Czech Leader Taps Highway to Hell in Obama Speech

Czech prime minister Mirek Topolanek saw AC/DC when the band played Prague last week, and had one of the band's biggest tunes rolling around in his head when he diverted from a prepared statement about Obama's stimulus package.

According to the New York Times, instead of saying Obama's stimulus package would lead "the way to destruction" he used the phrase 'road to hell.'

According to the story, "AC/DC played here last week," Topolanek told the daily Lidové Noviny. "And their cult song Highway to Hell might have led me in that very improvised speech to use the phrase..."

Czech translator Petr Bilek said citing "hell" is not a big deal for Czechs in a speech like this:

Mr. Bilek suggests that this is in part “because American society is influenced by Christianity,” while Czechs are well-known for their atheism. A European Commission poll in 2005 (available as a .pdf) found that only 19% of Czechs say they believe in god, and a third identify themselves as atheists. So, Mr. Bilek told the Prague newspaper, “while for many Americans hell is truly a horrifying concept, Czechs don’t make such a big deal out of it.”

I wish politicians would whip out heavy metal lines in their speeches more frequently. Wouldn't it have been great if Bush had said "we're screaming for vengeance and we'll have those pesky Taliban dazed and confused after we make 'em run to the hills. If you think I am wrong, you've got another thing coming!"

3/4 of Soundgarden Reunite Last Night in Seattle

MTV News reports today that Soundgarden minus Chris Cornell reunited for the first time since 1997 at the Crocodile Cafe (small place!) in Seattle last night. It was the Seattle stop on guitar wizard Tom Morello's Justice Tour. Interesting, as Cornell and Morello were in Audioslave!

But Cornell is on the road promoting his very odd new solo album. Who knows if he would have been there if he could have?

The article winds up:

After the show, when asked how he thought it went, [guitarist] Thayil reportedly said, "Not bad for an hour and a half of practice after not playing together for 12 years. ... It was a lot of fun. We played yesterday for a bit but we know all that stuff by heart so we didn't need to practice much."

The poorly kept secret was widely documented by a number of Seattle scenesters, showing up almost instantly in Flickr photostreams and a set of poor-quality MP3s and videos on the Seattle Post-Intelligencer blog site.

Three Stooges Movie Coming - Penn, Del Toro and Carrey to Star?

I love the Three Stooges. I grew up on the trio's short films playing on Saturday morning TV as a kid. I always rooted for Curly episodes, but grew to love Shemp and mildly tolerate Joe. Frankly, my favorite was always Larry.

I recently found that after years of horrible, edited, out of sequence video releases, Sony has digitally restored all of the films and has been releasing them in chronological order. I scored the first two DVD sets and watched a handful with my fellow Stooge fanatic brother while he visited this weekend, and with my 9 and 11 year old boys.

I have to say, those films are still funny as hell and the quality is stunning. Sony really did a nice job on the remasters. Check out the first DVD here. So far, five volumes have been issued, spanning 1934 to 1948. 

There are loads of episodes that have never been released to DVD and these five sets chronicle the whole Curly era and the beginning of Shemp's, when he replaced Curly after Curly had a debilitating stroke. (Shemp, Curly and Moe were brothers, by the way)

So, on to the reason for this post. Variety reported today about the long-planned Three Stooges movie to be produced by the Farrelly brothers, saying MGM will put the movie out and the following are the choices for the cast, pending negotiations: Sean Penn as Larry, Benicio delToro as Moe and Jim Carrey as Curly. Carrey reportedly plans on gaining 40 pounds to play Curly. Interesting choices. Sean Penn? Really? Could work...

Read the story here.

The LA Times already chimed in with a fairly skeptical take on the project and the casting. The writer makes a good point that Seth Rogen could do a great Larry, and Robert Downey Jr. would make a great Moe!

But whatever the case I hope Stooge Mania ensues. It is long overdue and a new generation of Stooge fans needs to emerge. Enjoy this little clip to stoke the fires:

New Heaven and Hell Album Art Revealed

OK, here is a nice little image to get your week off to a positive start. Heaven and Hell (Dio-era Black Sabbath) will release its new album The Devil You Know on on April 28.

