In striving to make the world a better place, by spreading the blissful two words of Heavy Metal (and any and all Extreme Music), here is a cool list of Greatest Hits CD’s from some very worthy bands and musicians. This list may quite possibly trigger a mad dash to itunes or your nearest record/CD store upon your review. Greatest Hits or Best Of CD’s are sometimes the perfect fix if you do not have any of the respective band’s albums/CD’s already. If you are like me, (a collector and sometimes over excited fan), you may like some or many bands so much, you just need to own everything that is available by such bands, including Greatest Hits. If this list of incredible Greatest Hits CD’s recruits even one new fan to the Heavy/Extreme Music genres, then I have done a fine Metal deed. Please note, I own each Greatest Hits or so named CD on this list… I could never recommend an album/CD without listening to it’s entirety and/or having ownership of. Integrity in Heavy Metal Music recommendations is an ethical must.

The Best Of Ted Nugent – Great Gonzos! – Absolutely a Hard Rock meets Heavy Metal fusion with The Motor City Madman. Cat Scratch Fever, Stranglehold, Wango Tango, Free For All and Dog Eat Dog are late 1970’s into early 1980’s FM radio Classics. Old School and not a lick here that isn’t memorable for Metal life. Plus, the reissue has 3 bonus tracks too.

IRON MAIDEN – Somewhere Back In Time/The Best Of 1980 – 1989 - An undeniably great assortment of Iron Maiden classics, spanning the unreal Metal ’80’s. 2 Minutes To Midnight and The Trooper are enough to get me psyched out of my Metal mind for at least an hour. In my Metal opinion, Iron Maiden could have/should have released a 2 – disc greatest hits, they have that many incredible songs in their Metal catalog. Yes they do.

Jimi Hendrix - Experience Hendrix: The Best of Jimi Hendrix - A Hard Rock evolving into Heavy Metal history lesson is heard here on this album. This album of Jimi Hendrix songs are beyond great… their damn sacred. Purple Haze, The Wind Cries Mary, Hey Joe, Foxy Lady, All Along The Watchtower and the Rock historical – Star Spangled Banner… c’mon, these songs are the Metal building blocks of every Heavy Metal and/or Hard Rock genre out there today. 20 songs total on this masterful collection, not a must have… a no brainer must own.

DIO – The Very Best Of DIO – Ronnie James Dio is a living Metal legend. His vocals for me, are the epitome of what Heavy Metal singing is all about. Dio’s solo career takes center stage on this amazing collection of greatest hits. Holy Diver, Rainbow In The Dark, Rock and Roll Children, Mystery and The Last In Line are DIO songs that pack the same potent Metal punch to my ears and senses… as they did back in the 1980’s. 16 songs total on this DIO disc. Metal masterpieces only sound better with age.

Black Sabbath – The Dio Years - I find this collection of Black Sabbath songs to be uncannily irresistible. These are the Black Sabbath songs from the Ronnie James Dio era, with the Heaven and Hell, Mob Rules, Live Evil and Dehumanizer albums all represented. This same Black Sabbath lineup may be called Heaven and Hell in 2009, yet does it really matter? Their still Black Sabbath to me.

Twisted Sister – Big Hits and Nasty Cuts – Dee Snider made Heavy Metal all the more visible on MTV with the Twisted Sister video We’re Not Gonna Take It, back in 1984. This Twisted Sister greatest hits album is loaded with 6 live bonus tracks as well. This is another band that could easily fill up more than one disc of great songs from their Heavy Metal catalog. Under The Blade and The Kids Are Back are my two favorites on this one.

KISS – Double Platinum – I have proudly owned this album since it’s release back in 1978. I was in seventh grade back then and this was my very first KISS album. My Double Platinum album is still in beautiful condition too. A 2 record set, opening up as a gatefold, this album also included a platinum record certificate to the fan who purchased it. (I wish I kept this piece of KISS memorabilia, it was just made of paper and it hung on my bedroom wall for several years, when I was a kid of course). The important thing is I still have Double Platinum on vinyl… plus I upgraded Double Platinum by buying the CD many years ago too. (It is not a double CD, all the songs are on just one… I don’t know if this ever changed over to a double CD over the years). Just about every important and cool KISS song from the 1970’s is on Double Platinum, with Hard Luck Woman and Calling Dr. Love being my two vintage KISS favorites.

Queensryche - Sign of the Times, The Best Of Queensryche – Buying this CD suited me well since many of my Queensryche “albums” were purchased on cassette years ago. Queensryche has always been a favorite of mine, a high powered – progressive Metal Band that crossed over into Rock and Hard Rock too. Musical diversity is no stranger to Queensryche. My two favorites are Queen of the Reich and Jet City Woman. Yes, those two songs are tops on my list.

Alice Cooper – Alice Coopers Greatest Hits – This album was released back in 1974, it is the Greatest Hits of Alice Cooper (The Band). Man, this is Old School Heavy Metal. Sure, some may argue it is comprised of Old School Hard Rock as well… that is fine by me. The Metal bottom line is this: Alice Cooper (The Band), was just as much as important to the creation of Heavy Metal as any other band of their time or before them. That is my Metal opinion and I have to tell it to the world. Oh, yeah, my favorite songs from this Greatest Hits are – No More Mr. Nice Guy, Under My Wheels and well, just every song on this Greatest Hits is great.

Motorhead – The Best Of Motorhead - This is one great and comprehensive double disc, greatest hits of Motorhead. I bought this Motorhead disc due to my needing any and all of their releases, regardless if I already have the songs. This Best Of was released in 2000, with two live bonus tracks included. There are 40 songs total on this double disc Motorhead bounty! Also found on The Best Of Motorhead are: Hawkwind playing Motorhead, Girlschool covers Bomber and Headgirl covering Please Don’t Touch. The history of Motorhead is covered up to the year 2000, from Ace of Spades to the Motorhead cover version of God Save The Queen. Plus, my favorite Motorhead song of all time is on here too – Killed By Death, from the No Remorse (Greatest Hits album). Long live Lemmy and Motorhead.

I could go on and on with this list of Heavy Metal Greatest Hits CD’s worth owning. Showing and quipping about some of the Greatest Hits CD’s I own, can maybe help out someone who is on the fence about one of these bands or musicians. These CD’s above are all consistently listened to by me, they are perfect for when I’m in the mood to hear the choice songs from these bands/musicians. As Dee Snider has sung, with Heavy Metal pride: You can’t stop Rock and Roll!

I, for one, tend to prefer older music to the music of today. There will be a much longer post about this coming soon. However here are a few of my favourite older artists and songs.

Joni Mitchell: Both Sides Now

Jefferson Airplane: White Rabbit

Blue Oyster Cult: Don’t fear the Reaper

Kansas: Carry on my Wayward Son

Ted Nugent: Stranglehold

Triumph: Fight The Good Fight

“Burning Up Nashville” with Sage Keffer

By Emily J Ramey

Written for American Music Channel: Songwriter’s Muse

Sage Keffer

Sage Keffer is excited about country music.  And I’m not just talking about looking forward to getting a hit song on the radio, or enthusiastic about his upcoming album, or optimistic that the CMT reality show he’s featured in this spring is going to garner some well-warranted publicity.  This man is buzzing with contagious energy.

As I sit down with him in his office on 18th Ave. in Nashville, Keffer is positively bursting with anecdotes and witticisms and lessons learned.  At first, I thought Sage Keffer might have just had a little too much coffee that morning or that he was just thrilled about all the opportunities he’s come across since he made the infamous move to Music City, but over the course of our interview, I realize that he’s just a dynamic kind of guy, and when you get him talking about his journey and his experiences in country music, he’s refreshingly passionate about every step of the way, burning for each new endeavor on his way up.

