyone, but I still feel like we have hit songs. This one sounds like it's coming from dudes in their 50s who've been doing it for a long time and have this stupid hope that someday somebody will hear our song and make it popular like it oughta be. Because that is the truth."

Tracklisting:
All Of the Time (5:14)
The History of Rock 'n' Roll (5:37)
Dead Inside (3.33)
Breaking My Balls (3:10)
The Worst Thing Ever (3:46)
What's Up (With This Motherfucking Thing?) (1:46)
Cold Wet Wind (3:16)
(Im Gonna Choke Myself and Masturbate) 'Til I Die )2:52)
Private Parking Lot (3:12)
Beerdrinkers and Hellraisers  (w/ Jesse Dayton)(3:37)

US Tour Dates 2018:
07/26/18 - Bend, OR @ Volcanic Theatre Pub
07/27/18 - Reno, NV @ July Jam / Greater Nevada Field
07/28/18 - San Francisco, CA @ Bottom Of the Hill
07/29/18 - Santa Cruz, CA @ Moe's Alley
07/31/18 - Phoenix, AZ @ The Rebel Lounge
08/01/18 - Tustin, CA @ Marty's on Newport
08/02/18 - San Diego, CA @ Casbah
08/03/18 - West Hollywood, CA @ Viper Room
08/04/18 - Mount Baldy, CA @ Mt Baldy Ski Resort
08/05/18 - Long Beach, CA @ Alex's Bar
09/01/18 - Milwaukee, WI @ Harley-Davidson Museum
09/07/18 - Birmingham, AL @ Zydeco
09/08/18 - Huntsville, AL @ Sidetracks Music Hall
09/09/18 - Knoxville, TN @ The Concourse
09/11/18 - Tampa, FL @ Brass Mug
09/12/18 - Orlando, FL @ Soundbar
09/13/18 - Jacksonville, FL @ Jack Rabbits
09/14/18 - Savannah, GA @ The Jinx
09/15/18 - Charleston, SC @ The Royal American
09/16/18 - Atlanta, GA @ The Earl
09/18/18 - Asheville, NC @ Grey Eagle Music Hall
09/19/18 - Raleigh, NC @ The Pour House Music Hall
09/21/18 - Wilmington, NC @ Reggie's
09/22/18 - Richmond, VA @ The Camel
09/23/18 - Virginia Beach, VA @ Shaka's Live
09/24/18 - Washington, DC @ Pearl Street Warehouse
09/26/18 - New York, NY @ Mercury Lounge
09/27/18 - Cambridge, MA @ Middle East Upstairs
09/28/18 - Worcester, MA @ The Cove Music Hall
09/29/18 - New Haven, CT @ Cafe Nine
09/30/18 - Troy, NY @ Hangar on the Hudson
10/02/18 - Buffalo, NY @ Mohawk Place
10/03/18 - Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Ballroom
10/05/18 - Erie, PA @ Kings Rook Club
10/07/18 - Columbus, OH @ A&R Music Bar
10/09/18 - Minneapolis, MN @ Uptown VFW
10/10/18 - Des Moines, IA @ Vaudeville Mews
10/11/18 - Waterloo, IA @ Spicoli's
10/12/18 - Lombard, IL @ Brauerhouse
10/13/18 - Pekin, IL @ Twisted Spoke
10/14/18 - Nashville, TN @ Exit/In

Thursday, June 28, 2018

Michael's Musings

I've Got The Look -
Michael Shinafelt
Photo:
David Pevsner
"When I was a child I had a fever, My hands felt just like two balloons, Now I've got that feeling once again, I can't explain you would not understand, This is not how I am, I have become comfortably numb" - Pink Floyd "Comfortably Numb"
Ever get the abovementioned feeling?! I sure have, but in the words of Barbara Streisand & Donna Summer "Enough is Enough!" BTW abovementioned is a legal term for those of you who think I pulled that out of someone's ass. "Yes" I am on the prowl and quite dangerous, deal with it!!!
Slippery When Hard
Seeing the magical Ariel Beesley Friday @ The Satellite - yeah, she's like a unicorn
Joe Jackson dead at 89 - he was Michael's father
Poor Heather Locklear - I really mean that
Kylie Jenner has a secret to "cake free" concealer - Ummmmmmm...
A hot NFL husband, yeah, that's what I need
Just kidding, I have a guy who's hotter than Georgia Asphalt
I love Freeform's The Bold Type! There I said it
Hello Kitty violates all sorts of natural laws 

That time when you are waiting to see the Dr. and they have Kim Cattrall & Andrew McCarthy on in Mannequin 
Did you ever wonder???
Nothing is worse than a needy ______ it's blank, fill it in!!!
When all else fails what is it you do?
Your Mama don't dance and your Daddy don't Rock-N-Roll - Damn! That's F#cking harsh!