According to recent news reports, guitarist Tony Iommi said, "It was good to play [the new songs] live in the studio. It keeps you on edge." Bassist Geezer Butler added, "We've learned from the past that you can kill a song doing it over and over. The first Sabbath albums were done in two or three days. Technically they weren't great, but vibe-wise they were great. If you capture that feeling, that's all you need."

The album cover makes Mob Rules look like an image from a children's book. Behold! And have a nice day...

Paul Rodgers/Bad Company to Tour?

Adding more fuel to the rumor that the Queen + Paul Rodgers thing is over, a one-line blurb on the official Bad Company Web site simply says "Just announced: Bad Company to tour in 2009!"

I would certainly see this show. 3/4 of the original band (including guitarist Mick Ralphs), and Rodgers' voice is as strong as ever. Bad Company had so many great songs. This one is a winner if it happens.

Excuse the outfits and dig the rawness of this awesome version. Too bad late bassist Boz Burrell won't be able to grace this reunion.

Digital Music Robs Listeners of Album Artwork

My buddy at work who writes a metal column for About.com has written another good one. 

The latest article is a long tome about how the move from vinyl to CDs to purely digital is a death knell for album artwork.

Justin suggests that it is a far greater loss to the metal genre, because metal bands leverage album artwork, inserts, posters, logos etc to help create an overall image of the band and to give the music a powerful visual not found in other music forms (like country for example).

I'd tend to agree with him but I think the loss cuts across every genre. He interviews a number of metal artists that back up his belief, for example King Diamond, who says:

“If I got a new album, especially in the old days, I would study that thing before I even put it on,” Diamond says. “It just created the atmosphere of the music to come. You could get into a certain mood before the album. It was created with the lyrics and the artwork. That’s still what we’re trying to do with CDs.”

I certainly did that. I remember poring over every Rush and Iron Maiden album cover, looking for little things the artists included, like a figure in a window or a hidden image. Hell, my friend Kevin and I decrypted the bizarre writing that was all over Ozzy Osbourne's Speak of the Devil album. I have no idea how we did it, but we did it, and it took a while.

These experiences are lost to today's generation who is now used to just grabbing digital songs off of iTunes. It's too bad.

Even Paul Stanley gets into the discussion in an AM New York article about the resurgence of vinyl. He says:

“The beauty in buying an LP used to be you got a package, a piece of art — something that someone worked hard on to make it creative, dynamic and interesting to look at it and maybe to put on your wall,” Stanley said. “And now with CDs, all you can see is someone’s name. In that way I miss it.”

Take the time to read Justin's article here, and let me know what you think.

GE Ad Campaign Lets You Merge Real/Digital Worlds

Sucked you in with that horrible headline, huh?

Turns out that a new GE ad campaign encourages you to print out an image and hold it up to your computer's Web cam, at which time the computer renders a rotatable 3D image from the printed image you are holding. I have yet to try it yet but it looks hella cool. This dude explains it much better:



If anyone pulls this off, let me know how it went!

Update - Just tried it on my iMac. Very neat. All you need can be accessed here.

Who The F*** Are YOU?

My two year old had a pretty bad earache recently and to keep him content (taking his mind off of the pain) I let him sit on my lap and watch various kid appropriate YouTube songs. We enjoyed The Wiggles fruit salad song, various versions of Wheels on the Bus and even some Barney.

Yeah, I was about to pull my head off. But just when I was about to crack one open, we stumbled on a familiar voice. Lo and behold, it even showed the dude in the studio laying it down. It was so reminiscent (visually only) of a video I have seen probably 100 times starting in high school that I had to laugh at the before and after.

Here it is for you to enjoy as well:

The before:


The after:


Oh and this one killed me. Get this one started so you can hear the music and then scroll to the comment posted by 'fordblowz.'

CD Review - U2 No Line On The Horizon

I got an email this week telling me I could buy the MP3 version of the new U2 album, No Line on the Horizon, for $3.99 at Amazon.com. Are you kidding me? I spend more than that on parking. So of course I went and hit ‘buy’ and have been listening this week.

