Jack Johnson - Sleep Through The Static Remixed

Just released on iTunes, Jack Johnson has put out a collection of 7 songs that have been remixed by other artists. He has also added 3 videos as part of the collection for $7.99. An if you're a fan you will need to click on the link and download Enemy remixed by Worst Friends Free Download to finish off the collection or go to Jack's website and get it yourself at http://www.jackjohnsonmusic.com/home.

The first remix is Hope and it's remixed by Nightmares on Wax. Pretty interesting mix, that sort of slows the song up and gives it a little bit of a dub feel or something like that. It's about 5 minutes and keeps a good beat through it. I like the style they did it in. as I said it slows it down so it's not as upbeat, but adding it's a pretty neat mix.

Losing Keys is remixed by Katalyst. Katalyst takes a very mellow song and starts it up more upbeat with some horn work, kind of a funky little beat. Certainly a completely different style than Jack mixed it himself. I really like this version almost more than I like Jack's way of doing it.

Money Mark takes Monsoon and adds some keys and a little maybe Hammond to it. He slows it down but is adding more of a funky beat as well. Maybe this is Money Marks way of trying to get in to replace Zach on keys, just kidding. Actually, this is a nice little change to the song. I’ve got to say I still like the original on this one better, but this is a cool version.

Angel is remixed by Kid Koala. I wasn’t sure what I was expecting on this one. I for some reason was thinking that Kid Koala was going to but in some more hip hop type beats. Not sure why, just thought maybe his usual stuff was in that line as he’s worked with a lot of those types of artists. Starts off very church like with organs and continues that way in a rather dull monotone beat all the way through. Not bad but could put you to sleep.

They Do, They Don’t is remixed by DJ Tropikal. Good beat, sort of reggaeish is some ways, but adds some horns and other stuff. Jack almost sounds like he’s ready to rock but the tone isn’t going to follow then it all falls back into place. Nice version of the song.

Another Hope remix this time by Mario C. is a little more upbeat and has some good tones in it. It stays pretty close to the original adding some different beats instead of Jack’s guitar, mainly from the keyboard. Heard a little fancy drum beat in there as well. Good mix and keeps you grooving.

Culver City Dub Collective takes If I Had Eyes and turns it into almost a Cure remix. At least the first part made me feel like The Cure remixed it until they come up to the refrain. Then it kicks in with horns and some other stuff. More drums in the second part and that’s because the drummer for CCDC is Jack’s drummer Adam Topol. Pretty cool version of the song, I dig it.

Enemy is remixed by Worst Friends and cannot be found at iTunes but can be found directly from Jack’s official sit listed above. This is a pretty rad version of the tune. They really give it almost a disco tropical type beat. I loaded it up to my iPod and made sure it fell in place by changing the others to be from 8 not 7 in the info section. Never heard of Worst Friends, but this is an awesome version of the song to listen to. It’s not the simple song he started with and it doesn’t use all the lyrics but it’s pretty nice. Felt a little like some of the New Order remixes I’ve heard. The beat keeps it going and you need to pick this one up and add it to the collection without a doubt.

There are 3 videos that come as part of the package as well. Adrift. Enemy & Sleep Through The Static/I Love You and Buddha Too which all look to be sessions from the studio when Jack made the CD. If you go out to iTunes undr the podvast section there are 5 videios called Sleep Through the Static sessions that maybe partially duplicates or may be new. I'd have to go back and look at what songs he performed on those. Check it out by doing a search on iTunes those session videos are free.

The one thing I would really have liked to see is remixes of Sleep Through the Static and All At Once. I think there are some great parts in those songs that would allow for some cool translations by people. So maybe down the road we will see those done, but what we did get was pretty cool.

Pick it up for sure and show your support for all the great stuff Jack has done.

Audio Track List:

1. Hope (Mightmares on Wax Remix)
2. Losing Keys (Katalyst Remix)
3. Monsoon (Money Mark Casio Remix)
4. Angel (Kid Koala Remix)
5. They Do, They Don’t (DJ Topickal Remix)
6. Hope (Mario C. Remix)
7. If I Has Eyes (Culver City Dub Collective Remix)
8. Enemy (Worst Friends Remix)

Video:

1. Adrift (Live Studio Session)
2. Enemy (Live Studio Session)
3. Sleep Through the Static/I Love You and Buddha Too (Live Studio Sessions)

Metallica – Death Magnetic – CD Review

After a five year break in producing new music, Meltallica have come back together and joined forces with Rick Rubin to produce their new cd Death Magnetic, which is their 9th studio album.

In the first week alone Death Magnetic sold well over 500,000 copies despite having been leaked out on the internet early. Not as much as The Jonas Brothers, but pretty awesome. So hopefully as they can see that people are still willing to buy their stuff and they don’t need to focus so much on people stealing their music and worry more about a big tour and pleasing the fans.
This CD takes you back to the classic days of Metallica being what they want to be. It's certainly heavy and loaded with a lot of drums and great guitar work. They certainly put together a good recording with Rick Rubin after a 5 year break.

Overall I think people who are fans of the band will certainly be pleased to hear this new CD. Those young folks who don't know much of Metallica will be out picking up some of their earlier works or maybe stealing it off the internet, but now why would anyone ever do that, especially with Metallica watching.

Seriously, it's a great cd and Rubin really pulled what was needed out of the band to get what the people want to hear.

There is a limited edition set that comes in some sort of coffin and has a bonus cd that are demo versions of the project.