Saturday, May 14, 2016

Go Indie, Or Go Home! "Southlander"

Are you a "Southlander" ?!?! Find out...

Chance (Rory Cochrane, CSI Miami), a hapless LA Musician, has found his ticket to fame, fortune and romance with the coveted keyboard, the 69' Moletron, which got him the gig and the girl (Beth Orton). But now the Moletron is missing, and Chance must reclaim it by working his way through The Southlander, the ultimate buy/sell classified paper for musicians in Southern California. 

Along the way, Chance and his pal Ross Angeles (Ross Harris, Airplane!) stumble upon the unstable defunct Funk star Motherchild (Lawrence Hilton Jacobs III, Welcome Back, Kotter) and his toadie (Richard Edson, Do the Right Thing), Beck's ramshackle recording trailer, a ruthless junkyard cowboy (Hank III) and his mechanical dinosaur (Robosaurus), an eccentric millionaire's Bacchanalian party, a clairvoyant goddess (Laura Prepon, That 70s Show), and intergalactic Jazz Egyptians (Billy Higgins).

With music performances by Beck, Beth Orton, Hank Williams III, Union 13, and Billy Higgins, plus cameos from Laura Prepon, Ione Sky and Elliott Smith, Southlander is a comically uncanny rock & roll party adventure by critically acclaimed director Steven Hanft. 

Hanft has directed over 70 music videos including Beck's "Loser" and "Where It's At" and more recently, projects for Ariel Pink, Carmen Electra, Prince Jazzbo, and Richie Ramone. Southlander, Hanft's second feature film, is based on true stories he heard of friends who used the SoCal paper to buy/sell/trade instruments. He also produced and starred in the Cannes Film Festival award winning short film "Sunglass Catch" rated by Business Insider as the 4th most important YouTube video ever.

Features include Deleted Scenes, Uncut Performances, Director's Commentary, Music Videos, Bonus Audio, Photo Gallery, and Theatrical Trailer.

Pre-order at the MVD Shop or on Amazon

Sunday, April 19, 2015

Preach! Joan Jett Inducted Into The "Rock-N-Roll Hall Of Fame"

Trio: Paul McCartney, Joan Jett & Miley Cyrus
Congratulations to Joan Jett & The Blackhearts for being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame! An honor that is so deserved! She was the founder of The Runaways and the first female owner of a record label. 

One Ms. Miley Cyrus was there to induct her and "Free The Nipple" Joan Jett's cheerleader had a capital "J" and another capital "J" on each of her freed nipples.

“I come from a place where rock and roll means something. it means more than music, more than fashion, more than the pose,”Joan the audience in Cleveland. “Rock and roll is an idea and an ideal. Sometimes, because we love the music and we make the music, we forget the political impact it has around the world.”


Miley and Tommy James performed the thinly veiled sapphic version of "Crimson and Clover" with Joan Jett and the Blackhearts as part of the ceremony.

Yeah, I love Rock -N- Roll!


Put Another Dime In The Jukebox at:
https://www.facebook.com/joanjettandtheblackhearts

Monday, April 13, 2015

"Reverie" With Cherie Currie

Cherie Currie
Photo: Patti Ballaz
Cherie Currie, former lead vocalist of the first platinum selling all-girl rock group, The Runaways is back with her first new album in 35 years,  "Reverie."  "Reverie"  features the legendary Kim Fowley  on 4 tracks and The Runaways Lita Ford on 3.

That's right The Runaways fans Ms. Cherie Currie is back & flying solo. Oh, by the way, she has a chainsaw and she knows how to use it!


MS: I listened to your album "Reverie," one of the definitions of that word is: "pleasantly lost in ones thoughts." That is how I think the album played out. 

CC: Oh, I agree. Kind of lost in ones thoughts. Yeah, I completely agree.

MS: Well I saw something recently on your Facebook page that this could be your last album, so you went with your truth on it.

CC: The last five years have been spent on thinking about what could have been, without really seeing what is. I'm very blessed, I'm a chainsaw artist and have been very successful at that. I've just had to let go of everything, all my...you know, of course I was always hoping there would be a Runaways reunion, but I was always the last one believing it could still happen. Letting go of that was really very freeing for me. It also allows me to look at my future as a singer and a chainsaw artist. To be honest I have had people asking me for many years if a reunion was going to happen and my response was always: "anything is possible." Being the one to say: "no, it's not going to happen" really made me feel good. 

MS: We're at the same place in our lives, you get to that point.