There has been loads of hype around this album and frankly I have been really busy and have not paid much attention. I missed the band on Letterman all week, and I have not read the Rolling Stone cover story that arrived in the mail (Bono is wearing eye makeup on the cover photo that makes him look like he had a lobotomy. Is that why he wears the shades all the time?). I don’t know what the ‘single’ is, and I have not watched any of the new videos. So I am hearing this with untainted ears.

I also think they will have a hard time topping All That You Can’t Leave Behind, which is my all time favorite U2 album hands down. Sonically, performance wise and songwriting wise, they set a very high bar for themselves.

On first listen to No Line On The Horizon, I thought the first two songs were OK but nothing special. Then I hit the 7 plus minute Moment of Surrender, which is a slow, slinky tune that has a bit of a gospel feel, some fantastic slide guitar work from Edge and a vocal melody that reminds me of another song – Stones, Dylan, Neil Young? It’ll come to me. From this song on, I was engaged. And then on the next listen I got more into the first two songs.

Speaking of Neil, Edge lays down an interesting outro solo in Unknown Caller that sounds like he is channeling Neil – he pulls the notes from the guitar and branches out from his usual, chiming simple solo style. Get On Your Boots sounds like a return to the band’s techno experiment phase, except the main riff is a grungy, groovy thing. Someone gave Adam Clayton a fuzz box – sounds great! Stand Up Comedy is as catchy and funky as U2 gets. Not sure if this is the ‘hit’ but it should be! Great line in there too – “Be careful of small men with big ideas.” Indeed.

What is with all the vocal harmonies on this album? That is kind of a cool departure. Check Get On Your Boots On for the best example but it happens in Moment of Surrender, Fez – Being Born, Breathe and Cedars of Lebanon as well. Not sure I have heard such a rich vocal harmony sound on a U2 album.

And I have to say, Edge’s guitars sound as good as ever on this one. The dude has so many tools in the arsenal, from the smooth, almost jazzy picked chords in Cedars of Lebanon; grainy razor slide guitar; the rocking chunk of Magnificent; and of course the jangly, echo and delay drenched textures we all know Edge for throughout.

The band provides a really healthy balance between funky rhythms/distorted slide guitar and the moody, ethereal stuff I most associate with producers Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno (a la Unforgettable Fire).

I can already tell that this album is going to grow on me. If you are fan of the band, shell out your $4 at Amazon.com while the offer lasts.

One other thing. After all the verses on the title track, Bono belts out “ah woa-oh-oh-ohie” right off of a 70s KISS album. Bono channeling Paul Stanley? You make the call...

Ace Records Old School, other KISS Tidbits

I love this. Ace Frehley has posted a brief video on his Web site of him recording the guitar solo on a new tune at his home studio.

I took great interest in this, as I have been recording a fair amount lately as well (at a very modest home studio!), using everything from a Line 6 amp simulator plugged right into the computer to mic'ing my Fender Blues Deluxe in the closet, for isolation.

But here is Ace in all of his glory, blasting through a full Marshall stack, studio monitors blazing away!

He still has that Ace swagger (stagger?) and looks like he might fall over. But I gotta say, the lead he rips is pretty fine and until the singing comes back in, the song he's working on also sounds like classic Ace.

And speaking of KISS records, ClassicRockMagazine posted a pretty good opinion piece on the notion of a new KISS album, which is reportedly being recorded as we speak.

And on a side note, Gene Simmons posted a response to a letter on his site that he is close to releasing a multi-disc solo box set. I am setting aside my pennies already (not).

Back to the Ace video. Enjoy:

Spinal Tap Unplugged? Kind Of...

I got an email today advertising a ticket pre-sale for something called Unplugged and Unwigged. On further examination, this is a 30-city acoustic tour by Harry Shearer, Michael McKean and Christopher Guest, the three actors/comedians who are the core of both Spinal Tap and The Folksmen from A Mighty Wind.

I guess they are going to get on acoustic guitars and play Tap and Folksmen tunes and talk about the movies, crack jokes etc. I imagine the Folksmen stuff will translate better to acoustic instruments than the Spinal Tap material!

Still, it sounds intriguing and is certainly a different idea. From the official Web site:

UNWIGGED & UNPLUGGED is not about funny costumes and characters, but rather three long time friends and collaborators who make each laugh and love nothing better than to find some excuse to get together and play music. The trio commented, “With this being the 25th Anniversary of the film This is Spinal Tap, we thought this would be a fun and at the same time, a little challenging, as we have never performed as ourselves. Think of the evening as three old friends jamming in your living room. As opposed to OUR living rooms; we won’t be home.”