Track List:

1. That Was Just Your Life 7:08
2. The End Of The Line 7:52
3. Broken, Beat & Scarred 6:25
4. The Day That Never Comes 7:56
5. All Nightmare Long 7:57
6. Cyanide 6:39
7. The Unforgiven III 7:46
8. The Judas Kiss 8:00
9. Suicide & Redemption 9:57
10. My Apocalypse 5:01

Plain White T's - Big Bad World - CD Review

This is one of those bands that has been playing for a good 10 years getting their start in the Chicago area and finally gettining a hit song that was re-released as a bonus on their 2006 "Every Second Counts" Enhanced CD that reached the top 10 in the US and all the way to 3 in the UK. The song "Hey There Delilah" was originally released on the 2005 CD "All That We Needed" put out by Fearless Records. Now after having a hit Cd, but still not really hitting the big time, these guys are releasing a new cd with high hopes.

The big question is, will they be a one hit wonder or will they get a hit off this next cd. "Big Bad World" was certainly put out to attract the young female type crowd or at least that's the feel I get. It's very pop like and not too different from their last one. I guess why change a formula that already works.

There are a couple of songs that could be potential hits. The song "1,2,3,4" might be the first big hit off this CD. It's made a lot in the way of "Hey There Delilah", good harmonies and a good acoustic beat. Certainly the one I would pick as the hit from this CD.

So first impressions are that they are trying to keep the formula going on this one and really looking for the follow up big hit. There are some good highlights on this one. "Sunlight" is Beach Boyish, but good. "I Really Want You" is another upbeat tune that could potentially be a follow up hit on this one.

I would certainly have a listen to this one at the store or on line before you decide to buy it. I think it has a couple of good songs and might be worth getting those as a download from iTunes. Sample them all there and see what you think before picking this one up. It may or may not be for you.

Track List:

1. Big Bad World
2. Natural Disaster
3. Serious Mistake
4. Rainy Day
5. 1, 2, 3, 4
6. That Girl
7. Sunlight
8. I Really Want You
9. Meet Me in California
10. Someday

The Cure - Hypnagogic States EP - CD Review

This EP is a taste of what is to come in October with the new full length CD 4:13 Dream. There are 4 tracks from the cd that are remixed for this EP. Not sure how the final cd will sound but these remixes are fantastic. I look forward to hearing the new Cure CD when it comes out.

The Only One has a nice mix to it, done by 30 Seconds to Mars. It really has a good beat and keeps it in typical Cure fashion. Freakshow makes me think I'm back in collage on the good old dance floor with the techno beat. This one is remixed by Jade Puget.

Sleep When I'm Dead is probably my favorite of the four. this one is remixed by Gerard Way and Julien K. Good beat nice song. robert Smith still sounds as good as he did 20 years ago. The Perfect Boy also has a familiar beat from the old days. This one is remixed by Patrick Stump and Pete Wentz. Another really good remix that I can't wait to hear the original.

The Last song is a mix of the different tracks that are on this CD. This one is called Exploding Head Syndrome and is remixed by 65 days of Static. It gets to a point that makes my head want to explode. After listening through this 21 minute remix it goes all over the place from different styles of techno beats and gets a little crazy at times. Pretty interesting, but I could have done without it and rather have heard a 5 minute remix of a different song.

Overall pretty interesting and gives you a little flavor of what's to come. I do look forward tot he new CD and will review it when I get to hear it.

Track List:

1. The Only One
2. Freakshow
3. Sleep When I'm Dead
4. The Perfect Boy
5. Exploding Head Syndrome

Joan Osborne - Little Wild One - CD Review

Joan Osborne has done a lot in her career including a stint with all the remaining guys from the Grateful Dead. My first time seeing her live or really paying any attention to her music was after seeing her play with The Dead. I can't say I really felt that she fit in as a new Donna Jean, but she had a wide vocal range and really belted out some awesome tunes.

So this new cd of Joan's starts off with a Bluegrass tune that kicks into a rockin song, but she hold great through out it. It's a good tune that picks up the pace right from the start. The following song sticks to that pop style.

Cathedral is a piano tune with a nice sound. She kicks it all around on the rest of the cd and shows a wide variety of vocals and styles. To the One I Love brings an old classic style to it. Daddy-O is a nice acoustic ballad.

Joan really goes all over the board on this one and makes it sound good. I do like this CD and think it's worth having a listen. Check out some of her stuff on MySpace http://www.myspace.com/joanosborne and see what you think before buying it.

Too bad just like many other artists, Joan is skipping right by us in Kansas City when she tours this fall. I would still recommend seeing her live if you get a chance.

Track List:

1. Hallelujah In The City
2. Sweeter Than The Rest
3. Cathedrals
4. Little Wild One
5. Rodeo
6. To The One I Love
7. Daddy - O
8. Meet You In The Middle
9. Can't Say No
10. Light Of This World
11. Bury Me On The Battery

Kings of Leon - Only By The Night - CD Review

The first time I ever heard of Kings of Leon was when they opened for U2 at The Pond in Aneheim, CA. They were really loud and the acoustics of the venue didn't really help give me a good impression of the band. Still, I was interested in hearing more.

Now with their fourth release Only By The Night, they have continued to grow in popularity and in the content of their music. Not sure what they classify the different styles of music these days, but this is an interesting style. I guess you could just say it's rock.

There are some ballad type songs, some rock, but overall it's consistantly good. Caleb Followill had a good soulful voice with some good range in it.

The CD starts out with a melodic tone in Closer that kicks in with Caleb singing about someone taking his heart. The song has some electronic pieves, but really a good start to the CD.

Crawl at first makes me think of a NIN style or old Jesus and Mary Chain then the guitar kicks in and it gets better as it goes.