Sage Keffer, in his own words, is capable of a well-blended variety of genres: “it goes anywhere from rock and country to jazz and country; there’s even a bit of a Latin mixture.”  In my words, Keffer has an uncanny ability to transform between songs and manifest himself and his voice in each new number with unconventionally diverse skill and delightful effortlessness.  However, in talking with Sage, he reveals that his natural presence and musical ability didn’t always come easy.

“When I moved to Nashville I didn’t know how to play the guitar,” Keffer admits.  “If I thought about it, I could make a D chord, C chord, and that was about it.”  Keffer, young, green, and ambitious, didn’t let idle his fingers for long, though.

“I was told to go to the Bluebird Cafe, and I started hanging out there, and I saw this lady named Ellen Britton, and I thought, what do you know?  I found a guitar teacher,” Keffer laughs.  “Little did I know that there’re musicians everywhere here and it’s hard not to find a guitar teacher or songwriter.

“I took lessons from her for quite some time,” Keffer continues, “and then when the money started running short, I started mowing her yard in exchange for lessons.  I did that for a couple of summers, and I just can’t say enough great things about her.

“My goal initially was to just get to the point where I could accompany myself, but now I even give a guitar lesson or two now.  I’m certainly no Brad Paisley or Keith Urban, you know, but I can do alright,” he finishes.

Astounded at the brazen courage with which Keffer replanted himself and his dreams in Nashville, I am compelled to unearth his musical past.

“I grew up playing the violin in orchestra and I also sang in choir, so I had classical music theory behind me,” Keffer replies, but it seems evident that his true passion has always been in singing country music though.

“By the time my freshman year ended at the University of Denver, I was like, ‘I do not want to be a vocal major anymore,’ because I was learning how to sing in Old English and Italian.  And my heart’s always been in country music. [...] My goal has always been move to Nashville. [...] So I finished up my degree in psychology, and moved down here immediately.”

“In kindergarten,” Keffer explains further, “I wanted to be a singer, an actor, a writer, a boxer, and an astronaut, and I always knew I wanted to sing country music, so when I graduated college, I thought I could either move to LA, do acting, and then get into country music, or move to Nashville, do country music, and then get into acting.  I always admired the careers of Dwight Yoakam or Harry Connick, Jr. who have been able to do well in both and be pretty well respected in both.”

When asked, “Why country music?” Keffer’s answer is honest and simple: “Country music has always been influential to me because it’s always been about real life – the trials and the tribulations… and the good, happy stuff too.”

For Sage Keffer country music was a given.  And Nashville was an easy choice; however, making it in this city harbored unforeseen challenges for the Colorado native – songwriting being the most prominent, and the most formidable.

“The reason I’m here is because I love performing onstage, so when I moved out here, I had not done much writing,” he tells me.  “I had composed some music growing up and in college, not a whole lot of journaling or writing, so when I moved out here, I found out writing was huge.”

But of course, Keffer was not to be discouraged.  He saw his lack of experience not as a barrier but as a call to action.

“I started attending the Bluebird every night, I started studying, I’d go see Jason Blume’s class over at BMI, I got involved with NSAI,” recalls Keffer.  “I started studying songwriting, since that was going to be very important as one of the key aspects of being an artist here in Nashville.  You pretty much have to do it all.”

In just the short amount of time I’ve known Sage Keffer, it seems obvious to me the kind of man he is: undaunted and hard-working, optimistic and full of life.  Keffer is willing to talk about how far he’s come and how much he has yet to do.  I can almost anticipate his next words about cultivating his songwriting expertise:

“I’ve done a whole lot of bad writing, trying to get better.  That’s what it takes.  You have got to be willing to put yourself out there and mess up a whole lot in order to ever get something right.

Keffer then sums up his overall philosophy on songwriting material: “As an artist, I believe in singing the best material available.  I believe that a lot of my own material now is holding up along with the other material that I’ve been pitched, and finally of the same caliber.

“What I’m saying,” he clarifies, “is that I’m not opposed to cutting outside material.  I’ll probably always be a half-and-half type of person.  I think Alan Jackson has been wise – he cuts his own best material, and he also takes in outside material that’s also terrific, and to me, that’s the smart way to go.”

As far as writing style goes, Sage Keffer is a self-proclaimed ideas person, but I’m certain he brings his musical chops to the table as well; he’s just too humble to say so.

“I love writing with people that are great lyricists,” Keffer tells me.  “I love going into co-writing sessions with most of music already done and then hashing out the lyrics together, or sometimes I’ll get lyrics, and I’ll come back to them with three different songs, and say, ‘Which melody do you like?’

“I’m more of a music person and an ideas person,” he explains, “and I’m still working on the lyrics aspect of it. […] I know what I’m looking for musically, but in terms of topics and lyrics, probably what I write about is stuff that is more of a day-to-day kind of thing, about real life – both the joys and the lows of real life.  I don’t have a certain agenda that’s on my mind.

“I like to use my own personal experiences, but I also believe as an artist, we are actors.  We don’t always have to sing about something that happened to us.  It’s just important that we’re able to relate,” Keffer concludes profoundly.

So, Sage Keffer learned how to play guitar and how to write songs after he came to Nashville.  I suppose the only thing we know he brought with him in the move was his voice, and he wasted no time making an impression on Music City.  In fact, he’s a three-time veteran of our own Nashville Star.

“I made it to the nationals, all three seasons.  That was great training.  Let me tell you – you don’t do contests to win.  I mean sure, it’s great if you win, but it’s all part of your training,” Keffer elaborates.  “If you can have a strong enough stomach to go up there and have those judges rip you to shreds in front of everybody, then you can start handling bigger things.  I’m constantly putting myself in challenging situations.”

But Nashville Star probably seems like a walk in the park compared to the challenging situation Keffer got himself into last year.  Sage will be making an appearance on CMT’s reality show Running Wild with Ted Nugent airing in the spring.

“We filmed it last February at a ranch in Waco, TX.  Working with Ted Nugent was certainly very interesting,” he describes.  “He is definitely a larger-than-life character when the camera is rolling, and tones it down slightly when the camera is off.  He is… an entertainer.

“Being on a reality show is…,” Keffer trails off, searching for an appropriate word.  “Well, [Nugent] hunts us for 24 hours in the wilderness, so it was a very, very rough time.  The whole show was pretty rough.  They withheld water, they withheld food, I got six hours of sleep over three days, and I’ve never been so cold in my life.  Reality TV is certainly an interesting format of entertainment.

“I’m fortunate to have had the opportunity to be on the show, though,” he sums up, “and I learned a lot about myself by being on the show because it was such a large challenge that I ended up doing things that I didn’t know I could do.”

Looking into the future beyond the TV show, Sage Keffer’s got a lot happening, most importantly the pending release of his second full-length album.  I, of course, sought out a little insight on the new material.

“The difference between my first CD and my second CD is that on [Rules of the Game], I didn’t know any better and I thought it was okay to do a wide variety of material, but on this new album I’ve really been working to distill myself down in order to be more marketable and recognizable,” Keffer reveals.  “When we were looking to track my second CD, I said, ‘We’re looking at a combination between Dwight Yoakam, Chris Isaac, and George Strait – moody, interesting rhythms, but still traditional enough to be just country.’”

My next question is predictably about tour schedules, but it looks like most of next year’s booking is still being finalized.  All that’s certain is that Keffer is “working on booking some gigs in Europe, and [he’s] got a show at the Wildhorse here in Nashville on the 15th of December.”