Here is an interview with the trio where they mug it up a bit and talk about the tour:


And a YouTube video that I can't get to play. I sure hope it's funny:

Rare Kate Bush Live Video

I recently re-bought Kate Bush Hounds of Love, which I listened to into oblivion in college. I liked the Sgt Pepper-esque format of five separate songs on side one and a "mini rock opera" on side two. I also thought the rock opera story was cool.

Still not sure if I got it right, but I think it has to do with someone dying and trying to get back in touch with his loved ones, and basically the journey to that big white light at the end of tunnel.

Today I have reverted to thinking Kate is an acquired taste, as some of the other albums of hers I listened to in college don't hold up as well for me. I think her (over) use of the Fairlight synthesizer has something to do with it. I'm a bigger fan of "real" drum sounds. But hey, whatever works.

What some people may not know is that David Gilmour discovered Kate Bush in the late 70s and funded her first professional demo, which led to the start of her career. Wikipedia has a good history of her career if you are so inclined.

The thing I thought was interesting was that she had so much success with only one tour ever. She hit the road for a few weeks in 1979 and never again. So any live one-off with Kate is a bit of a rarity.

So dig the video below, with David Gilmour sporting his late 80s semi-mullet to boot. The bass player is Tony Franklin, who was in The Firm. It's not the best live performance I have ever seen but Kate is confident and again, it's cool to see her belt one out live. Enjoy.

XM Radio Gets It Right With McCartney Channel

I have been listening a lot lately to XM Radio channel 27, which is called Paul McCartney's Fireman Radio. The channel runs for a month and plays nothing but Paul McCartney solo stuff, Wings and the three Fireman albums. The only time you hear a Beatles tune is if they run a live McCartney/Wings version of it, of which there are plenty, so you get a fair amount of Beatles too.

I know a lot of people are totally sick of McCartney and probably feel like 24/7 of the man is akin to going to the dentist. But I have to say, I am enjoying it quite a bit.

He has had such a long career, there is a lot to choose from. And unlike XM Radio's Zeppelin channel, they are getting the playlist right.

The Zep channel was basically a souped up rock-block weekend for a month. Yeah, they played every track from the 8 or 9 albums, but they barely dipped into the live stuff (even official releases like the BBC concerts and Song Remains the Same). The only solo stuff they played was Robert Plant's more popular stuff. No Firm even. It sucked.

In contrast, I have heard a bunch of very deep McCartney album cuts (Ram On, for example), as well as stuff that is fairly obscure. For example, there was a short instrumental called In Private that I thought was from a Fireman album. But a quick iTunes search told me it was a bonus track from the deluxe version of Memory Almost Full.

So I bought the song. There have been a few other cool tracks I have bought as one-offs after hearing them, actually. Which I guess is the idea.

They are for sure pimping the new Fireman album but that's OK, as I like that as well.

Anyway, good for XM for getting it right this time. What other artists would benefit from this format? They ought to have a Dylan channel that not only plays the umpteen hundred Dylan albums but goes into his stuff with The Band and how about the umpteen thousand cover versions of his songs? I don't expect you'd hear many repeats on that channel! Maybe they have it in the works? Who else?

Yes Men Cancel Tour, Retire

Yes has officially cancelled its entire 40th anniversary tour due to emergency surgery Chris Squire needed on his leg last week. Originally the band was going to cancel part of the tour but now the whole thing is dust, according to an email I got from Yesworld:

The "In The Present Tour," featuring Yes' Steve Howe, Chris Squire,and Alan White, is cancelling the remaining scheduled shows. Founding Yes member, Chris Squire, underwent surgery on his leg on February 11, 2009. The operation was successful and Chris is on his way to a full recovery. However, Chris has been advised by his physician that he needs a one month rest period, hence the reason for the cancellation of the rest of the tour dates.

Another former Yes-man doesn't need a doctor's note to get off the road. Joining Rick Wakeman and Jon Anderson as Yessirs who are grounded is founding drummer Bill Bruford, who voluntarily took himself off the road with a formal retirement announcement late last month.

