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If you check out MTV's NL site, they have posted links to Korn's UPlugd performance.
Check it out here.
Well, to be fair, I think there is a reason why the band has a big sound -- the performance of the songs in this format was pretty much "ehhh" to me.
Today I decided to listen to a backlog of new release metal podcasts from one of my all-time favorite labels, MetalBlade. If the state of MB over the past several months is any indication, metal is going through a serious growth crisis, not unlike the late 80s ... where a shakeup is required to bring new influences into the genre
I don't know when it became cool that "cookiemonster" vox were the only way to "sing" (good God, this term could not be looser in meaning) in metal. At the end of the day, it's yelling, and it's hard to consider yelling musical. I find the indiscriminate use of CM vox to make many bands indistinguishable from one another, as well as sounding like they all fell out of the same cookie cutter, spam musubi maker, same production line.
The other thing I have noticed is that no one has really moved the ball forward. If I could classify most bands out there, I would apply the following categories of characteristics
1. CM vox
2. Slayer chunka-chunka riffs, with varying speed ... but it's biting RIB hard. Note that RIB is now 20 years old
3. The melodic bands seem to either be stuck somewhere around late 80s IronMaiden harmonies, and Metallica's 2nd, 3rd & maybe 4th albums. I don't really subscribe to the theory that Swedish DM moved the ball in the mid-90s, I think it is just rehashing IronMaiden and Metallica ideas with CM vox
4. Speed is fine but there's a point where again, it is not musical.
5. Shrieking makes it tough to understand what you are saying, even if you look like a Kmart halloween of badly applied black greasepaint and whiteface
5. The other thing is the use of arhythmic breaks. Unfortunately, I think this is the influence of nu-metal -- you can call its timing math metal, I call it crunchy, rhythmless crap.
All things considered, so-called indie metal right now is stale, stale, stale -- too bad, really.
So, it's back to the old warhorse bands, waiting for something to get me interested again in heavy music. Some of the recent releases of the warhorses have left much to be desired, treading over old territory, stupidly mocking new crap styles to seem relevant, or fundamentally changing sounds to be different
Maybe metal is dead to me ....
There is an interesting RS interview conducted with the elder two of 3VH.
Interesting stuff, go to here and take a listen to the clips.
Or HnH, The Devil Cried... big, fat, dirgy, dark ... and just okay imo
Check it out here from the Rhino site
Since I've been somewhat busy with work and other life stuff, I haven't been staying abreast of two changes that mean so much to the world of rock. Well, so I found out on this lazy Sunday ...
The first is no damn big surprise, the elusive cd with the initials CD, which had a tentative release date as 3/6 has totally, utterly, completely dropped off the face of any release list for music this year. I guess it is sufficient to tour and play the "new" songs (some which are who knows how old by now) ... not interested in that "reunion", more like reformation anyways
The one that I am pulling for because of what it could be, as we discovered earlier, appears truly doomed. Now, there are rumors that the 2VH may not be showing up at all at RRHOF -- along with the rumors that personalities (or one person is) are holding up the plans.
And the thing I learned today from MelodicRock.com is that VH albums have outsold the total albums of four prominent artists, including the ubiquitous You, Too ... and the eccentric purple one
No blogging the past two days, but yes, the insanity continues
Day 2, Miles Logged: 4.34
Same drill as yesterday morning, only thing I left the house at 6:11 a.m. I had thought that it would be the same weather as yesterday, too. Unfortunately, I could not have been more wrong.
Even before, I made the first turn it was not only rainy, but windy ... and cold -- and there I am like a jackass only in a shirt and shorts. More reason to hurry up and get it done.
Okay, either I was committed ... or should be committed. I was the only one out there this morning ... me and the SUVs racing on the slick street to hurry up and wait on the freeway.
Tomorrow, I will wear a jacket ... as I now understand the purpose of the Nike Sphere jacket commercials about ze rainy and ze windy and ze cold being so last year
During lunch I decided to walk around in the 2nd City ... again, I must conclude that no one really walks around anymore, not when they can be stuffing their face
Oh, and for future generations, it's probably a good idea to find out your baseline weight before you start all this madness of meal planning, building your sleep plan around exercise, enjoying low cal meals ... so I now know my weight, it was lower than I thought it was. Rinse, lather, repeat the above paragraph because it does matter in terms of figuring out how much to eat and exercise ... foo-----ooooo
Changed music on iPod before I wrote down today's playlist
Day 3, Miles Logged: 2.62
Very unprepared this morning, I left past 6:30 because I had not planned for a high carb meal later ... so I had to adjust the other meals of the day. Did wear a jacket, and it was a good idea for about 1/2 of the trek ... after which I had to take it off because it was just too hot
Song of the trek: Gnarls Barkley - Crazy
Tonight, I felt really unmotivated to go deal with the elephant-sized mound of sh-- experience that is going to 24HF in Mililani. Don't people have jobs anymore? I didn't get up there until 9PM ... and I couldn't find parking (big surprise)
Then, when I was in there, I felt thoroughly and utterly convinced myself that it may be time to switch to the Y. I have never seen a more crowded, unproductive main room -- I'm just there to lift and get the F out of Dodge, not socialize, not ogle, not F around ... but apparently I am a minority of one.