Sage Keffer is not only a refreshingly diverse and capable new personality in country music, he’s also one of the most solid and unpretentious people I’ve ever met.  He has an articulate idea of where he’s going, as well as a clear idea of where he’s from and the effort he’s put in to get to this stage.  I think his own words better interpret the point I’m making:

“I really plan on living a pretty extraordinary life.”

And he’s making it happen… so that Nashville can burn a little brighter.

1902 words

As my iPod shuffles through songs Fred Bear by Ted Nugent starts to fill my ears with the thrill of the hunt. Which seems a bit poetic with the firearm deer hunting season starting this weekend.

I am not a hunter. It’s on my bucket-list – deer hunting at least once in my life. So, I am not against hunting, but…I have a hard time with a controlled hunt. What I mean is baiting or going to a “hunting” ranch.

In Michigan there are places that you can pay a lot of money to go for a weekend hunt on private property that is fenced off so the deer only have that couple of square miles to roam. In simplest terms I will refer this to “shooting fish in a barrel.” I just think it is wrong.

Previously – as I drive by one of these all the time – I thought it was just deer. The other day I saw Buffalo. This bothered me. Buffalo are not native to northern Michigan and this place is not a zoo. I decided to google ”hunting+big game+Michigan” and was surprised to find a place not too far from me (not the one that I drive by) that offers Buffalo and Elk hunts along with deer.  

Although this is more than likely legal I believe it borders on animal cruelty, especially when it involves animals that are not native to a specific area or region. What do you think?

PLAY THE TED NUGENT INTERVIEW

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SEXY MEN OF ROCK AND ROLL

I’m convinced that if I was born 30 years earlier, I would have been a groupie.  And if I was, these are the men I would have had my eye on, both for their careless good looks and god-like talent.

1. David Gilmour – There are no words. This is my definition of a rock god.

2. Jim Morrison – He may have been a little bit crazy, but I want to hear him recite poetry and run my fingers through that hair.

3. Jimi Hendrix: Aww, look at those dimples! And it doesn’t hurt that he’s pretty much the best guitar player ever.

4. David Bowie – I don’t care that he looks like a woman sometimes. His voice is like velvet and I adore him.

5. Roger Daltrey – There’s no harder, hotter body in rock and roll and he’s got a sweet set of…lungs.

6. Ted Nugent – He’s a redneck, yes and this photo also makes him look like a douche-bag, but the The Nuge can play guitar and he’s hot. 

7. Joe Strummer – His eyes are sad and beautiful and he has one of those  faces that I just want to take in my hands, and stare at.

 8. Marvin Gaye  - He’s not a rock star per say, but look how adorable he is! And I’d probably pass out if I’d ever heard him sing in person.

9. Frank Zappa – Strange choice I know, but Zappa is weirdly interesting and watching him shred shirtless is pretty amazing. 

10. Billy Idol –  Perhaps the most cliche rock star on the list, but you can’t deny his hotness.

Kelsey Mae in the Middle

Hi there…Here’s some stuff…

Big Birthdays
~ 1942 Johnny Rivers born in NYC, still touring and recording  (www.johnnyrivers.com) Just look at this partial list of Top 40 hits!!…”Memphis”, “Mountain of Love”, “Midnight Special”, “Seventh Son”, “Secret Agent Man”, “(I Washed My Hands In) Muddy Water”, “Poor Side of Town”, “Baby I Need Your Lovin”, “The Tracks of My Tears“, “Summer Rain”, “Rockin’ Pneumonia-Boogie Woogie Flu”, “Swayin’ To The Music (Slow Dancin’).
~1943 Joni Mitchell Alberta Canada, singer/songwriter/painter (Clouds)

Interesting Firsts for This Date
~1874 1st cartoon depicting elephant as Republican Party symbol, by T Nast
~1942 1st US President to broadcast in a foreign language-FDR in French

Fab Four Fact Fix
~1967, The Beatles finished recording ‘Blue Jay Way’, ‘Flying’ and ‘Magical Mystery Tour.’ The Beatles have only six songs, not enough for an album so decided to issue a double-EP. Capitol Records didn’t think the double-EP format would be acceptable for the US market, so they decide to put out an album instead. The six “Magical Mystery Tour” songs with five of the six songs from The Beatles’ 1967 singles went on side two.

Deeep Thoughts
~”I am not a vegetarian because I love animals. I am a vegetarian because I hate plants.”-A. Whitney Brown
~”I don’t want to achieve immortality through my work… I want to achieve immortality by not dying.”-Woody Allen
~”I had a lovely evening. Unfortunately, this wasn’t it.”-Groucho Marx

Late Night Humor
(Leno)
~Secretary of State Hillary Clinton scolded Pakistan leaders for not going after al-Qaida and just pretending they didn’t see a problem that everyone else in the world could see. Ouch! Imagine Hillary Clinton lecturing you on turning a blind eye to a problem that the rest of the world could see.
(Conan)
~Walt Disney Theme Parks have started giving visually impaired visitors a hand-held device that describes the attractions they are seeing. Apparently it’s a tape-recorder that keeps repeating, “You are standing in a line of 300 people.”
(Ferguson)
~I’ve never understood Japanese dining. I always thought it was a put-on. “Let’s see if we can get these people to eat raw fish with sticks . . . and then get them to drink hot wine . . . and then we’ll make them sit on the floor without shoes . . .”
~The largest cruise ship ever built set sail for the first time from Finland to Miami…The ship has a park, golf courses, a shopping mall . . . all the things you can do on land with the added excitement of possibly sinking.

Lots in Music Notes
~1967, Reg Dwight (Elton John) and his song writing partner Bernie Taupin signed to DJM publishing, their signatures had to be witnessed by their parents because they were both under 21 years of age. Taupin answered an advertisement for a lyric writer placed in the New Musical Express, the pair have since collaborated on over 30 albums.
~1974, Ted Nugent won a National Squirrel-shooting contest after picking off a squirrel at 150 yards. The heavy metal guitarist also shot dead 27 other mammals during the three day event.
~1981, Hall and Oates started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Private Eyes’, the duo’s third US No.1,
~1987, Bruce Springsteen went to No.1 on the US album chart with ‘Tunnel Of Love.’
~1987, Tiffany became the youngest act to score a US No.1 since Michael Jackson (‘Ben’, in 1972) with ‘I Think we’re Alone Now’.
~1995 The Captain and Tennille (Daryl Dragon and Toni Tennille), hitmakers from the 1970s, renew their wedding vows in Virginia City, Nevada. It is their 20th anniversary.
1992 “End of the Road” by Boyz II Men logs its 13th and final week at No. 1 on The Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. The previous longest-running hit of the rock era was Elvis Presley’s two-sided “Don’t Be Cruel/Hound Dog,” which topped the chart for 11 weeks in 1956. The record stands for just three months as Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You” logs its 14th week at No. 1 on Feb. 20, 1993. In 1995, Boyz II Men ties Houston’s record with “I’ll Make Love to You.”
~1979 No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit: “Pop Muzik,” M. The performer’s real name is Robin Scott. This is his only song to make the Hot 100.
1976 No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit: “Tonight’s the Night (Gonna Be Alright),” Rod Stewart.

Thanks for coming  by…See you on Monday…

While writing a post about the stupidity of the television show V, I was interrupted by a blinking light on my office phone. The question was posed via voice message, “Eman, are people getting stupider, or do the stupid people just have a louder voice?”

Interesting idea… Are people dumber? Is this the realization of the prophesy foretold by Mike Judge in the epic picture, Idocracy? Are the dumb people outpopulating* the smart folks? Are smart folks destined to obscurity like white tigers, heavy metal bands that don’t suck, football players with a clean criminal record, and David Hasselhoff’s career (new tell-all book notwithstanding)?

