New KISS Song - Modern Day Delilah - My Take

KISS made its first single from the upcoming Sonic Boom album available as a streaming song on KissOnline today. My buddy also sent me an MP3 version he got somewhere, so I have listened to it a few times.

My take? I like it. I am not sure that I am eating the dog food that has been placed in front of us that 'this is a return to the 1970s KISS we know and love.' For me to buy into that, Ace and Peter would be in the band.

But the track rocks. It has a cool riff that sounds a little bit like Pearl Jam's Evenflow, and Paul Stanley throws in enough woo-yeah's and falsetto shriekings to make it sound legit. I actually thought it was great until the guitar solo.

Tommy Thayer currently occupies Ace's boots and he is the first guy to say that Ace influenced him as a guitar player long before he started working for the band in the late 80s. He has done a great job carrying the Ace torch, because...well, Ace doesn't want to do that anymore. Ace finally has a new album out and is clean and sober and...good for him.

But when Tommy's solo comes around in Modern Day Delilah, it's just...too much like a guy trying to sound like Ace. OK, I know that Thayer did many of Ace's solos on Psycho Circus, but since I am not really sure which ones, I can pretend they are all Ace. On Sonic Boom, we all know it's Thayer playing every lick.

Half of the solo is fairly original but the other half is right from the book of Ace circa Alive! and it just somehow makes me feel weird listening to it. Like I am cheating on Ace or something. Oh God I am such a tool.

Anyway, I am sure I will get used to the idea. Let me know what you think of the song. The album drops October 6 at WalMart and will be like the recent Journey CD, meaning it will be the 11 new songs, a second CD of re-recorded classics (if you want to know what I think about THAT, read this), and a short DVD of live stuff. For $12.

Here is the song. The solo is at 2:10...

R.I.P. Les Paul

I don't have a lot to say on this. The guy was 94 and some of my fellow bloggers thought he was already dead (Chris! Ha ha). But it doesn't matter. He invented multitrack recording and of course designed one of the first and most iconic electric guitars. AND he was a killer player to boot, kept his shit together and still gigged in his 90s. For any one of those reasons, he's in the history books and will live on forever.

CNN ran a nice obit here.

And here is a cool old video showing why this man KICKED SO MUCH ASS:

Springsteen Rips Off KISS - Hilarious But True!

I really wish this was a joke but holy crap it's not! Why am I just hearing about this now? Didn't Gene Simmons smell a bunch of money here? Has he sued Bruce yet? I'd imagine it's only a matter of time. Forgive me if this is really old news but I just think this is incredible.

Happy Birthday Dio - He's 67 (WHAAAAAT?)

Any of us aging rockers worried about not being able to cut it as we get older, or feeling the need to perhaps take up a different hobby so we don't seem ridiculous rocking away as we get closer to the rocking chair, dig this factoid - Ronnie James Dio turned 67 on Monday.

Dio is 7 years younger than my dad. And I gotta say, if my dad ever dressed up like Dio, I'd shoot myself.

I am sure Dio comes from some crazy healthy gene pool, and I am sure he must have partied a bit in the 70s (who didn't? - well, I was 9, so not me...) but the dude is a testament that moderation and taking care of yourself can pay off in spades as you get older.

Dio - 67. Un fucking believable.

He was 65 in this video:

Taylor Swift Dresses Like Ace Frehley and Sings About Kissing Girls

...not that there is anything WRONG with that. In fact it's mildly arousing.

R.I.P John Hughes

At the end of the work day today, I heard that John Hughes had died of a heart attack in New York, at age 59. It was kind of a busy day so I just posted an obligatory Twitter Tweet and went on with it.

But thinking about his work made me realize that he was a real talent. Yeah he was behind She's Having A Baby, but come on. Ferris Beuller, Sixteen Candles, Breakfast Club, Weird Science and Planes Trains and Automobiles stand out as five of the all time favorite 80s movies. Throw in Fast Times and Real Genius and I am pretty much all set on the 'teen flick' front. And let's not forget he was also behind National Lampoon Vacation...

