CTC Command

That video was hilarious--cool that the band played all the parts instead of hiring actors. Of course, Dio was all about high camp, too. The king/drummer had a honking big ring on at the end--how much do think that thing's worth?

Someone might finally be coming to take one the pianos that are in the front living room. We are also supposed to meet the new tenants for the rental property at noon tomorrow and sign a 6 month lease. Which is nice, because we've been carrying the mortgage there since May. And then the dumpster should be showing up--we're doing some serious cleaning out both there and here. But this means there's little chance I'll be able to make it over to the Newport Jazz Festival tomorrow--it's an awesome lineup... :( Then there's the grass...all this rain has made it all wet and growwy. I am not sure what exactly we're doing for fun. Something. It's a three day weekend here. RI is one the only states that still celebrates the end of WW II.

I really didn't want to believe it...when vm first voiced his suspicions I was thinking wtf buddy, but as evidence started piling up, or lack of... The relationships we forge online are so real yet so tenuous, how do you really "know" someone from just the internet? Then again, sometimes we don't even know the people we know. Take my ex-wife, for example.

Anyone who wants to, read the entire 4 page saga and whodunnit here Also, I am not sure if who else ere donated to the arbor day fund--I did. vm and liv over at FF will refund anyone's money who no longer wants to donate...I'm leaving mine in. Tree's a good cause.

For everyone here who has been following the news of the death of bear, a disturbing update. In the course of mourning his death and setting up some sort of memorial, (which some of us here at BeatKing have contributed to) one of the admins over at freethought went looking for bear's obit online. (They had his real name and address because he had participated in the "secret santa" there last xmas.) Nothing turned up. Nothing in any of the local newspapers about an accidental death, not even a death notice, nothing. Other ff's also searched and searched...nothing. Someone else made a timeline of his death to burial based on the information his sister had provided--it came out rather rushed and just added to the oddness of the whole thing. Finally some forensic work on the email address his "sister" used finally connected the rest of the dots... I've encountered some really weird online behavior before, but this takes the cake. Never would have guessed this in a million years--he had me fooled. Anyway, just thought I'd pass this along. wtf.

The alterna/pop dynamo Superdrag went on an indefinite hiatus about 4 years ago when singer/guitarist John Davis decided to pursue a solo career. Now according to Superdrag's MySpace Page, "After 8 years, the original lineup of Superdrag will be touring together again. " Here are the dates Superdrag.com has tickets online. The band also recently put out a new release of 8-track demo's and live recordings called Changin' Tires on the Road to Ruin. Here's what allmusic's Mark Deming has to say about it: Some bands have more worthwhile songs than places to put them, and this seems to be the case with Knoxville, TN's guitar pop powerhouse Superdrag. Given the steady stream of singles the band has cranked out during their lifespan, John Davis and his bandmates clearly generate more material than they can use up at the rate they record albums, and Changin' Tires on the Road to Ruin is a collection of demo tapes and live recordings that offers alternate versions of five tunes from earlier Superdrag albums, and nine songs that have never made it onto a long-player before. Most of the tracks on Changin' Tires were recorded on cassette, so the production lacks something in the way of gloss, but as a set of songs, this is as consistently enjoyable as anything Superdrag have put out since Regretfully Yours in 1996, and "Here We Come," "She Says," "I Am Incinerator" and "Relocate My Satellites" deliver the kind of high quality melodies and high octane hooks that made this act a favorite in the first place. And despite the no-frills recording, the band sounds tight and forceful when they turn up the amps in their demo studio; most of these performances recall the straightforward energy of a good live tape than anything else, and the final two tracks, recorded during a 2003 gig at Nashville's Exit/In, offer further evidence of how good Superdrag can be when they hit their stride in front of an enthusiastic audience. Some listeners not already hip to Superdrag might be put off by the scratchy lo-fi sound of a few tracks, but fans will have much less trouble listening through the flawed audio (which is actually pretty good most of the time) and enjoying the great songs and estimable energy at the heart of these 14 tracks. The buzz track everyone remembers was " ," but I always liked the MBV edge to this track from Regretfully Yours, "Destination Ursa Major." They also did a cool version of The Pixies "Wave Of Mutilation." And here is a live version of "Slot Machine / Phaser" (coincidently a former a 'track of the week' at the bottom of this post) that gives a good picture of the energy Superdrag projects at their live shows. Recommending that anyone who can make it to any of these shows not to miss them. Superdrag has always been a consistently awesome live outfit, and it's hard to say when or if they will be doing this again.

