This is for real, people. From the Found Footage Show.....I give you...Knight Crawler!
Cheesy metal bands don't get much cheesier than Knight Crawler
I don't know if I'll ever sing again.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Documentary-Before the Music Dies
We are smack dab in the dead of winter. Most everything is frozen in place. Those who chose to move, are doing so slowly. Cautiously. With the brutal wind in their face, pushing them back to their own personal safety zones. It is there, they wait for a break from the nasty front that rendered them immobile. They regroup, and re-layer for warmth, safety and progress.
You could say that the state of the music business is much like a noreaster. A massive storm that hovers over and controls its own environment, and renders its inhabitants, those weary travelers called musicians, immobile and home bound.
The storm is quite like a big machine, yet slow moving, on autopilot and capable of swallowing anyone not "dressed properly" and conquering any force of nature that may pose a change or challenge to its power. Well, yes and no.
Although it was released a couple years ago,The wonderful documentary "Before the Music Dies" examines what went wrong with the music business, and what the musicians themselves think about it. The relevancy is still thick with emotion and spirit. The Rock Doc is full of candid interviews from musicians of all genres including Eric Clapton, Doyle Bramhall II, Erykah Badu and Questlove which are paired and compared with extremely revealing storytelling from industry vets and engineers.
Technology is exposed as a necessary evil. The file sharing "exposure vs. lost revenue" argument is assessed with a view from both sides. The catch -22 via blessing or cursed digitally processed fakery and economical advantage of computer based home studios is discussed in depth and leaves the viewer with an open book of opinions.
Additional highlights include Doyle Bramhall's personal journey through the majors and back again, and the story of Dave Matthews' upstart label ATO.
Here is a trailer...
Just so you know, Britney Spears' new single, which was just released a week ago, is breaking all kinds of pathetic records. Teach your children. Teach your brothers and sisters, brothers and sisters. Accost a teen at the mall. Do something. We are to blame.
You could say that the state of the music business is much like a noreaster. A massive storm that hovers over and controls its own environment, and renders its inhabitants, those weary travelers called musicians, immobile and home bound.
The storm is quite like a big machine, yet slow moving, on autopilot and capable of swallowing anyone not "dressed properly" and conquering any force of nature that may pose a change or challenge to its power. Well, yes and no.
Although it was released a couple years ago,The wonderful documentary "Before the Music Dies" examines what went wrong with the music business, and what the musicians themselves think about it. The relevancy is still thick with emotion and spirit. The Rock Doc is full of candid interviews from musicians of all genres including Eric Clapton, Doyle Bramhall II, Erykah Badu and Questlove which are paired and compared with extremely revealing storytelling from industry vets and engineers.
Technology is exposed as a necessary evil. The file sharing "exposure vs. lost revenue" argument is assessed with a view from both sides. The catch -22 via blessing or cursed digitally processed fakery and economical advantage of computer based home studios is discussed in depth and leaves the viewer with an open book of opinions.
Additional highlights include Doyle Bramhall's personal journey through the majors and back again, and the story of Dave Matthews' upstart label ATO.
Here is a trailer...
Just so you know, Britney Spears' new single, which was just released a week ago, is breaking all kinds of pathetic records. Teach your children. Teach your brothers and sisters, brothers and sisters. Accost a teen at the mall. Do something. We are to blame.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
I Just Changed My Mind
I've been waiting all of my life to see Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem. I hope "C is for Cookie" or at least "Doin' the Pigeon " is on the setlist. .Can't even tell you how many times I tossed off to Josie and the Pussycats......I wonder how they've aged? And finally...the rumors are true....Citizen Dick crawls out of the Pacific Northwest to give Soundgarden a run for their money in the reunion dept.!
Spinal Tap is holding auditions for drummers for this big gig, I hear. They will need more than one as the current bloke on the throne has died before this sentence was finished.
This is superb news. I knew that first line up was fake.
I'm Staying Home- Coachella 2011 Passes on Rock
The Top " Secret Weapons" in Rock
These are the people who make your favorite bands sound like your favorite bands.
These are the players who either sidestep the spotlight or get ignored or pushed out by a frontperson drowning in talent, ego, or having perfectly high and sometimes sucked- in cheekbones. They may have faces for radio, but you cannot imagine the band you love without them. It is their talent that, at the least is the back bone of their band's greatest hit and deep cuts.
These guys are usually on the cover of Fanboy Illustrated or Modern Strummer. Not Rolling Stone or Spin...
These are not session men...
These are the Top Secret Weapons in Rock
1) Larry Graham-Sly and the Family Stone
2) Maceo Parker-James Brown
3) John Paul Jones-Led Zeppelin
4) Nels Kline-Wilco
5) Steve Jones-Sex Pistols
6) Eric Avery-Janes Addiction
7) Phil Selway-Radiohead
8) Steve Nieve-Elvis Costello
9) Berry Oakley-Allman Bros.