The two I liked the most were Ferris and Planes. I emphasized with the isolated Cameron character in Ferris, and loved the comic weirdness of Planes. Like when John Candy drives the car the wrong way on the highway and in the crash scene, they turn into screaming skeletons for three seconds. Surreal touches like that were cool. I also loved the end of that movie, where the frame freezes on John Candy's smiling face. I always wondered if that was how Hughes envisioned the ending or if he came up with it on the fly in editing.

From the CNN obituary: "The script for 'Planes, Trains, and Automobiles' was the best script I had ever read," Steve Martin told CNN. "I asked John how long it took to write it, he said, 'I wrote it over the weekend.' The weekend. That shows you what he was able to do."

New Ace Frehley Track - Outer Space

Ace Frehley has made one of his new tracks available as a streaming file (steaming pile?). The song is classic old-school Ace, just as it has been billed. Heavy guitars, Anton Fig on drums, and pretty humorous lyrics. Basically, it's about Ace being in your face because he's from outer space.

Frankly, I dig the sound of this and it makes me kind of stoked to hear the whole album Sept. 15.

Rumor has it that KISS' new 'old school' album will drop in early October from Wal-Mart. Might be called Sonic Boom, and would be a 3-disc set: the new CD, the CD of re-hashed KISS songs recorded by the new version of KISS (and released in Japan already) and a DVD.

Sound familiar? That is exactly what Journey did with their Wal-Mart release.

Dig Ace's Outer Space here or below:

The Who Windmill Contest Winners Announced - Yawn, Snore and WTF?

I wrote about this a while ago here. Kind of interesting to see the winners. I think the guy who won the grand prize had a funny video but didn't really bust out any solid windmills, which I thought was the point of the contest. The runners up are just flat out weird. I don't know who the judges were but they need to stay away from the brown acid...

You can check out the winners at The Who page here, or just watch them below:

The winner:


Runners-Up:
Kind of funny...


Kinda cool, but lame windmills...


WTF?....


Whatever. I think the people I put on my post blow all of these out of the water...

In other Who news, Roger Daltry announced a solo tour called the "Use It Or Lose It" tour. The idea is that the voice is a muscle and if he doesn't keep it in shape, when old Pete calls for the next Who project, Daltry's voice may be shrivelled to a whisper.

The closest he gets to my neck of the woods is Seattle, but I won't be driving up to support the cause. Tour dates are listed here.

Spinal Tap on Jon Stewart

Pretty funny rendition of Sex Farm after second commercial break. Who taught Harry Shearer to play bass? He's pretty good!

Toxicology Reports Show How Michael Jackson Died...

..and it's now how you think. Check out the below to find out what REALLY happened.

Who Said Iron Maiden Never Had A Hit?

OK, so I admit I have been very negligent with my blog as of late. Work has been crazy, and I have more projects at home than time to complete them. So I apologize if I have not been posting as frequently.

But this should go towards making up for it. Someone with waaay too much time on their hands made an audio mashup of Iron Maiden and The Monkees and put it on YouTube. Prepare to die with your boots on, laughing...

New Site Added to Blogroll - Candygurus

Who likes candy? Well shit, who DOESN'T like candy? But these guys like it a lot. I mean A LOT. The whole site is dedicated to testing and rating all the different types of yummies out there.

I am posting this for two reasons - I know one of the two guys who runs the site, and because they are funny as hell. I laugh my ass off every time I read a new review or post. Here is one of the more recent ones:

It’s not fair to blame the masses for the faults of a few. Like, you can’t say every Iranian is a numbnut; just the dumdum leaders who use religion to hide behind a fascist regime stuck in the middle ages. Similarly, just because there seems to be an inordinate amount of crap candy out of Mexico, it’s not like there is no good Mexican candy. On the contrary, we found a few items worth purchasing again. Unfortunately, these Serpentinas aren’t them. Perhaps if I had grown up on these…? M A Ybe if I had been force-fed these as a chillun I could find some semblance of candy satisfaction? As it stands, I couldn’t be more putrified.

Serpentinas are terrible. They are inedible. I put them in my mouth and immediately relegated them to the spitter pile. Wanna re-enactment? Watch any Seinfeld episode where Kramer is lauding some kind of fruit and then tries some inferior piece that Jerry bought and immediately spits it out and says, “no – that’s no good.” Insert me as Kramer. Done.