An article in All About Jazz reported the news, quoting Bruford as saying, "41 years of me is quite enough for anybody, and especially me!" He still intends to record in the studio, though. Maybe he, Anderson and Wakeman can email MP3s to each other and we'll get another Union. Let's hope not!

Iron Maiden wins Brit Award for Best Live Act

I have never heard of the Brit Awards, but apparently they are a UK-based awards show where the winners are chosen by fan vote. Democracy in action.

According to ClassicRock.com, Iron Maiden beat out a bunch of no-names and Coldplay to win in the Best British Live Band category. Reports were that the audience seemed fairly bemused when Maiden won, as if they didn't even know who these guys were! D'oh!

The band could not be there to pick the award up because - shock - they are on the road somewhere. But they did put this amusing video together, which ran at the show:

Very Cool Rush Oddities

RushIsABand.com is a treasure trove of information, interviews, rumors and news flashes about Rush. The site also links to other sites that offer stories and rare audio clips from the band.

A recent post provided some sound clips of isolated vocal tracks from The Trees, Red Barchetta and some other cool stuff. It's worth a quick listen if you know Rush inside and out and want to hear how some of your favorite songs sound with certain parts isolated. Check it out here.

Yes Cancels Tour - Portland Curse?

I posted a few weeks ago my struggles around seeing Yes on its current 40th anniversary tour when the band stopped in Portland on February 14. I wasn't sure if I wanted to see the band without Jon Anderson, who has been too ill to tour. But the fact that they were playing a fairly small venue and whipping out rarities from one of my favorite albums, Drama, was pushing me to go.

Despite the encouragement from some of my fellow bloggers to just go for it, the $75 ticket price and a desire to take my wife out for Valentine's Day sidetracked the whole thing. Frankly, I forgot all about it until today.

That is when my friend and bass whiz BassBudd told me the show had been cancelled. Upon quick research, actually most of the rest of the tour has been cancelled, as cleanly laid out on the tour page of the band's Web site.

The formal statement from the band is "Due to unforeseen medical reasons, the 'In The Present Tour,' featuring Yes’ Steve Howe, Chris Squire, and Alan White is cancelling shows through February 24 (San Diego). The band wishes to apologize for any inconvenience that this might have caused to their fans and hopes to see them again soon."

News reports say that Chris Squire was admitted to a hospital in Houston a week ago with an unspecified medical emergency which required surgery on his leg. Eeeks.

That means they played one show on this leg of the tour (no pun intended) - in Mexico - and had to bail.

So that solved my dilemma. But here is the deal. I now think that Portland and anything to do with Yes are never meant to be. In fact there may be a curse on anything Yes-related when it comes to Portland. This is the fourth cancellation in the last four years. Check this out:

In 2005, all of the Yes guys minus Jon Anderson were supposed to come to the Roseland, on the More Drama Tour. This was drummer Alan White's band, Chris Squire's band, and Steve Howe acoustic, with a promised deep dive into the Drama material in an all star jam at the end of each gig. Drama-era keyboardist Geoff Downes was in White's band, so this was basically a chance for that lineup to perform stuff off the album. But that whole tour was cancelled due to "Visa problems" with one of the band. I had tickets to this one.

Then, in 2007, Asia (with Howe and Downes) had to cancel their show at the Aladdin Theater because John Wetton had to have emergency open heart surgery. I had tickets to that one too.

I also had tickets to the original 40th anniversary tour, where the band was supposed to play the very intimate and cool Edgefield last August. That tour was cancelled due to Anderson's health issues. I posted about it here.

And now this cancellation (also at The Aladdin) due to emergency surgery on Squire.

I suppose this happens when out of shape lifelong road dogs get too old. Squire has been getting larger and larger over the years while Howe has been shrinking. But I still gotta think, I will never see these guys in Portland again. One of them is gonna die next time.

Anderson in November discussed how the health of the band was in jeopardy in general.

He told ClassicRockForever.com, As for my health now, I truly feel reborn, it’s gonna take some months before I can do shows, but my dreams are coming true. Like most people my age - I’m now 64 - the body (and) mind goes through so many changes. I feel that my health has always been strong enough for the band…up until 2004. There had been too many tours, too much friction from outside of the band. This had made it impossible to keep touring the way Yes truly should.