Then I remembered that they have a powerlifting section, which was thankfully empty. So I concluded my workout there because everyone wants to sit around, talk, joke, and monopolize equipment. It actually is nice to hear the bar drop on the safety and make a loud clang ... better than the dance music and the din of 1000 monkeys talking
Day 4, Miles Logged: 2.67
I am glad that I decided against my supposedly better judgment and drank the high carb, recovery formula last night. I felt surprisingly re-charged and ready to go this morning. Today, I modified the trek path --- ironically, when I checked it out, it was negligibly longer so I may reassess using it
I had a weird thought today that in the future, we will be a fat people, like that will become the new norm. Certainly a non-sequitur, because I only see a handful of the same people every day. There are new faces from time-to-time, but I don't see a lot of people around my age, just much older -- I will be idealistic and believe that they are doing it when they come home from work. Okay, that was pretty Disneyland of me -- haha
No music playlist again. However, I do think I have to tweak my music set on my iP, lots of skipping today -- certain songs do not make it when you are out there. However, song of the trek this morning has to be: Black Sabbath (with Dio) - I
Early on this work day, I was thinking about how I don't really abuse the office snack thing. I know that for some that is a really big issue ... the snacking at work. I don't. I know my boss was commenting a few months ago that at his previous work place, food never stayed out as long as it does here -- because people would totally locust it within 1-2 hours.
So, I am glad to report that being on the food program thus far has not pushed me towards feeling too hungry or wanting to chow down on the basket of miscellaneous snacky foods at my office ... I am finding though that once again bringing my own prepped lunch has an interesting side effect that is social in nature -- can't eat with anyone ... sure, I can sit there like a dork not ordering anything, but there is that aspect to working at a place where everyone buys, rather than brings lunch --- on to monkdom
Enlightenment is sooner than you think
Meaningless Stat:
To keep my mind busy at nights during this journey I am doing a book of sudokus
Sudokus completed: 22/250
And this is why, I take a I'll believe it when I see it approach to the 3VH+DLR tour
To summarize, the tour is on hold indefinitely, read more here
Nice pic on RS (to go along with the "it took years" VH website re-do), though ....
The drama, if any of it is left, remains the RRHOF induction on March 12th ... will the band be talking tour ... or turkey
Well, that trashes the see a show in LV thing ... not really into FallOutBoy or Celine Dion. Perhaps Taylor Dane will be in town ...
So I wonder to myself, am I insane ... or are the times I live in insane?
I hope to discover the answer to this over the course of the next 28 days, as I embark on a diet/fitness/wellness program, partially of my own design ... well, the exercise portion anyways.
As such, I will be keeping a journal to mentally note my observations throughout the process. It probably won't be exciting reading at all, just the meanderings of someone trying to kickstart a healthier lifestyle
6:00 a.m.
Yeah, exactly ... why am I up at 6AM on a holiday. Just a handful of hours after doing those evil sudokus before bed and not sleeping until 2 this morning. Well, I thought to myself that if anything will demonstrate my commitment, it would be getting up on a day that I should be sleeping in. Where is SD? She is doing the GAR with her family. I have much less ambitious goals this morning ...
6:18 a.m.
Took me a while to get out the door ... so noted, for work days. It is not fun to walk in the misting rain, when it is still dark, and stupidly I am only wearing a t-shirt and no jacket.
Music of the morning
Natalie Cole - Our Love
Tool - Vicarious
Suicidal Tendencies - Possessed To Skate
Foreigner - Urgent
Suicidal Tendencies - Nobody Hears
Metallica - Leper Messiah
Billy Idol - Sweet Sixteen
Metallica - Killing Time
Skid Row - Youth Gone Wild
Ozzy Osbourne - Bark At The Moon
Judas Priest - Jawbreaker
Miles logged: 2.47
Observations:
I can do the morning walk in time to re-shower and make it to work, a good thing. I may just have to get those Nike+ shoes ... I think I understand their purpose now, and I think I may enjoy their coolness
7:01 a.m.