Or, as my distinguished friend proposed, do the stupid just have more opportunity for expression? In the past, before Al Gore invented the internet, you would have to go look for the stupid people. You would need to make a trip to the gas station, the mall, or a nearby college. Now with the interwebs, stupid is only a click away (c.f. www.failblog.org;  www.peopleofwalmart.com; www.foxnews.com; www.tednugent.com/hunting/ ).

You can see stupidity on the TV nightly (Sunday – Family Guy; Monday – Dancing with the Stars; Tuesday – V, NCIS, So You Think You Can Dance, Biggest Loser; Wednesday – Cougar Town; Thursday – Grey’s Anatomy; Friday – Supernanny; Saturday – hmmm, maybe you should get out of the house…) if you just turn it on. Some nights are worse than others (Tuesday), some nights are better. All in all, there are a lot of opportunities for people to showcase stupidity – I didn’t even list all the reality shows that are available, just the ones I find particularly offensively stupid.

I obviously can’t answer this question. I have a blog, that makes me one of the stupid ones. I can only hope for a cold Pabst Blue Ribbon and V on the DVR, because that was the dumbest shit I have seen in a long time. No offense to Elizabeth Mitchell when she reads this… I leave this question for you to ponder: Are we getting stupider as a people, or are stupid people becoming more prominent? Either way, TV and the Internet are suffering, and so are we.

As for you Scott Wolf, you are no Matthew Fox.

*Outpopulate, verb

– To supply with more inhabitants than a competing group; to people an area faster than others.

The opening act on what has affectionately been dubbed “the Reverend Motor Pussy Tour” has come a long way since its inception in 1996. On tour with one of the world’s most well-known bands, the Other Press caught up with Ruyter Suys and Blaine Cartwright, the charmingly vulgar husband and wife duo that is Nashville Pussy, just before their recent show at Vancouver’s Vogue Theatre.

“My parent’s first house was on Burrard and Davie,” mused the Dee Snider maned guitarist Suys. “This is the first time I’ve ever seen Granville Street without trees; it’s very fucking weird.” Indeed, a lot has changed since Suys would find the power box controlling the Christmas lights that once adorned the trees on Granville and flip the switch in July. She was 12 or 13. “I went to Lord Roberts Elementary…this is definitely my stomping grounds.”

Right at home in Vancouver, the Atlanta quartet, whose name was stolen from a Ted Nugent song, is rounded out by bassist Karen Cuda and drummer Jeremy Thompson. Vocalist and guitarist Cartwright explained: “In the intro to “Wang Dang Sweet Poontang”, Ted dedicates the song to all the Nashville Pussy and I just always thought that was a kind of crazy combination of words; and we were living in Nashville at the time…”

The bands moniker, however, unsurprisingly has garnered some negative attention. They were recently uninvited to play Disney’s famed House of Blues. “If it says ‘Nashville Pussy’ there, someone will complain,” reasoned Cartwright. “You know, they’re on their way to see Mickey Mouse and they see the word ‘pussy’ instead…the kids freak out. I think that’s it; it’s gotta be.”

“My personal theory is that mice are afraid of cats,” laughed Suys. “We’ve played it before; that’s the irony. And now they don’t want us? Both times we played, we did great. So I guess they don’t want to make money or something.”

Suys went on to explain that the whole stigma surrounding their name is immature. “I figure we’re evolved enough at this point that we should be over the word ‘pussy.’ It’s not about that…it’s just a word. It’s about rock and roll. And rock and sex are one in the same, so just get over it, you know?”

Nashville Pussy’s Myspace page describes their whiskey soaked, sex infused brand of rock and roll as sounding like “Lynyrd Skynyrd meets AC/DC high on speed in a sex motel.”

“Fried Chicken and Coffee” from their debut album, 1998’s Let Them Eat Pussy was nominated for a Grammy for Best Metal Performance. “It was some kind of fluke,” Cartwright reminisced. “It was really weird. It’s like, what the fuck? We’re nominated for a Grammy? Weird. So we went. Nashville Pussy and Celine Dion.” Nashville was narrowly beaten out by Metallica. “If we’d lost to Rage Against the Machine, I would’ve been mad.”

The follow-up to 2005’s Get Some, From Hell to Texas was recorded in Willie Nelson’s home studio. “There was a great vibe there,” remembered Cartwright. “I wrote a bunch of great lyrics, staring at all these framed Willie Nelson album covers on this wall. I smoked out of Willie’s bong that he’s got in his office and had a bottle of wine and I just sat there and wrote and felt like Willie was staring at me. That was great! That was my office for about a week. Smoking a bong, listening to tunes—I’m at work man, leave me alone!”

“He sets a high bar…and we had to reach up to get the drinks,” joked Suys. “It was just far enough out of Austin that it was really tranquil. It had these beautiful rolling hills and it was just a gorgeous place to be.”

The lag between albums is due to the bands gruelling tour schedule; not to mention the member’s other commitments. “Blaine’s in a band called Nine Pound Hammer,” said Suys. “And our bass player, [Karen’s] band just broke up; Hemi Cuda. So we’re basically playing music all the time and it’s really hard to get all that stuff scheduled.”

You can’t rush a masterpiece as Cartwright explained. “I want to make sure each one’s really good before I put it out, ‘cause if it’s not, it’d bug me. If I heard a song, and I didn’t like it, then I’d go, ‘oh man, I wish we hadn’t put this shit out…I wish we’d put out something better.’ So I usually wait until I get inspired.”

Luckily, Nashville’s fifth studio album is anything but rushed, the Southern fried punkabilly is catchy as hell, showcasing Suys mastery of her SG and the tight knit unit’s comfort with their sound and each other. Toronto’s own Danko Jones even appears on the track “I’m So High.”

In August 2008, Nashville Pussy destroyed the True Metal Stage at the world’s largest metal festival, Wacken Open Air in Wacken, Germany. Suys remarkably climbed the side of the stage, and like a woman possessed she hung there, high above the crowd, guitar dangling from behind her unplugged. “I beat the kid from Airbourne to it too,” giggled Suys. “He did it later. He didn’t climb up as high. I went all the way to the fucking top! What was funny is that I made it about three quarters of the way up and then my guitar cord came unplugged and I was like, fuck it; I’m up here already, show’s over, I may as well go to the top.”

“It’s a total natural progression,” Suys says of Nashville’s intense live performance. “It’s not like ‘Ruyter, make sure you climb the thing.’ ‘What the fuck is she doing up there?’ There’s nothing conscious about what we do at all. It’s a very organic thing. I think it comes from doing this over and over again. You have to come up with new ways to entertain yourself.”

“Sometimes we don’t even have room to move,” reveals Cartwright. “We have to set up in front of Motorhead and the Rev; so climbing’s the only option.”

If Cartwright has his way, Nashville Pussy will be back across Canada by the spring. He reflected on his tour mates. “A tour this good is hard to find. I like playing big tours like this; it’s more like a rock and roll circus. A three ring circus… we’re the littlest of rings I guess, but it’s still fucking great.”

“We’re the first freakshow,” Suys added of the unbelievable rock and roll caravan.

When asked if Nashville Pussy had any plans to record with either Motorhead or the Reverend Horton Heat, there was a resounding “hell yeah!” from the hard rocking pair.

“Lemmy and I have talked about writing a song together,” revealed Cartwright. “I told him to write me a song; it just hasn’t happened yet. Lemmy was supposed to sing on the new record, but we couldn’t hook the studio thing up. I think he’d been drinking and there was no land line at the studio, so he had to call on a cell phone. We recorded it and we did every trick in the book to make it work and it just sounded like some guy on a cell phone. He was in England at the time too. We tried, but it just didn’t happen. It was funny though.”