Wow Spud--I am not sure why life does this, goes along well for a while then all of a sudden a pile of problems lands on us like a ton of bricks. But it does. If for nothing else it helps me realize how fortunate I am even when life seems a bit mundane... I'm just glad that you're ok, and I hope things start to go better for you and yours as soon as soon as.

I thought it was spam at first too. Then I opened it and...it was!

Not that Hagar--Sammy! The Red Rocker!

Or sad. Probably funny and sad all at the same time. See you there.

spring

Wow. I'm sorry to hear about your health problems Richard--I hope this treatment works like they say it will, and you will be better soon. Constant positive thoughts of your health are emanating steadily from here to there, my friend. Come back when you can and let us know how you are doing.

To follow the entire process behind this memorial effort, go here. I pm'd liv and asked her how we here might be able to donate too. If anyone here at BeatKing wants to donate to FreeThought Forum's arbor day planting, go here, scroll down and click . When you get to the paypal page, at the top where it says "item" make a note that it's for the tree fund up top where you enter the amount. I'll post a link over at to our thread here Dude, and see if I can pass the word on to Dave's sister too.

Dave's friends over at FF are in the process of putting together some kind of memorial for Dave...they are are going to set something up using paypal or liv might set it up though the FF forum donation system, for some kind of memorial tree or tree planting. If anyone here is interesting in contributing or if there is enough consensus here to add our wealth to theirs, let me know.

Here's one of my birthday cards...

Awesome bmc! I've been into QOTSA since they were Kyuss--Josh Homme is one evil mofo on the guitar. I got within about 40 feet of them at a show in Boston couple years ago, but my TREO takes such crappy pictures they aren't worth posting. Thanks!

Orlando

Same here! Been thinking thinking about you, old friend! Happy (belated) birthday! Eat some leftover cake! Get laid!

Gah! The dreaded double post!

There's just way too much going on to keep track.

The FCC, that bastion of decency and wholesomeishness, recently gave out the call letters KUNT to a yet-unbuilt low-power digital television station in Wailuku, Maui... They also handed out KWTF to the same station owner. Apparently the system for giving out call letters is now all automated, so all kinds of interesting combinations could be on the horizon. WPWN'd!

Kiss Alive II. My first Kiss album, 1978. When my mother saw that photo of Gene Simmons, she totally lost it--she wanted my dad to turn the car around so she could make me could return it to Midland Records. But we were on the interstate, and I had already peeled the plastic off... Oh, and hopefully this news about Paul Stanley won't mean Kiss will have to end their farewell tour

I read this last night over at FF... We knew him here at BK as bear. He passed away last week after taking a bad fall by himself out in the woods--his sister was kind enough to leave that post over at FF letting us know, otherwise how would we ever know when something happens to someone we know only online? I am terribly bummed out about this...I "met" Dave (aka bear) over at FreeThought, and in the course of spamming the forums there I mentioned this place--he pm'd me to get the address, he thought BeatKing sounded like a cool place, and he has become one of our own here. He was one of the more thoughtful, interesting, introspective, and affective people I have encountered in my time on the internet--only a handful of people (including some of the folks here) have made an impression like he has, like a kindred spirit that I would instantly know and like if I ever had met him out there in "real life." How much do we really "know" anyone that we "meet" in an online forum? I don't know the answer to that question, but I do know that I am going to really really miss our friend bear.

Thanks youse guys!