10) Mitch Mitchell-Jimi Hendrix Experience
11) Jon Theodore-Mars Volta
12) Benmont Tench-Tom Petty
13) Mike Johnson-Mark Lanegan
14) Davey Johnstone-Elton John
15) Richard Wright- Pink Floyd
16) Nils Lofgren -Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen
17) Derek St. Holmes-Ted Nugent
18) Malcolm Young-AC DC
19) Brad Whitford-Aerosmith
20) Alain Johannes- Queens of the Stone Age
21) Garth Hudson-The Band
22) Smokey Hormel-Beck
23) Marc Ford- Black Crowes
24) Ian Paice-Deep Purple
25) Animal-Dr. Teeth and The Electric Mayhem
Whatcha got? Who are some other secret weapons I may have forgotten?
These are the players who either sidestep the spotlight or get ignored or pushed out by a frontperson drowning in talent, ego, or having perfectly high and sometimes sucked- in cheekbones. They may have faces for radio, but you cannot imagine the band you love without them. It is their talent that, at the least is the back bone of their band's greatest hit and deep cuts.
These guys are usually on the cover of Fanboy Illustrated or Modern Strummer. Not Rolling Stone or Spin...
These are not session men...
These are the Top Secret Weapons in Rock
1) Larry Graham-Sly and the Family Stone
2) Maceo Parker-James Brown
3) John Paul Jones-Led Zeppelin
4) Nels Kline-Wilco
5) Steve Jones-Sex Pistols
6) Eric Avery-Janes Addiction
7) Phil Selway-Radiohead
8) Steve Nieve-Elvis Costello
9) Berry Oakley-Allman Bros.
10) Mitch Mitchell-Jimi Hendrix Experience
11) Jon Theodore-Mars Volta
12) Benmont Tench-Tom Petty
13) Mike Johnson-Mark Lanegan
14) Davey Johnstone-Elton John
15) Richard Wright- Pink Floyd
16) Nils Lofgren -Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen
17) Derek St. Holmes-Ted Nugent
18) Malcolm Young-AC DC
19) Brad Whitford-Aerosmith
20) Alain Johannes- Queens of the Stone Age
21) Garth Hudson-The Band
22) Smokey Hormel-Beck
23) Marc Ford- Black Crowes
24) Ian Paice-Deep Purple
25) Animal-Dr. Teeth and The Electric Mayhem
Whatcha got? Who are some other secret weapons I may have forgotten?
Thursday, January 13, 2011
How I Hate Hip Hop..Let Me Count the Ways
Kanye puts out a watch collection with his face on it. 
Saturday, January 08, 2011
Playlizzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzt
350 followers? Really?
Where are you following me to?
If you figure it out, please let me know, through email, morse code or mind meld.
I have no destination right now, Just connecting dots between sickness, health, sanity and breakdown.
Just like all of you, right? You may not think so, but you are..it really is that simple...
So many motions to go through, so little time.
But hey, at least I have a soundtrack!
Don't we all need a soundtrack?
Do you want to follow me to my latest playlist? I don't think you do, unless you might need some soundtrack for sleepwalking through a desolate search in a burning desert, binging on faux oasis', waiting for an alien apocalypse, waiting for the car that never comes to pick you up outside the maximum security prison on your first day of release.
Here's your playlist for that.
Borrowed Tune-Neil Young
How to Disappear Completely-Radiohead
Cafe-Tim Buckley
Kingdoms of Rain-Mark Lanegan
I Am Inside-Alice in Chains
2:45 AM-Elliott Smith
Upward over the Mountain-Iron and Wine
Changes-Black Sabbath
Unfinished Plan=Alain Johannes
Lullaby-Sia
Blindsided-Bon Iver
Dreaming My Dreams With You-Cowboy Junkies
On and On and On-Wilco
Riviera Paradise- Stevie Ray Vaughan
and many more.......don't throw this in your headphones before your spin class.
Please share your own.
Where are you following me to?
If you figure it out, please let me know, through email, morse code or mind meld.
I have no destination right now, Just connecting dots between sickness, health, sanity and breakdown.
Just like all of you, right? You may not think so, but you are..it really is that simple...
So many motions to go through, so little time.
But hey, at least I have a soundtrack!
Don't we all need a soundtrack?
Do you want to follow me to my latest playlist? I don't think you do, unless you might need some soundtrack for sleepwalking through a desolate search in a burning desert, binging on faux oasis', waiting for an alien apocalypse, waiting for the car that never comes to pick you up outside the maximum security prison on your first day of release.
Here's your playlist for that.