Any hopes of a b-side? “I don’t think he was even good enough,” laughed Cartwright. “I don’t even think it exists anymore.”

-Kristina Mameli, The Other Press – Douglas College (also BCIT Journalism Alumni)

I like having music on at pretty much all times. That doesn’t mean I like Muzak.

 Remember Muzak? There was a time when this bland, innocuous, lobotomized form of music provided the soundtrack to grocery stores, office buildings, and elevators. The Muzak company took popular songs, emasculated them with sugary, string-drenched arrangements that leached every drop of life and vitality from the music, and packaged it all as the perfect accompaniment to efficient modern life. It would have been perfect for a Stepford Wives hootenanny

 I remember Muzak. When I was in high school I was a supermarket bag boy. This was in the era before “paper or plastic?” There was no plastic. You took paper and you liked it. My job was to segregate the soap from the chicken, make sure not to load any bag with too many cans, put the ice cream in a freezer bag, and locate the eggs carefully so they wouldn’t break, and then bring the bags out to the customers’ cars.

 I hated it.

 The job was bad enough. Having to wear a bright green apron with a name tag made it worse. What pushed into the realm of the unendurable was having to perform my menial tasks to the mind-numbing sounds of Muzak, audio that sounded like it had been created in a lab by Eisenhower-era engineers with slide rules and pocket protectors.

 In fact, Muzak predated the Eisenhower era by several decades, although Ike was the first president to have it piped it into the White House. The muse of Muzak was by Major General George O. Squier, who trademarked the name way back in 1922. The Major’s breakthrough was the development of a method to deliver music to many customers at the same time—but to only his customers (unlike radio signals, which anyone can pluck from the air). Later his company began developing its own white-bread versions of popular songs.

 It all became very scientific. Studies showed that workers and shoppers performed their assigned tasks better when the right music was being played softly in the background. The Muzak company developed something called “Stimulus Progression” that was supposed to act like an audio pep pill, a string-based pick-me-up that would make for a better, stronger, more consumer-oriented America.  If bees had the ability to create Muzak, no doubt the queens play it in the hives to motivate the drones.

 Well, I can say that things are better now. The grocery stores I go into today no longer play Muzak. They play popular music. As I’ve made my way down the aisles I’ve heard Elvis Costello, the Cure and even New Order. In a world that sometimes seems to be plunging to hell in a handbasket, the death of Muzak is one positive development.

 However, it’s quite possible that the popular tunes I hear in the supermarket these days arrive via Muzak’s parent company, which over the years turned away from its overly pasteurized, lifeless product and began providing its customers with a wide variety of real tunes. But it must have been too little, too late for the now-bankrupt Muzak LLC. I wonder what Ted Nugent thinks about it. In 1989 Terrible Ted, the Motor City Madman, offered to buy Muzak for $10 million just so he could have the pleasure of putting it out of business. Looks like Ted saved himself some dough.

Recently, I have been beset by a string of emotions ranging from angst to apathy, disgust to disgruntlement, etc.

I equate the feeling to being stuck on a desolate, sun baked island, with nary a coconut laden palm to quench my thirst and hunger.  The wonderful thing is, I have discovered that just about all of my friends in their mid twenties feel this way as well.  Now all we have to do is figure out how to build a boat.  I think I’ve found some raw material to start mine, and hopefully I can make room for a few others as well.

Here’s what’s going down.  The gig with Pete Anderson has proved to be frustratingly mundane and looks like it could, quite possibly, be a dead end.  Tonight marks my ninth gig at the Moose Lodge.  I know it is only supposed to be a “live practice”, but it isn’t.  Nobody shows up (it’s a Moose Lodge for God’s sake) and that is really demoralizing.  I can’t even begin to describe what a set back this feels like after years of building a musical career.  It is also hard for a person of my agnostic bent with a difficulty for faith based activity to believe it will pick up down the road.  But, when I got this gig, I told myself that Pete Anderson would be my “Personal Jesus” for a time.  He has faith in himself and I need to have faith in him. For a time.

It really isn’t all bad.  I have learned more about bass in the past month than in the past two years combined.  I could now go out if need be and nail any gig presented to me (except maybe Frank Zappa’s band if he were still amongst us.)  And there is still the promise of tours.  Once I finally have one tour with Pete under my belt I will feel a bit more confident about the future.

Another region of my artistic island has to do with my own musical work, which has fallen by the wayside with all the work I have been doing for Pete.  I haven’t worked on my own material since my last show in the beginning of September and it has hurt to say the least.  (In fact, I had a friend punch me and start a scrap because he felt that I shouldn’t push my work to the side.  The sentiment was admirable, his actions were not.)

So, I began doing some musical research to get myself inspired.  I started with U2’s Joshua Tree, at the behest of a friend, because they certainly are a musical behemoth and he felt I would do well to listen to their work.  I sat through the entire album one evening, taking it apart with a fine toothed comb, and this is what I found:

-I still loathe U2 and they make me physically sick

-There is a lot of musical appropriation of themes and ideas (“Bullet the Blue Sky” almost exactly rips off  both Pink Floyd’s “Echoes” and Ted Nugent’s “Stranglehold”

-The lyrics are just pretty words, they don’t make much sense.

-Three hits start out the album, followed by slightly meatier/heavier songs.

-I still loathe U2.

It hurt me to listen to this, but I did take away some decent information.  One idea that stuck with me is that U2 is not the only band I have heard appropriate a riff from another band and I got to thinking that, maybe I have been to hard on myself.  I guess taking bits and pieces from your influences and couching them in your own ideas and phrasings might not be such a bad idea after all.  It used to happen all the time in Western Art Music (i.e. Mattheson stealing from Bach).  In fact, the Flaming Lips used to take whole chunks of recorded music from other artists and place them in their songs. (Theme from the Exorcist comes to mind).  Good to know.

Next, I listened to Nick Cave’s “Let Love In”, “Lyre of Orpheus”, and “Murder Ballads” and soaked in some good lyrical ideas.  Namely, his penchant for setting up a lyrical expectation and then hitting you with something completely unexpected. From the “Lyre of Orpheus” eponymous track:

Orpheus looked at his instrument
And he gave the wire a pluck
He heard a sound so beautiful
He gasped and said Oh my God

The way the cadence of the rhythm sets it up, you expect “Oh Fuck” and instead are hit with a stumbling non rhyme.

Brilliant.

Finally, Sunday concluded the listening marathon with Genesis’ “The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway”.  I played this album to death in my early college years; I mean it, I listened to this thing just about every day for two years straight.  I think you need to: I have never heard a more lyrically or musically dense album.  I had to stop listening to it out of boredom, but after coming back to it Sunday after a long hiatus, I was struck by it’s beauty and power.  Peter Gabriel penned some of the most fantastic lyrics ever set to paper.  Many people think that there is deep meaning to them all, but I really think that they are just fantastically obscure words and references that fit together in a pleasing nature.  In fact, Mr. Gabriel has been vague surrounding any meaning in the album, and I don’t think he intended much beyond using the basic idea of a New York Puerto Rican street kid as a launching point.  Like U2, the lyrics are just pretty and sound good together.  They convey a mood more than actually describing some incident or event.

I like this.