Sex on Fire at first makes me think we are going to have a little Metal Ska or something. Manhattan is a ballad type with good tones. Revelry is another ballad as well that kicks in.

17 kicks in right off the bat with some heavy drums, bells and other stuff. Good guitar work throughout. Notion, I Want You, Be Somebody and Cold Desert all fit right in with the rest, ballad like throughout.

Overall this one has a good beat, never gets too heavy and all the songs are preatty good. I'm not a huge fan of the band, but the cd is pretty good and will do well on the charts. If you like their previous works, you will be happy with this one.

Track List:

1. Closer
2. Crawl
3. Sex On Fire
4. Use Somebody
5. Manhattan
6. Revelry
7. 17
8. Notion
9. I Want You
10. Be Somebody
11. Cold Desert

Darius Rucker - Learn To Live - CD Review

I remember seeing Hootie and the Blowfish back when Cracked Rearview Mirroe came out. They were opening at the time for Big Head Todd and the Monsters. I thinkas a band they put on a pretty good show and all of it really revolved around the awesome voice of Darius Rucker. I lost touch with their music because at the time being broke and the internet wasn't out to get good deals on music. Plus I worked 5 minutes from my office, so I never listened to the radio. So if they did continue on, I didn't know.

So I saw Darius Rucker show up on the list of new music available this week. I knew I had to check out the new cd and see what he's up to.

I was a little thrown off, I would have figured him for a gospel singer or something in line with the one Hootie Cd I do know. Bust it starts off with some Bluegrass riffs and gets really into a full on country music cd.

I've got to say there's a good mix of good old country twang along with some classic Hootie sounding ballads. The Ballads really are my favorite because it really brings out what a range of voice Rucker has.

Drinkin' And Dialin' is a funny little song. Honestly, don't think of this as Hootie on his own cutting a solo cd. Rucker brings a great new sound that should put him on the map in the country music world.

I would recommend this one to the country fan for sure.


Track List:

1. Forever Road 4:01
2. All I Want
3. Don't Think I Don't Think About It
4. Learn To Live
5. If I Had Wings
6. History In The Making
7. Alright
8. It Won't Be Like This For Long
9. Drinkin' And Dialin'
10. I Hope They Get To Me In Time
11. While I Still Got The Time
12. Be Wary Of A Woman

The Cure: New CD 4:13 Dream Track & Artwork Preview

The Cure will be putting out a new cd in the future. Here's a picture of the cover art and tracks on it. There's an interesting rant from Robert Smith who is mad that they are selling a 5 song EP Hypnagogic States on iTunes UK for £7.99 which is an outrageous price. He is asking people not to buy this until he gets it worked out.

I'd be interested to hear those tracks, but not at that price. Still looking forward to the new cd 4:13 Dreams.

Track List:

01 UNDERNEATH THE STARS
02 THE ONLY ONE
03 THE REASONS WHY
04 FREAKSHOW
05 SIRENSONG
06 THE REAL SNOW WHITE
07 THE HUNGRY GHOST
08 SWITCH
09 THE PERFECT BOY
10 THIS. HERE AND NOW. WITH YOU
11 SLEEP WHEN I’M DEAD
12 THE SCREAM
13 IT’S OVER

Kristy Lee Cook - Why Wait - CD Review

Normally I wouldn't be doing a review on someone like Kristy Lee Cook, but seeing that I just went to the American Idol concert with my wife and watched the whole season, I had to listen to the cd to see what I thought. Kristy Lee was one of my top 3 picks on the show. The other two were David Cook and Michael Johns. It seemed pretty obvious that she needed to sing country style songs based on her voice and the arrangements she chose on the show.

This CD has some good sounding tracks on it. I like 15 minutes of Shame, which I believe is the first track released on the cd. It's right in line with a lot of other female country artists. Overall she has a similar souns through many of the tracks, but does show some diversity in the types of songs she has chosen.

She finishes this one off with the song that was big for her on American Idol, God Bless The USA. I do like her version of it and she did a great live version at the concert itself. Glad she decided not to go with the country version of 8 Days A Week for this release.

Overall an enjoyable cd to listen to. Kristy Lee Cook has a nice voice and as long as she sticks to the country style, she will do well for herself.

Track List:

1. 15 Minutes Of Shame
2. Why Wait
3. Like My Mother Does
4. Hoping To Find
5. Baby Believe
6. Not Tonight
7. Plant The Seed
8. I Think Too Much
9. Homesick
10. God Bless The USA

Kill Switch - Steven Segal Straight to DVD Review

Steven Seagal the king of straight to DVD releases is back with a new one and he holds the sole writing credit on this one. The director, Jeff King, isn't someone I have ever heard of before, but looks like he's done some TV shows but not much in the line of films.

In this film Steven Seagal plays Detective Jacob Stillwell who is on the scene of a serial killer named Lazerus. The best thing about this is the hair piece that Seagal has to be wearing. If it's not then he has a really bad hair dye job which is just as funny.

So from the start of this one where he finds a woman with a bomb stuck in her chest, finding the dude and throwing him out a window. The guy lives and goes off to jail, then we get into the Serial Killer.

So as always we have the fun of seeing Seagal in action through most of the movie and he still has those great ne liners and is always as tought as can be. The best is he's supposed to be a memphis cop with a southern accent that sounds really bad.

No different than any other Seagal fil the bad guys go after him and his loved ones. In this one he has to figure out how this crazy dude is killing. Yes, actually a little bit of a plot and some thinking to do.