With no new music, a lack of passion for the music and each other, and no real promotion of who Yes truly is, etc., things just looked so bleak. That’s why I suggested a break for six months, maybe do a progressive acoustic CD, and tour on a different style of touring, semi-acoustic for a while, and less shows per year… just for us to realise who we were. We were not communicating as a band.

Both (departed Yes keyboardist) Rick (Wakeman) and myself could see it happening, but sadly the others just wanted to keep going down that same touring spiral. That’s why Yes hasn't toured, as it happens, to the best.

Hopefully we will get back together and perform in the coming years, I truly hope so. The fans deserve it, and so do we.

Cool, Jon. I agree. But maybe for the sake of the next tour and everyone's health, skip Portland. I don't mind driving to Seattle, which is the last place I successfully saw any musician that has anything to do with Yes. That was on the band's 35th anniversary tour - the last one with Wakeman before he retired due to - yeah - health issues.

Blues Roundup for Metalheads

A good friend at work moonlights as a writer for various Heavy Metal publications and Web sites, and also for About.com. He forwards me his stuff and while most of the music he covers is too heavy for me (his passion and forte is Death Metal), I always enjoy the writing.

But we can all enjoy this article he wrote for About.com that outlines the top ten blues albums that metal fans should get.

See the article here. Keep up the great work, Justin!

Oh and by the way, don't expect a word from me about the recently announced Limp Bizkit or Blink 182 reunions, or the rumored Creed reunion. Yaaaaaaawn...

Muzak Files for Bankruptcy

Well, there is justice in the world after all. CNN is reporting that Muzak filed bankruptcy papers yesterday after it missed a $105 million payment to creditors. D'oh!

But don't get too sad - you'll still hear your Kenny G Christmas music in the JC Penny elevator because the company is just restructuring its debt, not shutting down.

According to the article:

"Muzak is a solid business with an outstanding customer base, but we are burdened with substantial debt obligations established over a decade ago," Muzak CEO Stephen Villa said.

They are also burdened with the sin of poisoning our ears with elevator music, on-hold messages and digital signage, among other things. It's a very well-rounded company, you see...

Me, I prefer to frequent establishments that play other sources of music, like XM Radio, where you might actually hear a decent tune while you get your hair chopped or pick up dipies for the little one.

But according to this New York Times story, XM/Sirius isn't faring much better right now either. Ah well, sign of the times. What are ya gonna do?

Ticketmaster and Live Nation Merge to Screw You Over Further

It was widely reported yesterday that TicketBastard and Live Nation intend to merge to create the biggest concert ticket/promotions monopoly known to mankind. Can you tell how I feel about it?

These companies are the sleaziest of sleazy. Case in point – during a recent Springsteen ticket sale, Ticketmaster was sending buyers to its sister site TicketsNow, which brokers tickets once the original round is sold out. It is known in the industry as an official ‘scalper’ site. Of course tickets wind up being harder to get and more expensive and in this case, there were still Bruce tickets available at regular prices. Bruce himself had a mighty shit fit, posting to his Web site:

“Last Monday, we were informed that Ticketmaster was redirecting your log-in requests for tickets at face value, to their secondary site TicketsNow, which specializes in up-selling tickets at above face value. They did this even when other seats remained available at face value. We condemn this practice. We have asked this redirection from Ticketmaster to TicketsNow cease and desist immediately and Ticketmaster has agreed to do so in the future and has removed its unwanted material from their and our site.”

Read more about that debacle here.

With Ticketmaster merging with its main competitor, Live Nation, ticket buyers will get screwed even more mightily, as there will be no competition and service charges will likely continue to drive ticket prices up.

Reports say that Ticketmaster will focus on tickets, while Live Nation will focus on concert promotions. They combined company will focus on taking it out of our asses.

The only hope is that the Department of Justice will not approve the merger, as it’s pretty much a monopoly on the Microsoft scale. But hey, who can afford to pay $265 plus $47 service charge to see the frickin Eagles this year anyway? Supply and demand, baby.

A few interesting posts below for those who want to read more:

PaidContent.org
TechCrunch.com
New York Times