So Sunday night I turned out my own work.  Over a period of six hours I crafted two new songs using some of the ideas I had learned this weekend and I must say I am quite proud of what came out.  If you want, you can come hear it at Clancy’s Bar in Long Beach on Alamitos and Broadway next Thursday, October 22.  I’ll be playing with my collaborator, Allysandra Nighswonger.  We finally have a name for our project, “Anton’s Coin” , and will do a bit of recording tomorrow.

So I have a hull, now I just need to fill in the caulking and we’ll have our proverbial boat.  I need a cock-swain and oarsman, which is to say, I will need the help of photographers, graphic artists, recording engineers, producers, etc. to get the boat afloat.  Luckily I count those people among my closest friends, and together I think we can all get each other off of this blasted island.  More to come.

The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway

Ok.. so I know a lot of people don’t like the Nuge all that much..

Yes, he has extreme right wing values, shoots animals, and is basically a general asshole….

But damn he looked GOOD!

In fact, his gun toting ways are the key contributing factor to the look… from the forest to the gun range.

Fringe, animal skins, tight camo prints, suspenders, and the odd loincloth…you really can’t go wrong.

Even better in action:

U2 should be my favorite band. But unlike Springsteen, Wilco, Dylan or even Radiohead, I’ve never been able to fully embrace them. When I took in their recent live show outside Washington, DC (in a circle of Hell known as FedEx field-More on that in a later post) I wondered if that finally might change.

I used to tell myself that I first noticed U2 when they performed at the first Live Aid. But I know now it had to have been sooner. In the year previous, the band had its first US hit with “Pride (In the Name of Love).” and Bono had appeared on the Band Aid song to benefit Ethiopian famine,  “Do They Know It’s Christmas?”.

From the start U2 has made little secret of their ambition. Early on, the band was known as The Hype. Their two lead members, quite pretentiously, are known by their single, self-appointed names. The collection of four very earnest Dubliners really seemed to think that rock and roll could change the world and thought they were just the group to do it. And in pursuit of this goal they would, undoubtedly,  become the world’s biggest rock band. What’s never really been clear is whether they preferred to save the world or rock it into perfect harmony. Thirty years after the band’s formation that’s still an open question.

In their infancy, U2 concerned itself with more parochial matters such as their Irish upbringing. Undoubtedly, this was one of the things that drew me to the band as I’m half-Irish, which really means that I care about all things Eire but not enough that I can call it the home country. I’ve only been there for a total of two days, one of which was spent in an old pub in Dublin whose name I’ve long since forgotten. I drank pint after pint and asked the locals about ancient traditions and James Joyce. I don’t remember what they said. 

These days most Americans have a fairly Romantic view of Ireland, fostered in no small part by notable authors and travel agents. But, when U2 took the stage that July day in 1985, before 80,000 fans at Wembley Stadium (and millions more on TV-back when MTV was in the music business) for many  people, Ireland was looked at as a country perpetually torn apart by war, poverty and religious strife. U2 seemed like messengers from a Third World country. Bono’s songs chronicled personal and political tumult, and his booming voice was backed by soaring, percussive guitar chords and pounding drumbeats that suggested an imminent escape and a verdant optimism that something better was just around the corner.

In other words there was nothing small about U2. They were never too interested in telling stories, writing rueful love songs  or chirping about the good old days. Instead, they wrote universal songs that were both beautiful and inspiring with alarming ease. Their songs were inherently political while—and this is U2’s true gift—still being anthemic and stadium-ready.  In retrospect, their performance from Live Aid has an air of inevitability. They were ideally suited for the venue, the occasion and the cause. I suspect a lot of other people besides me also became U2 fans that day.

They had been together for eight years by the time of Live Aid, but having been properly introduced to the world they set their sights on the United States, which is a requisite for any band considering world domination. From early in their career America was a source of wonder. They wrote songs about Elvis and not one but two songs about Martin Luther King that were inspirational if not necessarily factual.  Their best album of the 80s, was named after a rather unremarkable tree native to the desert Southwest. It was hard to tell whether the obsession with all things American was genuine. They toured extensively in support of “The Joshua Tree” and released a live album and a documentary, both called “Rattle and Hum“, that was meant to pay tribute to musical ancestors like B.B. King and Billie Holiday. Rising out of the British post-punk movement, their connection to such artists, American artists, was tenuous at best. The fact that they were roundly criticized as being disingenuous or opportunistic by critics did nothing to deter their popularity.

They returned with “Achtung Baby!” an album filled with songs of existential sadness and loss. At the end of the subsequent tour in 1993 it could be fairly argued that U2 was, in fact, the best rock and roll band on the planet. At a minimum, they were a major force in popular music.

But, the band faltered in the rest of the 90s, struggling to find a message while singing about the trappings of fame, the media landscape and coping with pre-millennial madness. Their experiments with electronica, glam rock and club music were failures. They rarely include songs from this era in their live shows, which is a pretty solid indicator of the band’s own feelings about the “Pop” and “Zooropa” albums. But they still sold millions of records and performed sold-out shows. Perhaps, they felt, with peace in Ireland and prosperity in much of the industrialized world they had nothing worthy of their angst. Then again, other bands rocked better, or had a cooler message, or both. 

Chastened, (well, chastened as much as a band whose lead singer regularly wears tinted sunglasses can be) U2 released “All That You Can’t Leave Behind” in 2000. The fact that the band had endured critical, if not commercial, failure had humbled them and Bono admitted as much in interviews.  The record combined the rollicking anthems of their earlier work with solemn, reflective ballads.  I would argue that it is the band’s most complete album from start to finish. Its best songs might not hold up to earlier classics but it is a cohesive, cogent piece of work.  Whatever confidence that the band lost had been regained in spades. When U2 released “How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb” to wide praise in 2004 Bono and the boys were further emboldened. Indeed, Bono became even more voluble for causes near to his and the band’s heart. His platform was no longer limited to stadiums or concert venues. He wrote editorials in newspapers, met with high-ranking officials, spoke at the UN. All unchartered ground for a rock star.

Their newest album, “No Line on the Horizon” has garnered mostly positive reviews and yielded a pair of catchy singles, but it has neither the sustained quality of the last two albums nor the urgency of their finer songs. Receiving far more attention than their music was their massive tour. 

———————————————————————————————————–

The last time I saw U2 in concert was on the remarkable Elevation Tour which followed “All That You Can’t Leave Behind.” It’s one of the five best concerts I’ve ever attended.  Upon hearing a song with deep personal resonance I wept unashamedly.  It was only about six weeks after the terrorist attacks and emotions were particularly high and, to their credit, the band understood this. I was comforted by my companion but also by complete strangers who were undoubtedly still grieving about more recent loss. We sang and bounced along, drank Guinness, waved the Irish flag, and tried to smile a little. Somehow, Bono connected with over 20,000 people on a personal level. Just watch.

I could tell the moment I walked into FedEx Field that that feeling would not be replicated. I saw very few Irish flags. Although there were 90,000 or so on hand, it felt more like 20,000 groups of four or five. There was no sense of community. I thought everything, including the band, would be overshadowed by the Orwellian claw that was the stage and video screens. There would be no personal connection with the audience.

And it is precisely this type of overkill that has kept me from fully committing to U2. As a person deeply concerned with preserving and conserving the natural environment attending the concert of a band that will lug 200 trucks worth of equipment around for the next two years presents more than a little bit of a conflict. Then there’s the fact that while Bono is talking about eradicating poverty and debt forgiveness he’s leading a tour that is more than a little ostentatious.  Furthermore, tickets were not cheap; some were as high as $250. Adding to the hypocrisy dilemma, is that this is standard operating procedure for the band. This level of extravagance is only marginally bigger than the last tour. What’s next, a performance in a rocket above the earth’s atmosphere that’s beamed to neighboring galaxies?

