They stopped numbering Star Trek movies after the sixth one, so if I’m to continue this series I’ll need a new franchise to pay homage to in my titles. What goes beyond six movies, though? The Fast and the Furious series? I love action movies, but I’ve never been won over by Vin Diesel. I’ll … Continue reading Alternate Album Cover Art VI: The Undiscovered Variant
My First CD Purchase: Licensed to Ill by the Beastie Boys
How much music in your collection can you remember exactly where you were, and when it was, that you acquired it? As my collection grows and grows (I’ll slow it down in the new year, I swear!), I lose the ability to identify the origin story of most music on my shelves. They don’t all … Continue reading My First CD Purchase: Licensed to Ill by the Beastie Boys
Five Overlooked Moments from This Is Spinal Tap
I’ve got a fairly long history with the movie This Is Spinal Tap. Like how many reacted when first hearing about this mockumentary, I wasn’t sure if this was about a real or a fake band. Having seen the group previously on The Simpsons did nothing to settle that uncertainty. To add even further to … Continue reading Five Overlooked Moments from This Is Spinal Tap
The Future of Music: The People’s Almanac Presents The Book Of Predictions
FUTURE… FUTURE….FUTURE... It’s not just the subject of one of my favourite SpongeBob SquarePants moments, but it’s a topic I think about quite a lot. Sure, my mind wanders into thinking of the consequences of various decisions by political leaders or even how my own choices will shape my future, but an old stand-by of … Continue reading The Future of Music: The People’s Almanac Presents The Book Of Predictions
When Two Become One: Metallica’s Load and Reload
It seems like almost every step along the way, Metallica have had critics jump on them for notable creative decisions. Ride the Lightning marked the first notable example of the band slowing their tempo with “Fade to Black.” ..And Justice for All saw them making their first music video in “One”, something that the band … Continue reading When Two Become One: Metallica’s Load and Reload
One-Album Wonders: The La’s
It should go without saying, but no music career lasts forever. It was once the industry standard for a band or artist to release a new studio album every year, sometimes as many as two a year with a live album or compilation every few years as well. While it is standard to release more … Continue reading One-Album Wonders: The La’s
Deep In The Discography: Elemental by Tears For Fears
What’s the general consensus regarding the two Tears For Fears albums that followed The Seeds of Love? I never see them getting discussed too much. Does a perceived lack of quality have them treated like Lord Voldemort from the Harry Potter stories where you can’t even mention their names? Or are they just quietly appreciated … Continue reading Deep In The Discography: Elemental by Tears For Fears
My Jazz Odyssey: A Musical Tribute to Baseball Cards
Baseball and Jazz. Two things I enjoy greatly, and two things Ken Burns made popular PBS documentaries for. That could be part of the reason I’m associating the two in this post, but why not? Both had musicians and athletes that brought wider public awareness of inequalities and civil rights struggles of the Black population. … Continue reading My Jazz Odyssey: A Musical Tribute to Baseball Cards
Toys That Rock!
We still can’t enjoy our favourite musicians on tour, but if you are a kid at heart like me with an active imagination, then you can simply take a tour of your room or living space and reenact the live experience. How is that, exactly? I’m a toy collector. Yes, on top of my music, … Continue reading Toys That Rock!
Playing Matchmaker
Among many things that the COVID-19 presence has lead to over the past year has been that due to the physical isolation, it has made dating rather difficult. Traditional avenues for meeting people are closed down (some permanently), and online dating cannot often advance to in-person dating due to the lockdowns imposed on the public. … Continue reading Playing Matchmaker
Alternate Album Cover Art V: The (Not-So) Final Frontier
Sorry, I couldn’t help but sneak a Star Trek reference into the title. There’s plenty of these cases to go over. If you’re not sure what I do with these things, I basically explore albums from various genres and highlight artists that have made bold, interesting, pointless, well-needed, or idiotic changes to their album art … Continue reading Alternate Album Cover Art V: The (Not-So) Final Frontier
When Two Become One: The Beatles (aka The White Album)
We all have albums in our collection that run a bit on the long side. There are several reasons why this might be, and hopefully for the artist’s sake, it’s not because they aren’t as good at writing songs as they think they are. In many cases, the artist or band may have written and … Continue reading When Two Become One: The Beatles (aka The White Album)
Armchair Maestro 