Simply: bad. Just awful. If you happen to come upon them in some international foods aisle, I suggest you slowly turn back around and slink away.

Check out Candygurus here.

RIP Allen Klein - I Guess

With all the celeb deaths in the last two weeks - Farrah Fawcett, The Gloved One, Billy Mays, Karl Malden, Steve McNair etc, a pretty big one got glossed over - Allen Klein.

Klein was the famous New York businessman who managed business affairs for the Rolling Stones and later The Beatles - hosing both groups in the end.

He is one of the many reasons for the rift between Paul McCartney and the other Beatles that hastened the band's end. Later, the other three Beatles said Paul was right and they never should have signed on with Klein. Oh well...

Read the Wikipedia entry for the gory details of all his various business noodlings, but for now, dig the take on Klein from the Beatles parody movie The Rutles. Klein is played by John Belushi and his two henchmen are SNL writers Tom Davis and Minnesota Senator Al Franken (whaaaa?):

Fellow Floydian Slip Scores Big Hit

I have to share this. My buddy Ehren Ebbage, from the Floydian Slips, has a song on the season finale of ABC's Eli Stone this Sunday.

The song is called Land On Me. It's a great tune, off of his new album Ten Cent Souvenir.

Ehren was also in Isor Wallobee, a band I led for a few years in the mid 90s after I quit The Strangers, after 5 years on the road and about 1,000 shows across the country with that band. 

The story of how I met Ebbage is kind of funny. I didn't really have direction after leaving The Strangers, and was living in Eugene Oregon. So a buddy and I started having pick up jams at local clubs.

One night I see this guy watching the band through the window. At the break, the waitress hands me a note. Ebbage was 19 and couldn't get into the bar but he wanted to jam. For some reason I went out and talked to him and we agreed to get together and play.

From those jams, we put Isor Wallobee together and had a two or three year run and a CD I am still really proud of. Until he turned 21, he'd have to either stay onstage or leave the venue at set breaks! Classic.

Anyway, he's gone on to get into producing, recording, writing and touring etc. Congrats on this great score, dude!

Neil Peart Launches Cooking Site

Rush drummer Neil Peart has bounced back admirably from the tragedies of separately losing his only daughter and his wife in a short horrible year back in 1998. Not only is he back on his game with Rush, kicking ass harder than ever, but he is remarried and is expecting a new baby this summer. Well, his wife is. Good for him!

Now Neil is branching out into another one of his passions. Cooking. Like motorcycling, Neil got into cooking rather late in the game, saying on his Web site, "I was in my forties before I learned to cook anything more complicated than soft-boiled eggs."

Now, Neil is launching Bubba's Bar and Grill, a site that will offer recipes for "good, simple food" from Neil's alter ego, "Bubba."

From Neil's site:

“I have learned a few things about preparing good simple food that might be worth sharing. In this space I will assemble and present some of that lore, along with some simple recipes, because it seems a shame that other Bubbas (of any gender and ethnicity) should have to suffer the foolishness of my youth — I was in my forties before I learned to cook anything more complicated than soft-boiled eggs.”

Visit Bubba’s Bar ’n’ Grill, where you will learn about “The One Hour Rule,” “The Queen’s Portion,” and why Bubba says, “If you want to impress a woman, bake her a pie.”

The site opens July 4.

In reporting the news, ClassicRock.com listed a hilarious run of possible cringe-worthy recipe titles based on Rush songs, including Lakeside Pork, Jacob’s Larder, Red Bruschetta, Thyme Stand Still, A Passage To Bangers & Mash, Pesto and my fave, Fry By Night.

My money says that if Neil's site catches on, he will publish a cookbook, and wouldn't it be cool to see Neil have a cooking show on the Food Network? Cookin' with Neil!

Maybe it could be Cooking With the Neils and he could co-host with fellow Canadian Neil Young. They could have Bob and Doug McKenzie suggest Canadian beers to compliment the food. OK, where do I pitch this idea?