Jacob is plagued in the film by the murder of his twin brother on their birthday, but they never really go anyfurther on that subject. Plus he adds this off the wall story that his partner tells to the new detective about the first case they worked on. It was a cannibal who they catch eating a clown and he turns to Seagal and says - "Does this taste funny to you?" I actually had to laugh at that one. Seagal can start writing more comedies. Oh wait, everything he already rights is a comedy to some degree.

The bad accent and the "Lord have Mercy's" he says throughout really make you have a good laugh with this one.

The last 5 minutes of this movie must have been some sort of strange mix up that he put it in there. Not really sure as it has nothing to do with the rest of the film or at least I can't figure out what it has to do.

I would say that you really need to rent this one, not buy it. I would also highly recommend a bottle of good booze to drink along with it.

Rating: 1 1/2 out of 5

Okkervil River - The Stand Ins CD Review

Okkervil River has a new cd out this week. It was originally meant to be the second half of a double cd with The Stage Names but it ended up being the 5th album that they produced.

They are a Indie band out of Austin, TX starting some 10 years ago. They have a pretty cool sound to their music, mixing acoustic guitar and piano along with electric instruments on some songs. It's really hard to describe who they sound like. They do really mix it up on this cd.

This is a band a friend introduced me to about two years back and I have really liked what I've heard. They mix up some Mandoline with bass, drums and guitar.

This cd consists of 8 new songs with 3 instrumental "Stand Ins" as well. I can't complain about any of them, it's a really good sound.

To sample some of their music stop by their web site at http://www.okkervilriver.com/ or go to their MySpace page at http://www.myspace.com/okkervilriver.

Enjoy!

Track List:

1. Stand Ins, One
2. Lost Coastlines
3. Singer Songwriter
4. Starry Stairs
5. Blue Tulip
6. Stand Ins, Two
7. Pop Lie
8. On Tour With Zykos
9. Calling And Not Calling My Ex
10. Stand Ins, Three
11. Bruce Wayne Campbell Interviewed On The Roof Of The Chelsea Hotel, 1979

Kimya Dawson - Alphabutt

Kimya Dawson has put out a somewhat childrens cd. Depends on what kind of parent you are to let them listen to it. Personally I find it to be a pretty funny cd to listen to, but I will not let me daughter hear it.

Kimya Dawson is the one who sang a bunch of songs on the Juno Soundtrack and Played with Adam Green in Moldy Peaches. She has a different style to her music, but it's fun to listen to.

I think learning the Alphabet to Alphabutt would be quite interesting, here are the lyrics to the song:

A is for apple
B is for butt
C is for catbutt
D is for doo doo
E is for elephant doo doo
F is for fart
G is for gorilla doo doo
H is for huge gorilla fart
I is for eyeball
J is for jammies
K is for kid fart
L is for loud and long farts
M is for monkey butt
N is for saying good night night or nap time (??something like that??)
O is for Oh!
P is for panda peeing and pooping in her potty while papa plays peek a boo
Q is for quebert
R is for robotic monkey who's going to take over the world
S is for stinky
T is for turd
U is for uh oh
V is for flying V (?)
W is for wee wee
X is for exactomundo
Y is for yuckie and yummy and you
and Z is for farts that smell like the zoo

Little Monster Babies is a very cute song as well as Bobby-O, Pee-Pee on the Potty and Uncle Huckee's House. I really like the whole group of songs on this cd. I don't recommend it for kids, but I do recomment it for adults to have a good laugh.

Check out some of the fun stuff at Kimya's sight http://www.kimyadawson.com/

Track List:

1. Little Monster Babies
2. Alphabutt
3. Bobby-O
4. Louie
5. Smoothie
6. I Like Bears
7. Seven Hungry Tigers
8. Happy Home (Keep On Writing)
9. Wiggle My Tooth
10. I Love You Sweet Baby
11. Pee-Pee In The Potty
12. Uncle Hukee's House
13. We're All Animals
14. Little Panda Bear
15. Sunbeams and Some Beans

Grateful Dead - Road Trips Downloads 11-05-1979 & 11-06-1979 The Spectrum Philly, PA

Dick's picks are in the vault stopped at 36 volumes. So what's next for the Archive gurus of the Grateful Dead. Well that would be a few really cool volumes of the best live material from different years, months or places. These are called Road Trips. So far there are 3 physical cd sets, Road Trips Vol 1, No. 1 Fall 1979, No. 2 October 1977, No. 3 Summer 1971 and soon No. 4 From Egypt With Love. The Fourth will be released at the same time as Rockin the Cradle: Egypt 1978 2 CD 1 DVD set at the end of September 2008.

So what more could they thing of? Well how about let's release some more full live shows as downloads and call them Road Trips full Show Downloads. the first installment of this series is the 11-05-79 & 11-06-79 Spectrum shows from Philly, PA. They are a spin-off of Vol.1, No. 1 Fall 1979. You can pick these downloads up directly from http://www.dead.net/ at the store.

This particular download if put to cd would be a 5 cd set all for $17.98 if you purchase the two dates together. If you prefer to have only one of the two nights, you can pick it up for $9.99. Pretty awesome deal I have to say.

I pretty much have every one of the official releases from all the Dick's picks to the Live download series as well as the limited edition box sets that have been released. I have yet to actually do a review of any of the material until now. So here's my first review of the Road Trips Live Download Series.

Listening to these shows reminds me of all the great shows I saw over the years. It was too bad I didn't get to my first show until Alpine Valley 1987. From there I was hooked on what an amazing live performance these guys put on.

So the first night 11-05-1979 they seemed to be on fire. This was the longer of the two shows. This was a good era in Dead shows. Donna wasn't there and it was before they started letting Brent sing too much. Don't get me wrong, Donna Jean was great, but I really like the time without her.