As enamored as U2 appears to be with the excesses of fame and fortune there are no tales of philandering, drunken rages, destroyed hotel rooms or drug abuse. Quite the opposite actually. Bono has been married for over 25 years. Larry Mullen, Jr. is similarly committed. The Edge is deeply religious and once thought of forming a Christian band.

So, U2 came out and for about two hours played several songs from the new album and many of their most popular hits. They should not be criticized for this because this is what established bands do; to play all of their favorites would require a concert of marathon proportions.

As always, politics was on the tip of Bono’s tongue. He made sure to acknowledge the presence (in a luxury box, no doubt) of the Speaker of the House, a Senator, a Bishop and a former Chief of Staff.  In contrast, on the Elevation Tour he made a point of calling out Dee Dee Ramone, whose bandmate Joey had recently passed away. On the video screens that created a huge silver beehive of multi-media, the crowd was implored by the Bishop Desmond Tutu and urged to support the emerging democratic movement in Iran. In the least subtle (and most obviously staged) sequence of the evening, Bono pulled a Sikh, who just happened to be sitting in the front row, and just happened to be waving a US flag, onto the stage to join him in song. Even if it was spontaneous and the man was the biggest U2 fan in the building, it seemed a bit much. It’s these sorts of demonstrations that make me and other people cringe.

The knee-jerk reaction is to tell Bono and his mates to just shut up and play. Indeed, there are times when watching U2 feels like you’re attending one of those 1/2 credit continuing education courses mandated by your employer. But, it’s not as though U2 are staking out particularly controversial positions. Who is against democracy? Or against Desmond Tutu? Really, who is against the poor? Ok, besides crazy right-wingers who are opposed to universal health care. Nobody. And Bono did, in fact, bring attention to a rather obscure issue like debt forgiveness for African nations. This is not a front page issue. Perhaps I should be grateful that Bono is so engaged with the world when so many other musicians are not. Try to imagine say, John Mayer, talking about say, the importance of providing healthy school lunches. Yeah. That ain’t happening.

Maybe Bono would be better served if he actually went to Tehran and marched in the streets. Or maybe if he had stood with the protestors in Bali to demand action on climate change. But he hasn’t. Maybe we should be thankful. He could turn into Ted Nugent.

It’s entirely possible that the Starbucks-drinking, Barnes and Noble book-clubbing, overwhelmingly white, upper middle class people that were in attendance in Washington cared only about seeing a good show. They, even in a recession, would gladly right out a check or two for their favorite progressive causes anyway, so why not allow Bono to give them a nudge? That’s all the vast majority of people can do because, really, there’s only so much time in a day. They have jobs and families.  And, yes, I too have fallen prey to this thinking on several occasions. It is a lot easier to just write the check than doing the day by day dirty work that is necessary to affect some sort of change. But I still feel guilty about it.

And yet, you know what? U2 delivered an energetic, often magical show. Just as they always do. The huge stage and giant video screens were awesome and trying to ignore them was a pointless exercise. They actually enhanced the experience rather than obscuring it as I initially feared. The songs were soul-stirring;  you don’t need to be Irish to get a chill hearing “Sunday Bloody Sunday” live. It strikes at something very basic to the human existence. And yet. And yet the experience left me feeling remote.

When they first arrived on the scene, nobody sounded like U2, now a lot of bands do. Because of their powerful music U2 is able to pull off stuff that no other band would even attempt. They know how to use the media and shape their image for a 24-hour news cycle. The quintessential 21st Century band, U2 gives us exactly what we want and deserve. Even their name is perfect for our shorthand, text-messaging culture. 

There’s something preposterous about thousands of people showing up at a particular place at a particular time to listen to a band play music and maybe, sing along. Most bands deal with this absurdity by being loud, ironic or eccentric. U2 approaches it with complete honesty. They want to be the greatest band in the world so they can spread their message of peace and love. Or is it the other way around? That’s the thing with U2, it’s never just about the music.

Rewind.

So, now you know how to rip vinyl onto your computer with ease, but did you know that you can also have CDs and mp3s cut into your own custom vinyl records? I came across this exceptionally unique service on the internet years ago and now I will share it with you.

So. Say your girlfriend is a real record buff and you’ve been putting together this terrific– let’s say Ted Nugent– playlist for her for weeks (she’s also an avid hunter). Her Birthday is coming up and you’d like to surprise her with the unparalleled musical graces of Ted, but you really want to take it up a notch this year (got her a gun rack for her last birthday). Instead of partying like it’s 1998 and handing her a boring burnt cd with “Ted” scribbled in sharpee, you can really impress her.

Your girlfriend and Ted Nugent-- a match made in heaven.

I’m talking about giving her her own custom vinyl record with your own one-of-a-kind picture sleeve jacket cover. It doesn’t stop there. You can have your own record label stickers on the record, itself. And if you really want to raise the bar, you can even make the record a custom picture disk. She’ll love it and forget all about the gun rack.

Customrecords.com offers one of the coolest services I’ve ever heard of. You simply send them your CD and they will do a basic mastering job and cut it to vinyl for you, as well as have the sleeve and labels printed professionally. The only catch is that you are limited to one record per CD. Customrecords.com is not a commercial vinyl pressing house and makes it very clear that each record is made one-at-a-time. If you want a stack of records, look elsewhere, because a record from Customrecords.com is all about sentimental value. Every record is an original.

Here are some examples:

!!!

They also cater to a wide variety of record formats and there are a number of options you can choose for the music time allotted per-side. Just be warned that you will be charged for the extra play-time, despite the format of record. Fitting more music into the same space requires more work, as the grooves will be closer together and will require more time for cutting.

Cutting a record over at www.customrecords.com

The vinyl formats offered are as follows:

• SEVEN INCH 45rpm JUKEBOX RECORD (4 min per side)
• SEVEN INCH 45rpm JUKEBOX RECORD (red vinyl)
• SEVEN INCH 45rpm EP JUKEBOX RECORD (5 min per side)
• SEVEN INCH 33/45 rpm phonograph RECORD (small-hole)

• TEN INCH 78 rpm JUKEBOX PHONOGRAPH RECORD
• TEN INCH 78 rpm one-sided CLEAR JUKEBOX RECORD

• TWELVE INCH 33rpm VINYL RECORD (8 min per side)
• TWELVE INCH 33rpm ALBUM VINYL RECORD (12 min per side)
• TWELVE INCH 33rpm LP ALBUM VINYL RECORD (16 min per side)
• TWELVE INCH one-sided 33rpm CLEAR VINYL RECORD (12 min)

• SEVEN INCH one-sided 45rpm PICTURE DISC RECORD
• TWELVE INCH 33rpm one-sided PICTURE DISC RECORD

• TEN INCH 45rpm DJ DUBPLATE RECORD (6 min per side)
• TWELVE INCH 33rpm DJ DUBPLATE RECORD (8 min per side)
• TWELVE INCH 33rpm one-sided CLEAR DJ DUBPLATE RECORD

All of the records can be paired with the custom record label adhesive stickers and the custom picture sleeve, so there’s some serious room for creativity here for those of us who are artistically-inclined. The sleeves are offered in your choice of either matte or semi-gloss and use 18pt card stock. You have to provide both front and back artwork and the artwork must be of the appropriate size: 7″, 10″, and 12″ squares, respectively. You must also include a 1/4″ outward bleed on one of the sides for the “spine” of the record. They accept only .tif or .jpeg files at 400dpi.

As an added convenience, Customrecords.com also accepts music uploads via YouSendIt for free and you can even email the files to customrecords@comcast.net

The files must be in MP3, AIFF or WMA format.