Keith Emerson Joins Spinal Tap Onstage

Spinal Tap finished their "world tour" of one gig at Wembley Stadium last night. The band was joined by Keith Emerson on Hammond for Heavy Duty and a few other songs according to reports.

Emerson also appears on the song on Back From The Dead, Tap's new studio album, which is excellent by the way.

Anyway, someone posted a couple of short videos to their Flickr account. Check it out:

Chickenfoot’s Chad Smith Sustains ‘Serious Injury’

According to a statement from the band, Chickenfoot drummer Chad Smith suffered a serious injury on stage during Monday night’s concert in Paris.

The statement reads, “We are sorry to inform our Spanish fans that Chickenfoot cannot perform tomorrow night in Madrid due to a serious injury to drummer Chad Smith. ”

“Chad was performing on stage last night in Paris and during the show he hurt his right arm badly. He has torn his small bicep and cannot play the show Wednesday, July 1st. The band is very sorry they cannot play for their Spanish fans this week and plan to return as soon as possible.”

Eeeks. I'd think they'd have to take a few shows off to allow Smith to heal. In the meantime, I am still enjoying the new album.

Pete Townshend Windmill Contest

The Who are giving away a Strat signed by Pete Townshend to the person who submits the best 30 second video of them doing a Pete Townshend windmill (that was BOWLING...). Contest details here.

The contest ended Sunday and I had been getting emails about it for a few weeks but blew them all off.

I kind of wish I had entered, as there are many lame entries and I could have been a contender! But there are a few great ones too. I like the ones below, especially the guy who drew blood. I think there should be a rule for this that if you don't draw blood, you are disqualified.

When I was 13 or 14, I was doing windmills in my room (playing to either Who Are You or live Won't Get Fooled Again from the Kids Are Alright soundtrack) and my hand hit the glass light fixture cover on the ceiling. It came crashing down and shattered everywhere. My mom ran in and said what happened, are you hurt? I said No and looked at my hand, which was covered with blood. I wish I had a video of THAT!

Here is the man himself, from a recent tour. Note how he almost certainly has wounded himself doing this. When Townshend does the windmills, his nails go flying. He bleeds. It's real, not some bullshit stage move. Dig it:


There were tons of lame submissions. Here are a few cool ones:

I like how this guy even put the number on the guitar and even looks like a young Pete (and he bleeds too):


This guys has all the moves down and likely hurt himself. Good man.


Love how this guy used a real gig. Band doesn't sound too smoking but I dig how he is throwing windmills all over the place in LA Woman!

Neil Young and Paul McCartney Go Apeshit

I am really not sure what to say about this, except that even though it doesn't sound that great, make sure to watch all the way to the end. The last two minutes are the payoff.

Michael Jackson Death Brings Down The Internet

You would have had to have been off the grid hiking in the Appalachians or hooking up with your Argentinian mistress if you had not heard that Michael Jackson the "king of pop" died yesterday of heart failure.

I was never a big fan, so this news isn't devastating me like it would if this were, say Neil Young or Geddy Lee. I mean, Jackson hasn't really been significantly creatively active in the last couple of decades if I recall, and that whole pedophile thing doesn't sit too well.

But I am clearly in the minority on this, and I fully expect to be inundated by Michael Jackson for the next few weeks. I am ready. Bring it on.

The one interesting side-product tidbit is that so many people were freaking out about Jackson's death yesterday that the Internet almost ground to a halt.

Gotta give the guy some credit for being that big of a deal to that many people. CNN posted a comprehensive story on what happened here. Excerpt:

"Between approximately 2:40 p.m. PDT and 3:15 p.m. PDT today, some Google News users experienced difficulty accessing search results for queries related to Michael Jackson," a Google spokesman told CNET, which also reported that Google News users complained that the service was inaccessible for a time. At its peak, Google Trends rated the Jackson story as "volcanic."

As sites fell, users raced to other sites: TechCrunch reported that TMZ, which broke the story, had several outages; users then switched to Perez Hilton's blog, which also struggled to deal with the requests it received.

CNN reported a fivefold rise in traffic and visitors in just over an hour, receiving 20 million page views in the hour the story broke.