They kicked off the night with a nice China Cat>Rider. You can hear a little different style of keys in there, but these were some good days and some nice jams. Cassidy has always been one I like and then going into a FOTD with El Paso to follow. What a night. The quality level of the recordings is good.

They follow up later with an Eyes of the World to an Estimated Prophet followed up with a Franklin's Tower. I had to listen to this over again, it was awesome and then to finish off the night with Sugar Mags and into Casey Jones. Such an amazing show to hear. I really like a lot of the shows over the years, bit this one really has a great set. If it had a Ramble On Rose I would be in heaven. Man this is an awesome show to hear.

If you pick one of the two, grab this one, but I would recommend getting both. Here's the link to purchase the 11-05-79 show: 11-05-1979 Link .

For the link to buy both click Here.

Setlist 11-05-1979:

DISC 1
China Cat Sunflower
I Know You Rider
Cassidy
Friend Of The Devil
El Paso
Stagger Lee
Passenger
Peggy-O
The Music Never Stopped
DISC 2
Althea
Easy To Love You
Eyes of the World
Estimated Prophet
Franklin's Tower
DISC 3
Space
Drums
Space
Lost Sailor
Saint of Circumstance
Sugar Magnolia
Casey Jones

The second night had a pretty upbeat start, a little shorter of a set and not as many of my favorites, but still some great songs. How can you not dig an Alabama Getaway to start.

I love hearing Tennessee Jed and Me & My Uncle. Bobby sounds great on these shows and so does Jerry. It really was a good time in the career. Jack Straw is an amazing one as well. They finish off the night as big as they started with a little US Blues.

These come in either FLAC or 256kbs and I can tell you that the I picked up the 256kbs and it sounds pretty awesome on the iPod. I know some people are snobs about this, but I'm quite happy with the sound myself.

Happy to have them continue to put out these awesome shows.

Setlist 11-06-1979:

DISC 1
Alabama Getaway
Promised Land
Tennessee Jed
Me & My Uncle
Mexicali Blues
Candyman
Easy To Love You
Looks Like Rain
Jack-A-Roe
Jack Straw
Deal
DISC 2
Terrapin Station
Playin' In The Band
Drums
Space
Black Peter
Good Lovin'
U.S. Blues

Brian Wilson - That Lucky Old Sun - Review

In 2004 Brian Wilson reurrected "Smile" after 37 years from it's original conception. Now in 2008 Brian brings us a full cd of new material that brings us back about 37 years by the sound. Growing up I liked the old Beach Boys tunes and I even saw them in concert with the members that toured in the 80's. They would play Summerfest in Milwaukee all the time and it was a good venue to see them play along with Lake Michigan in the background.

I wasn't sure what I'd be getting into with "The Lucky Old Sun". Brian is 65 and without the backing of the rest of the family, I thought I might be setting myself up for a really bad cd. Turns out that after a couple of listens it really has a good beat to it and Wilson sounds pretty good.
I know he went through a tought time in the late 60's Wilson started to distance himself drom the band and stopped being the primary songwiter of the Beach Boys. He spent the better part of the next couple of years in his bedroom, taking drugs and overeating. He was depressed and no longer creative.

The family looked to get him help and it worked for a period of time until he sunk back into the drugs and weighed over 300 pounds. He once again went into counseling and worked through his recovery. He was diagnosed as being schizphranic and bi-polar.
They had thought that wilson either fried his brains on drugs or possibly had a stroke. He wasn't the same person and it was eventually figured out that it was caused by the antipsychotic drugs he was taking. Things were changed and Wilson started to get into the swing of things.

So as Brian Wilson did with his release of Smile, he is back out on the road in support of the new cd. Check his website out www.brianwilson.com to get the dates.

So a little more thought on the new cd. I don't know much of what he was thinking when he wrote and produced it, but it has the old feel to it, like an old classic Beach Boys album. You can hear the oldness in his voice but the production of songs are well put together and the narratives are an interesting addition to the cd.

I really thought after the first pass that I was going to dump this one off the iPod and not listen to it again. After giving it a shot I really liked it and it grew fast on me. I would certainly check the samples before picking it up, but if you are an old Beach Boys/Brian Wilson fan, pick it up.

Track List:

1. That Lucky Old Sun
2. Morning Beat
3. Narrative: Room With A View
4. Good Kind Of Love
5. Forever She'll Be My Surfer Girl
6. Narrative: Venice Beach
7. Live Let Live/That Lucky Old Sun (Reprise) Medley
8. Mexican Girl
9. Narrative: Cinco De Mayo
10. California Role/That Lucky Old Sun (Reprise) Medley
11. Narrative: Between Pictures
12. Oxygen To The Brain
13. Can't Wait Too Long
14. Midnight's Another Day
15. That Lucky Old Sun (Reprise)
16. Going Home
17. Southern California

Gavin Rossdale - Live in Las Vegas At The Palms iTunes Exclusive - Review

Gavin Rossdale released his first solo cd earlier this year called Wanderlust. See my review Wanderlust CD Review. Rossdale went out and did a small tour to promote his cd this year. He covered a little of the East, West and Midwest as well. Rossdale and iTunes teamed up to take 6 tracks from the Palms show in Las Vegas to release as an EP last week.

I would like to have seen him on this tour, but he skipped Kansas City as many others do as well. It kind of sucks that we see Des Moines, IA and Omaha, NE get some cool acts, but we get nothing and we are certainly a larger market. Still some of my favorites always play here like Big Head Todd and Ryan Adams.