CC: Yep, all that energy that you could be thinking about the: "what if's" that goes into the "what if's hole" as I call it, that is an endless well of nothingness. Just bury that hole, it changes your whole outlook on things. You can't control other people and what they want to do. I think that's why I love chainsaw carving so much because I am my own boss and nobody tells me what to do. 

MS: Relying on other people isn't the best thing, but it isn't the worst.

CC: You're always going to be let down, no matter what. Because we have these expectations that we shouldn't have about other people. We should only have expectations of ourselves. It's a painful road to go down if you're constantly waiting for somebody else to do something. For me, now it's very freeing to know exactly what is, instead of what I wished at one point.
MS: With "Reverie" you certainly did put all of this out there.

CC: Well, Thank You.

MS: This is your first album in 35 years. Give me a little background on it.

CC: Of course I did make a record with Matt Sorum back in 2010 for Blackheart and that has been on the shelf for a few years. Which was a very frustrating thing for me, so I put myself out on the road. Without management. We did about four tours and it was really fun, we had a great time. I went out with my son, Jake Hays, as well, he played guitar and drums in the band. Anyway Kim Fowley had heard through the grapevine that I had said I would work with him again. He called me and asked if it was true, and I said: "absolutely!" 

To me it was a way to close a chapter in my life that to me as a kid was very painful for me. Of course I knew he was also very ill, so I was not about to not experience being in the studio with him under a different circumstance with him. That would be me as an adult and not a scared kid, and really be able to appreciate his genius, and that man was genius. I also brought my son in, so here is my kid who's 23 years old at the time, working with Kim Fowley. Ya know that was a first for Kim working with the person he had produced as a kid, and now working with their kid. (laughs) It was really, really cool! 

MS: Your perception of somebody is so much different when you are an adult.

CC: Exactly. Also being a Mom I really realized and came to terms, how difficult managing The Runaways had to have been for Kim, being in his thirties, having a rotten childhood and dealing with five teenage girls who are just becoming women. With all the insecurities, craziness and Tampax...I think he did the best he could to toughen us up for a business he knew was a lot tougher than we were. He apologized to me for it many years ago, we were on the phone for hours talking. He told me he was very sorry and that he could have done a better job. Thinking back, he did the best he knew how. Also it's great in my heart to forgive and what would you expect from a man who didn't have parents really, and dealing with teenage girls? That would be hard for anyone I think.

MS: Teenage girls are difficult, that's just the way they are.

CC: I'm so glad I had a boy. Honest, I am. 
Cherie & Her Son, Jake Hays
Photo: Barbara Porter

MS: Are you ever going to write another book? I liked "Neon Angel."

CC: Well Thank You. I don't know, I have thought about it, of course it would be fiction if I did write another book. I've thought truly about things I would like to write about. Right now I'm just really getting back into my chainsaw carving and that is really neat. So I'm going to let this record do it's thing and hopefully in a few months or so I'll be able to go and hit the road again with my band, we'll see. It's all an open book.

MS: Have you ever experienced ageism with your rock career?

CC: (laughs) I sling a chainsaw all day long, it would be pretty difficult for anyone to turn around and tell me I'm too old to do something. Honestly if I hadn't been carving for the last fifteen years I would feel pretty washed up. It's something I don't really think about because we are all getting old together, aren't we? There will be a day when we decide to say: "Hey, done" But I think that's a personal choice, I don't think people can tell you when you're too old.

MS: What would you like people to take away from this album if you never get to record another?

CC: Wow! Um, to be honest, my fans had waited five years for the Blackheart record. It's like, look Okay, I delivered and it was with Kim Fowley, Lita Ford and my son. You know what? I did the best I could, now I can walk away. I'm very blessed because my son Jake is so talented. He just got a really great record deal and just got off a tour opening for the Bad Sons. People have asked me what is your legacy? You were in a groundbreaking teenage rock-n-roll band. To me that isn't what my legacy is. I think I was born to have Jake. Jake will go on and do things I was never able to do. I can always live vicariously through him. 

MS: Clear up any misconception about your relationship with Joan Jett.

CC: I'm so happy Joan is being inducted into the Rock-N-Roll Hall Of Fame. I'm so proud of her she deserves it more than anyone! It's so funny how people will accuse me of not being happy for Joan and her honor. I just don't get people, I was one of the very first people to text her screaming, jumping up and down, because I was so happy for her. But people want to believe what they want to believe, and if they think there is this animosity between me and Joan and The Runaways and stuff...they are so mistaken. 

Join in the "Reverie" at: 
https://itunes.apple.com/album/id976269503
https://www.facebook.com/CherieCurrieOfficial?fref=ts
http://www.chainsawchick.com/about.html