Back at the ranch, pick up wet newspaper in bag ... heading in for first meal of the day. What I noticed this morning ... okay, when the only person you see out there for the first 25 minutes is an old lady ... yeah, it tells you a lot about your generation. That and the only vehicles I saw out were SUVs leaving sleepy suburbia.
Global warming is sooner than you think
Been getting back into watching MBE sessions on kcrw.com, there are some excellent recent sessions on there.
The Damien Rice session is awesome in its depth of emotion and the beauty of the performance. I don't think there are any better than DR in writing deeply personal lyrics and songs of such beautiful orchestration (M voice, F voice, piano, cello) ... the songs of his new album, 9, are fantastic
Our fave band of the moment, Silversun Pickups, has a really great session as well. If you didn't know anything of the band prior to seeing them, you may make a few perception mistakes ... especially around the tone of the vocals. They just plain rock.
At MTV's site, as part of their discover and download live series, they have a 5 song live performance by SSPU. You can check it out here. Then, when it is playing in the sidebar, click on the 5 videos, and it will have all the songs
The energetic performance of Honeycut is just plain fun ... the crazy dancing and energy, neat stuff
And if you like energy, check out Rodrigo y Gabriela, seems like I cannot recommend them enough. Talk about not believing your eyes and ears.
A small recommendation this morning.
If you are a classic rock fan and haven't yet checked out wolfgangsvault.com, there are a ton of classic live show boots in their concert vault, including a pretty amazing sounding one of the legendary SRV, which I was listening to this morning.
I mean, talk about knocking the Jimi classic, VooChi, out of the park ... simply amazing. It is a unique opportunity to rediscover your favorite artists live. And I suppose the best part of it all is that for now, this site is free reg, and free to listen
The thing I like about the site is the great variety of performers, everything from AFOS, to Genesis, to the classic lineup of Sabb, to Zep, etc. etc. Check it out and give it a listen, neat site.
After a long hiatus, well they did play at their induction for RRHOF ... that aside
Worst kept surprise: World Tour, like of the everywhere-kind ... NorthAm, Europe, back to NorthAm, Mex-SouthAm, Japan-Aus-NZ
Could it be better on a Monday morning in the middle of the Pacific?
Played:
Message In a Bottle
Voices in My Head/When the World is Running Down
Can't Stand Losing You (really rough in parts, but cool extended end jam)
Roxanne
Impressions:
Just good ol' nostalgia, that's all
Las Vegas, June 15th??? .... this could really be the best concert year in a long time ... if I can get tickets. I will be in LV for the tentative VH dates, and the Police date ... add in HnH in NYC, and this year is shaping up ridiculously well
Buckwheat has been shot
For anyone seeing the news of the past two days, it is almost as if an old SNL sketch comes to life ... thing is, it's not really that funny to see something so obviously, almost predictably, ridiculously tragic
Grammar be damned, my point is made ... go back to keeping yourselves busy
I recall, as probably many of you can, those uncomfortable moments when you are growing up where you make choices or choices are made for you -- regarding whose friend you are going to be, and whose you will not be
It can be a very pressurized situation with very awkward results, as you realize that the "friend(s)" you chose, were not really the right friends to choose after all. Or maybe some of these "friend(s)" gave you an ultimatum, and you just went along. And, like in bad 80s teen movies, you realize that that really wasn't the right choice after all
When you are older, these things seem to fade in importance, as you realize that you can make your own choices, somewhat free of coercion ... or does it, really?
Interesting investor's article on EA related to them being choosing (forced?) to be the 3's friend ... rather than the Whee's friend.
Read it here.
Video from old style, new school rapper Pigeon John.
If you like old school flow and clever humor, check him out
The video is here
In case you are wondering why I am repping PJ or hiphop, he has done sessions on MBE as well. So there you go ... eatin bean burritos, eatin them well
His album, Pigeon John & The Summertime Pool Party is way too funny.
As you may know by now, that band with the classic album 4 is coming here in March.
Again, there is someone key missing from the picture ... but if you like the music, the new lineup is pretty solid with the addition of Jeff P (x-Dokken) and Jason B (son of Zep John). I guess if you know the history of the band, the band has had a few lineups over the years, so that may not be a dealbreaker
For us, just plain on the fence about it
Update:
Now here's some thinking out of the box ... if you can't sell the whole house, do you sell what you can? I looked at what ticket levels were available out of curiosity ... and they aren't selling loge or upper tix, only floor and riser seats. Interesting approach, I wonder if they get to rent the arena for 1/2 price too ... yes, rely on me for smartitude and ridonkulousness
Interesting article in the NYT, discussing the rise of the Whee and the shaky start of the 3.
Read it here
At the end of the day, it seems that the point of the entire exercise of playing VGs is fun
An earthshattering conclusion, I must say ... Who would have thought that?