Rossdale’s EP is a nice group of songs and even though they are performed live, they sort of sound like the cd itself. Some artists are great that way and other, you certainly want one or the other.

This six song EP starts off with a Pixies cover “Where is my Mind” and then gets into five raw acoustic versions of songs in support for the Wanderlust CD. I like the sound of the cd and the songs and found it to be certainly worth picking up.

I wonder if Gavin will go back to being Mr. Gwen or will decide to revamp his career. I really like his voice and style, so I hope that he keeps on playing.

Track List:

Where Is MY Mind
The Trouble I'm In
Love Remains the Same
Forever May You Run
Drive
Can't Stop the World

How to Refill a Disposable Brita Brand Water Pit

So my first question is why doesn't Brita have a program to recycle it's disposable water pits? Maybe because the money they make is all in the fact that you have to buy refills from them for their products. Guess that woudl be good business for them, but not the environment. This is just another plastic that we end up tossing in a landfill about once a month. The strange thing is that Brita does have a recycle program in Europe for these, Why not the US?

I'm not sure how many people read my blogs, but I'm throwing this website link out there so that if you want to learn how to make your own refillable filters and save yourself some money and save the environment from more plastics in the landfills. Click on the following link and you too can refill your own Brita filters.

How to refill a disposable Brita water pit link

The Fringe - Pilot Review

J.J. Abrams of "Lost" and "Alias" fame is bringing us a new series for the Fall of 2008. The Fringe is another one of those x-files shows that deals with strange events at happen in the world. Sounds like they will be an investigative team that goes from one bizzaar event to another. Kind of a Torchwood meets X-Files show.

The Pilot episode takes us to Boston, MA, where a plan self lands and is filled with a bunch of dead people who are nothing but skeletons. Some flesh eating virus has taken down everone on the plane. Now it's time to get a team together to investigate this event.

FBI Agent Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv) is called in to look into what could gave caused this event to happen. Her partner, who she is having an affair with, Agent John Scott (Mark Valley) is also called to the scene and the two start their investigation. There was a lead of someone who was at the scene and when they follow it, Agent Scott ends up getting a virus that starts to eat away at his flesh. Agent Dunham now needs to find out who can help her figure out how to save her partner and solve the case.

Agent Dunham finds that the one man who can help her, Dr. Walter Bishop (John Noble), has been locked up in a mental institution for the past 17 years. The only one who can help her get to Dr. Bishop is his son Peter (Joshua Jackson). So Agent Dunham tracks down Peter and they are able to get to Dr. Bishop to help solve the problem.

So this show adds some investigative stuff along with some scientific stuff to come up with a formula that seems to work well. I think the first episode was a little graphic, but was pretty cool. I like where they intend to go with this show. Agen Dunham is approached to join a homeland security group that will investigate these strange events.

Without giving away the rest of the pilot episode, I will just say that it keeps your interest from start to end and looks like it could be a show worth watching this year.

The King of Kong:A Fistful of Quarters - A Review

The King of Kong is a documentary that brings us back to the old video game playing days. I remember in the early 80's going to arcades and playing Defender, PacMan, Centipede and all the classic video games. I din't think that they still existed these days with the home systems like Xbox 360 and PlayStation III.

The think I found most interesting about this documentary was that the defending champion and record holder of Donkey Kong, Billy Mitchell, is still lost in the 80's with that cheezy hair and beard.

So the story goes, Steve Wiebe, a laid off Boeing employee, decided that he wanted to try to beat the record score on Donkey Kong. So he set up his video camera and went to town. He broke the record and then these guys from Twin Galaxies ended up coming out to his house and tried to debunk this because of the fact that he was using a circuit board sent to him by someone they didn't think highly of.

So they asked Steve to come to New Hampshire to prove that he is truely as good as he claims to be. Weibe travels to Funspot in Laconia, NH and actually sets the record when he gets to the "Kill Screen" being the first to do this at Funspot. So as the movie portrays good old Billy Mitchell, once again does something to shoot this down. He sends in a video of him going over 1 million points, but to me the video looked suspect and since he is a Twin Galaxies dude, they accepted it and took Steve's record away that day.

The story made Billy Mitchell out to be this dude who was avoiding Steve and didn't want anything to do with this. Making him look like a big pussy to everyone watching. I guess that really wasn't the truth and that even though Billy didn't compete against Steve, he actually was friendly with him and was in contact with him.

So after many frustrating times trying to beat that record, Steve finally was able to do it in his home posting a score of 1,047,200 points. This was recognized as the world record and he finally got what he deserved. He now held the best live score and the best score video taped.

I thought it was pretty interesting to see this documentary. I hadn't though of these games in years and it was funny to still see people playing them and some nut in a referee outfit thinking he was the god of scores. Too funny! It really shows you that people can be so obsessed with some of the craziest things like old video games. It makes me want to go out and get a new Defender machine. I loved that game.

So there is always controversy when it comes to these things. The editing of the film did make it look like Billy was a tool and even though he looks lost in the 80's, I bet that he wasn't as bad as they made him out to be in editing.

The documentary was fun and worth checking out for sure. I guess that since the making of the film, Billy Mitchell has reclaimed his title scoring 1,050,200 points. Sorry Steve! Hope you get him back.

Rating 3 out of 5

Radiohead 08-28-2008 The Santa Barbara Bowl - NPR Live Broadcast

NPR (National Public Radio) - All Songs Considered Live Concert Series has been one of the best things out there for new bands as well as established artists. The series has featured Tom Waits, Swell Season, The Frams, The Ting Tings, The National, Arcade Fire, Neko Case, Wilco, The Black Keys and many other artists of all types of music. It's a wonderful series that many are also podcasted as well as you can hear them online today at NPR: All Songs Considered Live Concerts.