Borrowed Tune-Neil Young
How to Disappear Completely-Radiohead
Cafe-Tim Buckley
Kingdoms of Rain-Mark Lanegan
I Am Inside-Alice in Chains
2:45 AM-Elliott Smith
Upward over the Mountain-Iron and Wine
Changes-Black Sabbath
Unfinished Plan=Alain Johannes
Lullaby-Sia
Blindsided-Bon Iver
Dreaming My Dreams With You-Cowboy Junkies
On and On and On-Wilco
Riviera Paradise- Stevie Ray Vaughan
and many more.......don't throw this in your headphones before your spin class.
Please share your own.
Saturday, January 01, 2011
Highlights?
I woke up at 12:08 am with headphones on, crusty breath and the Lemmy documentary still playing on my laptop. I couldn't have crawled out of this past year any sooner, or I would have. I would like to have sprinted out with all I could carry around March, but it didn't happen. Been rewinding all morning......
I started this blog in 2008 after my sister died of non smoker's lung cancer, which most of you know... The return to writing was needed and fueled by inspiration and a lack of a proper place to fit my grief into, upon settling into Philadelphia and struggling with career, depression, and lack of a true artistic spirit/or lifestyle. Life as a married, unsettled and sometimes stay at home dad for the past 6 years has taken the art away from me. I am to blame. So as a musician for the past 25 years and a musicologist for life, I thought I'd write about (mostly rock)music, with a mixture of hype and hate, in a style I can only label as " constant shot glass half empty".
I've kept that promise to myself, and to anyone who wants to check in with Circle of Fits from time to time.
I thought 2008 was the bottom, and things could only look up into my bloodshot viewfinder that scanned the music world for sights/sounds/sentiment since then. But 2010 was a fucking mess...the bottom.... expanded and remastered with deleted scenes. Someday, I'll tell you about it. Let's just say, no fucking noise makers or kazoos were broken out last night.
I do have some things for my decimated psyche to cling to that occurred this past year. Bullet Points...with the bullets carved out of a wall nearby and put into evidence for the CSI's in my head. For instance:
Paul McCartney show: press/ photo pass .
SXSW: Made it there with no money. Reported, reviewed many shows.
Exile on Main Street was re released in a deluxe format.
Beyond the Lighted Stage: The Rush Documentary.
Front row seat/press pass at a Pearl Jam show at Madison Square Garden
Soundgarden reunited and didn't suck
Saw the Black Crowes up close at the Tower Theatre in Philly on their pre- hiatus tour
The Stooges finally got into the RRHOF
the Philly Citipaper featured Circle of Fits during the blogger tax controversy: I did several natl. radio interviews, was on local news, was on the Huffington Post, got featured as a Google Blog of Note. I was the cool kid in class for a week or two.
I'm going to hold onto these bullets, and use them for my own personal ammunition in 2011. I'm going to need them.
Thanx for reading, and keep the questions, comments and complaints coming. Every last one of them keeps me that much further from a room with rubber walls.
I started this blog in 2008 after my sister died of non smoker's lung cancer, which most of you know... The return to writing was needed and fueled by inspiration and a lack of a proper place to fit my grief into, upon settling into Philadelphia and struggling with career, depression, and lack of a true artistic spirit/or lifestyle. Life as a married, unsettled and sometimes stay at home dad for the past 6 years has taken the art away from me. I am to blame. So as a musician for the past 25 years and a musicologist for life, I thought I'd write about (mostly rock)music, with a mixture of hype and hate, in a style I can only label as " constant shot glass half empty".
I've kept that promise to myself, and to anyone who wants to check in with Circle of Fits from time to time.
I thought 2008 was the bottom, and things could only look up into my bloodshot viewfinder that scanned the music world for sights/sounds/sentiment since then. But 2010 was a fucking mess...the bottom.... expanded and remastered with deleted scenes. Someday, I'll tell you about it. Let's just say, no fucking noise makers or kazoos were broken out last night.
I do have some things for my decimated psyche to cling to that occurred this past year. Bullet Points...with the bullets carved out of a wall nearby and put into evidence for the CSI's in my head. For instance:
Paul McCartney show: press/ photo pass .
SXSW: Made it there with no money. Reported, reviewed many shows.
Exile on Main Street was re released in a deluxe format.
Beyond the Lighted Stage: The Rush Documentary.
Front row seat/press pass at a Pearl Jam show at Madison Square Garden
Soundgarden reunited and didn't suck
Saw the Black Crowes up close at the Tower Theatre in Philly on their pre- hiatus tour
The Stooges finally got into the RRHOF
the Philly Citipaper featured Circle of Fits during the blogger tax controversy: I did several natl. radio interviews, was on local news, was on the Huffington Post, got featured as a Google Blog of Note. I was the cool kid in class for a week or two.
I'm going to hold onto these bullets, and use them for my own personal ammunition in 2011. I'm going to need them.
Thanx for reading, and keep the questions, comments and complaints coming. Every last one of them keeps me that much further from a room with rubber walls.
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