I’m not going to be the bringer of bad news here, but these records are a little on the expensive side as you could imagine, seeing as how they give each record meticulous attention and each one is truly an original. Check out their site for pricing information.

And yes, they accept PayPal.

They even do 7″ custom records for corporate event invitations. So the next time you want to impress somebody with a playlist, go for the extra brownie points. Skip the CD and don’t even consider a USB stick (I hope people don’t actually do that). Just go for the record.

Long live rock, I need it every night,
Long live rock, come on and join the line,
Long live rock, be it dead or alive.
–The Who

Bruce Springstreen appeared on the cover of the September issue of the AARP (American Association of Retired Persons) Magazine. “The Boss” granted us an exclusive interview.

loosefemme: Bruce, now that you’ve been on the cover of AARP Magazine, are you old?

Springsteen: Naw, I’m jest creaky. I’m very much alive and kicking.

loosefemme: Yes but you, The Boss were on the cover of the Magazine of the American Association of Retired Persons….Doesn’t that make you ancient?

Springsteen: Listen here lil’ lady, quit sayin’ that I’m old, or I’ll put on my walkin’ boots and hit Thunder Road.

loosefemme: Calm down Mr. Springsteen, don’t make me call security and tell them you’re off your meds. Those four-point restraints are a bear.

Springstreen: (sputtering)

loosefemme: Let’s get back to business, Bruce, is rock dead?

Springsteen: What – rock dead? Ya mean rock and roll?

loosefemme: Yes, that is what I am referring to.

Springsteen: No ma’am, rock is as healthy as I am. I run five miles a day. Rock and roll can never die, ma’am, to quote my good friend Neil.

loosefemme: No offense Bruce, but if you’re on the cover of AARP, then who’s next, Ted Nugent? Judas Priest? How about an AARP cover of Molly Hatchet: “Flirtin’ With Disaster”?

Springsteen: Don’t bring Molly Hatchet into this, young lady. I happen to like their music. Frankly, I don’t give a fork if rock is dead or not. It’s time for my Ensure.

loosefemme: Alright, tell me that nuttiest thing that you’ve ever done on-stage.

Springsteen: Hmm (sipping Ensure), one time I pissed myself on-stage, that was crazy.

loosefemme: Was this recently, Mr. Springsteen?

Springsteen: (Coughing) Uh, well yes, it was, in Austin earlier this year. Damn near shit my pants at the same time (shaking head).

loosefemme: Better get that prostate checked, Bruce. This has been a true honor for me. Don’t forget your walker, it’s over by the door.

The content herein is Copyright to the author, All Rights Reserved.

The original double album featured some artists who would go on to revel in the 70’s and beyond if in a somewhat different guise.

First up is a version of the Big Joe Williams song “Baby Please Don’t Go” released by Them with Van Morrison in 1964 this version is by The Amboy Dukes and was their debut single released in 1967.

“Baby Please Don’t Go” – The Amboy Dukes

The Amboy Dukes of course numbered Ted Nugent amongst their membership, Nugent dropped the”Amboy Dukes” moniker in 1975 and established himself as a role model for the typical “heavy metal” guitarist………doubt though if he bettered this debut single.

Next up is Nazz 

Nazz was marketed by their manager, Michael Friedman, as a teenybopper band along the lines of The Beatles or The Monkees. The group signed with SGC Records, releasing Nazzin October 1968. The album was not commercially successful and neither was the first single, “Open My Eyes” of which the flip side was “Hello It’s Me” (#41 Canada) except in Boston. “Open My Eyes” was the side SGC Records was promoting, but accidentally the flip side was played at the home of Boston”s WMEX Music Director and DJ Ron Robin. He was impressed and added it to the station’s playlist. Reaction was strong and “Hello It’s Me” became a number one hit at WMEX in 1968. Several weeks later it was on the playlist of Boston’s other Top 40 radio station WRKO and eventually at other stations across the country. SGC Records presented Ron Robin with a Silver Record which reads “WMEX, Where it All Began. Thanks!”.

Here is “Open My Eyes” which appeared on Nuggets.

The driving force of Nazz was of course Todd Rundgren who went on to achieve worldwide success as a songwriter, performer and producer, we will even forgive him for producing “Bat Out Of Hell”

The expanded box set adds more rags to riches stories courtesy of the now very non “PC” The Golliwogs

“Fight Fire” – The Golliwogs

Now if you listen carefully you will hear the early development of a unique sound which would rise to great things in the hands of Tom and John Fogerty’s next band Creedence Clearwater Revival.

last but by no means least is the late great Warren Zevon who back in 1966 was the Lyme in Lyme & Cybelle who although short lived stayed around long enough to have this minor hit

“Follow Me” – Lyme & Sybelle

To buy Nuggets click HERE

To buy the music of Ted Nugent and The Amboy Dukes click HERE

To buy the music of Todd Rundgren and Nazz click HERE

To buy the music of Creedence Clearwater Revival click HERE

To buy the music of Warren Zevon click HERE

TED NUGENT

According to Rolling Stone magazine, veteran rocker Ted Nugent threatened to kill Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton while onstage during the 2008 presidential campaign. Brandishing a pair of machine guns, Nugent called then-candidate Obama “a piece of s**t” and Hillary Clinton “a worthless bitch.”

Rolling Stone even posted video of Nugent’s maniacal rant on their “Rock & Roll Daily” blog.

Ted Nugent, Vice-president ?

Today I saw what for me at least is the first bumper sticker of the 2012 presidential election. And it caught me completely off guard. Palin/Nugent. How about that for unique, unconventional etc. ? Can you imagine Ted Nugent and Joe Biden having a debate? That would be so much fun.

I am not greatly familiar with Nugent other than through his articles on Human Events. But the thought of such a pairing brings a bit of  a smile.

Brazil got the Olympics, in part due to the assbiting Republicans letting the Olympics folks know that they’d turn the Games into a political football.

Kos:

I hear wingnuts are agitating against America hosting the next Super Bowl.

Even before the late Friday news dumps, lots going on.

Healthcare:

Healthcare Friday

Public Option not dead yet

Frist says he’d vote for Dem plan

Economy:

Taibbi, Goldman Sachs cont.

Terrance Heath on Capitalism: A Love Story (more)

Hershey kisses

Sarbanes-Oxley to be enforced only eight years after passage

Media:

Chris Matthews’ early onset Alzheimers

Calling agitprop for what it is

Returning serve (more) (video)

CIM alum hired by Strib

BMTN, taking some shots (not what I thought they were going to be, and apparently radio will play a bigger role in the near future [scroll to bottom on the right])

ProPublica dinged for CEO overcompensation

Idiots:

Boehner outs self as clueless

The sound of someone else’s hands typing

Jimbo DeMint

Darth Goldberg

Infamy:

5% tops

The secret world of deaf prisoners

John Ensign (more)

Private cops run by public felons (more)

GWill’s 7th global warming denialist column of the year (new data)

Smear of the week club

McChrystal

Fouad al-Rabiah (to date 30 out of 38 Gitmo cases reviewed has led to court ordered releases)

MN:

Pawlenty going Rove (more)

Bachmann opponent #1 & #2

MPR gets a piece of the pie

Etc.:

Parapsychology reexamined

ACORN still fighting back

Iran: More accomplished in one day of negotiations than in 8 years of threats (details)

Heavy competition for pot reviewer job

Shocker: 85-year-old, gun-toting crank does not get tasered

Anne Frank video

R.I.P. rips:

Rick Perry’s end-around on the truth (more) (still more)

Bromwich on Safire

Circular firing squad in NY23

Samuel Johnson on wingnuts