This weeks concert was a big surprise for me. It was Radiohead, live at The Santa Barbara Bowl in Santa Barbara, CA. It's a beautiful outdoor venue with views of the ocean and a fantastic place to see a show if you are in the area. The concert was performed on August 28th, 2008 and was the finishing touch to their American concert tour. They played a few festivals along the way and many outdoor venues. Now they head off to Japan and the Far East.

Radiohead as a band started off in Oxfordshire in 1986. They started off at Abingdon School with Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood, Colin Greenwood, Ed O'Brien and Phil Selway all attending som ein different class years. They initially formed a band called "On a Friday" referring to the day they rehearsed at school. They played some gigs in Oxfordshire and as a few of the members moved on to College, they remained playing together on weekends. In 1991 they all finished college and started working on demos.


They signed their first record deal with EMI in 1991, a 6 record deal, and changed their name to Radiohead. At first they didn't get raidio time because BBC Radio 1 felt that their music was too depressing. They started to work with new producers to get a bit of a change and in 1992 released the song "Creep". The album Pablo Honey was released in February of 1993 and Radiohead began to build a bit of a fan base. It was the 1994 album "The Bends" that really gave them the popularity in music. From that point on they have gained popularity all over the world and put out a couple of great albums including Amnesiac, OK Computer, Kid A and Hail to the Theif.

After a small break in playing Radiohead decided to release their next album independently and under a "pay what you feel is right" setting. The Album In Rainbows was released on October 10, 2007 and was downloaded 1.2 million time on the day they released it on their website. It was a new concept to basically give the album away as many people didn't offer to pay that much for it. I felt it was worth giving them £5 since that is the going rate in the US for a digital download. They did release a physical cd format of "In Rainbows" in December of 2007 and began an extensive tour of the world.

So giving you a little background on the band for those who don't know much about them. It's hard to describe Radiohead's style of music. Live especially, they can go on these long jams of music and they just blend well togetherwith what they do. I wouldn't call it experimental, but it's not like a lot of other bands out there and a lot of other bands have tried to create a style like Radiohead. This would include some of Coldplay's music. I think they have openly said that they have been influenced by Radiohead.

I wasn't at the show at The Santa Barbara Bowl, but I felt like I was there listening to this one on NPR. I didn't realize it, but they did webcast the whole show on their website as well, but with the Podcast available for download, you can listen to this audio performance over and over. The show was 25 songs and a really nice setlist (see below). It was quite nice kicking back listening to the show at the house. To me Radiohead is one of those bands that you want to see live sitting in a big lounge chain with a beer in your hand. .

The flow of the show was nice with some great tunes played like Optimistic, Nude, National Anthem, Karma Police, Paranoid Android, Faust Arp and many others. Thom York sounds pretty relaxed playing live. Their studio work has always been pretty cool stuff and they sound pretty good live as well. They certainly create some new versions or jams to certain songs when they are live.

To hear this show streaming and see the setlist and review go to Radiohead Live at The Santa Barbara Bowl NPR:ASC Concerts. You can always get a copy at NPR or through iTunes as well in the podcast section.
I would certainly recommend getting this one as you will then have it to listen to over and over if you are a big fan. From time to time I will review other shows like this that I watched or listened to on the web or radio.

Set List:
Reckoner
Optimistic
There There
15 Step
All I Need
Nude
Talk Show Host
Weird Fishes/Arpeggi
The Gloaming
Morning Bell
National Anthem
Faust Arp
No Surprises
Jigsaw Falling Into Place
The Bends
Karma Police
Bodysnatchers

First Encore:
Cymbal Rush
House of Cards
Paranoid Android
Go Slowly
Everything in Its Right Place

Second Encore:
Videotape
Lucky
Idioteque

American Idol - Kansas City 08-29 Concert Review

So my wife is 9 months pregnant due the following Monday and we end up taking my Niece and Nephew to The Sprint Center to see the American Idol 2008 Tour. This is obviously a big stop as David Cook is a local.

I watched the American Idol show this season, but never would have thought that I would have ended up going to actually see one of these concerts.

The top 10 contestants all go out on the tour and perform individual and group songs. Because fo the strong group this year they had contestants 3-10 do 3 songs each and David Arculeta did 4 and David Cook did 5.

So my biggest concern of the night was to make sure I had a good parking spot close by and to be prepared in case my wife went into labor. So fortunately in the 2 1/2 hour set that was done we survived without incident and made it home.

So Chikezie came out first and did a few numbers followed by Romiele, both were ok like on the show. Then Michael Johns came out and got everyone going. He played some Queen and did a great job. Kristy Lee Cook followed up looking nice these days in her tight pants and low cut top, or high cut that is. She sang some country tunes and the Proud to be an American song. She put on a good performance.

Carly Smithson came out and did some of the numbers she did on TV followed by Brooke White who did her Let It Be as well as Coldplay's Yellow. Jason, where's the weed, Castro came out and did Somewhere Over the Rainbow with his ukelele and a couple other tunes. Not bad, but not great. then Syesha Mercado did a couple of songs that were nice.

David Archuleta did some tunes, but not his new hit single Crush. I'm surprised they didn't try to get that one in for some sales. He had the little girls all screaming and actually sang pretty good.

The night was almost over, but it was David Cook that most were there to see. He came out in a KC Chiefs jersey and jammed out some tunes that he did on the show. He played a cool version of Hero, from Foo Fighters, dedicating it to his brother Adam. He also did Time of My Life and Billy Jean as well as an Aerosmith tune. There was one other, but I can't remember.

