Books, movies, politics, and whatever I want

Friday B-Movie Pick: This is Spinal Tap

Friday, August 24th, 2012

This Is Spinal Tap

Set the Wayback Machine to 1984 for this classic Rock mockumenary. Rob “Meathead” Reiner was the actual directory as the fictional director in this film about the back stage antics of the Heavy Metal Hair band, Spinal Tap. A cult comedy classic complete with a string of drummers that die of various means, including re-accuring spontainous combustion. My favorite was the one who choked to death on vomit, but not his own. Who produced the vomit remains shrouded in mystery.

The fellow who played Spinal Tap will appear again, and again, in other mockumenaries, Best in Show and A Mighty Wind, for example.

Friday B-Movie Pick Archive

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Crazy for Covers

Wednesday, August 1st, 2012

I’ve been a Kate Bush fan for a long time.  How long? I’ve got a good chunk of her work on vinyl.

So a cover album of Kate Bush tunes would definitely catch my ear.  It’s called I WANNA BE KATE: The Songs of Kate Bush

No big name artists, just musicians tipping their own style of hat to Kate Bush, who, like Sinatra, definitely did it her way.

One of my favorites is The J Davis Trio rendition of “There Goes a Tenner.”

Kate Bush has done just a couple of covers, but my favorites is her version of Rocket Man on this tribute album: Two Rooms: Celebrating the Songs of Elton John & Bernie Taupin

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Crazy for Covers

Wednesday, July 18th, 2012

As I have mentioned, I like a good cover song, and if you do too, check out the Crazy for Covers channel on Rhapsody.

Last time I wrote about covers, I mentioned two covers of the Clash tune, Train in Vain.

Here is another one, by Charlie does Surf.

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Cover Songs: Train in Vain

Wednesday, June 20th, 2012

My music taste runs pretty wide.  That’s probably a reason why I enjoy a good cover tune as much as I do.

Today, let’s take a look at the song, Train in Vain, made famous by the Clash.

There are a couple of good covers of this song.

Those are the ones by Annie Lennox & Dwight Yoakam.

Both are from dedicated cover song albums, Medusa and Under The Covers respectively.

In both cases, the artists are covering songs that influenced them and are not trying to replicate the sound of the original.

They are putting their own unique style on the song, and it is a better song for it.

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Gettting your Honky Tonk on

Wednesday, June 13th, 2012

I first heard Andy’s Automatics on Pandora, which lead me to track down and buy their album, Things Have Changed.

The one review on Amazon describes them as a Wisconsin bar band.  I’m betting they are a hoot to see live.

It’s good rocking country singing about hot lady cops, the problems of being a traveling band, and dealing with evil women.

Check it out!

 

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William Shatner is back!

Wednesday, May 30th, 2012

Ok, William Shatner never really left.  The man best known for his Role as Captain James T. Kirk, of the Starship Enterprise, is 80 years old and still rocking.

He has a new album out, Seeking Major Tom is space themed collection featuring his return to his cool defining cover of the Elton John/Bernie Taupin hit Rocketman.

The people who helped lay down the tracks, complete with bumpers of actual space radio traffic & cuts from Shatner’s version of Major Tom, is amazing. Johnny Winter, Lyle Lovett, Steve Miller, Brad Paisley and Peter Frampton plus a bunch of others.

It really is a fun album, and Shatner’s unique vocal talents stand out on tracks like Mr. Spaceman, Space Cowboy, and She Blinded Me with Science.

Check it out!

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Getting your Honky Tonk on…

Wednesday, May 9th, 2012

I listen to a fair amount of music,  have seen my share of live shows, and I have to say, there is nothing quite like American Honky Tonk  music.  Which I consider to be a good thing.  Your mileage may vary on this point.

A prime example is Stacie Collins.  She has two albums out.

Sometimes Ya Gotta  and The Lucky Spot

Excellent examples of the genre.

 

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Friday B-Movie Pick: Pirate Radio

Friday, January 14th, 2011

Pirate Radio

A fun comedy about the off shore Pirate Radio days, back when the United Kingdom ruled the airways and practiced very strick censorship of what played, specifically limiting the amount of Rock and Roll that could played on the BBC. Great cast, clearly having a lot of fun making this movie.

Damn fine soundtrack as well.

Friday B-Movie Archive

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$0.99 well spent

Thursday, June 17th, 2010

Pandora kept bring up Bill Kirchen’s Hammer Of The Honky-Tonk Gods, and their algorithms are pretty good, since I really like it. I bought it off Amazon and put in the heavy rotation playlist.

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The Fusion of Rap & Science

Saturday, September 5th, 2009

When you mix Science with Gangster Rap you get some damn funny music!

Check out E=MC Hawkin’s A Brief History Of Rhyme

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