It was actually a pretty performance from all the Idols. The place was packed and the people went crazy all night long. A fun time for something I never thought I would do.

It wasn't until the next day at 4pm that my wife called me from the shopping mall to tell me that her water broke and she was on her way home. 2 1/2 hours later our son was born. A pretty good weekend I would say.

90210 - Pilot Review

The new CW version of Beverly Hills 90210 aired this week on CW. The difference between this one and the last is that the Wilson family moved from Kansas and not Minnesota. As far as the rest, it's all the same issues, stories and soap opera of the original, just brought up to date.

The funny thing is that when the old version of the show aired, I never saw so many people grow sideburns. I actually was one of those goofballs. Oh the cheese of the 80's!

3 of the original actors play themselves in this version. The Pit dude is back as well as Brenda and Kelly. They are actually playing their old roles brought up to date. Kelly is the school guidance counselor who is a single mom with a 4 year old boy.

So the Wilson family moves from Kansas so that Harry, played by Rob Estes, can take care of his drunk rich mother. He is the principal at BH High. They have a daughter, Annie, played by Shenae Grimes, and an adopted son Dixon, played by Tristan Wilds, who was on HBO's The Wire. He played a corner boy running drugs turned to hitman. Now he's a 90210 boy. Lori Laughlin playes their mother, Debbie.

This season will be filled with all sorts of strange drama based on the way the first episode went. Harry Wilson was a ladies man in the day when he attended Beverly Hilss High and some of those ladies are still around.

It seems like they are going to bring on the same teen drama of the original. Sex, Drugs, Gossip and mystery. So my thoughts after putting myself through the first two hours was that I probably won't be spending my Tuesday nights watching this one.

I think it would have the appeal for the young 16-25 year old crowd maybe, but not for the 40 somethings out there. Unrealistic high school situations and stupid drama puts this one in the crapper for me. It will probably last more than one season as it was CW's highest watched show, but I honestly think that will die down and it could potentially be gone after one season.

The Sons of Anarchy - Pilot Review

The Sons of Anarchy is a new show that FX has brought to us for the Fall season. Like many other FX shows this one pushes the limits of the FCC with violence & drugs. The Pilot episode aired this week and was just over an hour in length with commercials. Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club, Redwood Original Charter (SAMCRO/"Sam Crow" or SOA for short), are a group of bikers from just outside of Oakland in a small town called Charming, CA. The SOA are gun runners and hold regular 40 hour a week jobs as well. The head of the group is Clay Morrow, played by Ron Perman. Clay is married to Gemma Teller Morrow, played by Katay Sagal. She's a tough woman and even though her husband was one of the founding members of the gang, she really runs the show. Her son, Jax Teller, played by Charlie Hunnam, is the future leader of the gang and as he's looking through some of his fathers old stuff, he comes across a manuscript of that talks about houw the gang lost it's way. Jax's old man had visions of a hippie type group that didn't believe in violence, but ran the gang as a social type place.

Now Jax is getting some thoughts of changing things. Jax's ex-wife is pregnant with their son. She is a meth head and damn near kills the kid during a drug overdose. The kid is born with a hole in is stomach and a heart defect. Somehow he makes it out alive. Jax wants to be a good father and also wants to be loyal to the club.

The club has an enemy the "Mayans". They are an Oakland based motorcycle gang that wants in on what the SOA are doing. They come up and steal a shipment of guns and blow up the building. This starts a war between the two.

Edit:

Since my original watching of the first episode I decided to give the show a chance and actually think there's more to it. Here's what I originally wrote:

So with that summary I will give you my thoughts on the first week of the show. I think it is too violent, doesn't have a good messgae at all. It so far has glamorized, drinking, drugs and violence. It really doesn't have anywhere good to go.

The writing is poor, the story line is poor and overall it seems like a low budget piece of crap that got a few big names to join in. I don't think it will be the replacement for The Shield and I certainly don't think it's going to last more that one season, maybe 6 episodes tops.

I didn't think much after the first episode of the show, it was a little more violent than I really planned on watching, but then again, so is The Shield. I'm still a few episodes to go and I will revise my summary of the whole show in a new post. I'm leaving this one up as a reminder to not just a show on it's pilot alone.

Cheers!
Dave P.

Pineapple Express - Movie Review

OK, when I started to watch this movie, the first five minutes of the movie had me on the floor laughing my ass off. I damn near pissed in my pants watching those first five minutes of the movie. It was a great scene showing the government doing secret lab tests on the effects of Pot back in the 60's or something like that.

Flash forward after I laugh for another 5 minutes and Seth Rogan appears and he's a process server who likes to smoke pot and has a 17 year old girlfriend who is a senior in High School and he is 25

The basic gist of the story is that he get's this good weed from James Franco's character called Pineapple Express and it's a one of a kind. Seth Rogan goes off to serve a supena and witnesses a murder. He tosses his roach on the ground and takes off. The guy who he just saw murder someone is the dealer of the Pineapple Express and smells the roach and now tries to track him down.

So from here starts the corny adventure.

Actually after the first five minutes of the movie, you might as well pack it up and leave. This one really was stupid and I would have to guess that if I smoked up a joint, I'd still feel the same way after watching it.

It wasn't funny, it was filled with already used dumb humor that Rogan has used in other films before. There was nothing original about it and unlike Superbad, this one won't get funnier each time you see it.

Wait to rent it or better yet, wait until it's on HBO or Showtime.

Rating: 1/2 out of 5