Playlist for May 26, 2007

In honour of our American cousins, who are observing Memorial Day this weekend, I put together a special show with a military skew. War and conflict are recurring metal motifs, so I was spoilt for choice. I tried to mix it up with new and old, popular and lesser known.

Marillion......................Forgotten Sons
Fish..............................Vigil
Pallas...........................Warriors
Iron Maiden...............Paschendale
Iron Maiden...............The Longest Day
Triumph......................Battle Cry
Rush.............................Red Sector A
Rush.............................Manhattan Project
Iced Earth...................Waterloo
Iced Earth...................Valley Forge
Sinner...........................All Men Are Heroes
Dark Moor...................Death
Megadeth.....................Gears of War
Megadeth.....................Blessed Are The Dead
Metallica.......................Disponsible Heroes
Leaves' Eyes................Into Your Light
Leaves' Eyes................Thorns

The new Megadeth release, United Abomination, is winning me over one song at a time. Blessed Are The Dead is a great song.

The Iced Earth tracks impressed me too. Ripper Owens is finally in a band where he can be himself, and Iced Earth finally have a singer who truly fits their sound (not that there was anything wrong with Matt Barlow, mind you).

You Can Help!!

I ran across someone on Myspace who is part of an effort that I think you should know about.
Rather than explain it myself, I will quote the email that I received in response to my query:


"My name is Jessica Tretler and I'm writing to inform you about an incredible AIDS project and initiative that I, along with my project partner Lisa Ogawa, have started. It's called The Rush To Fight AIDS.

People living with HIV/AIDS have to spend much of their life savings on doctors, hospital bills, and medications. As a result, they have little or no money to purchase simple life necessities such as toiletry and hygiene items. With that in mind, the goal of The Rush To Fight AIDS project is to help people in need by supplying them with these items.

Through word-of-mouth and via the internet, we are asking Rush fans all over the world to donate unused toiletry items to us – such as shampoo, soap,toilet paper, etc... – so that hygiene kits can be put together and donated to clients in different AIDS projects in Colorado and Massachusetts (where Lisa and I live). Of course, people don't necessarily have to be fans of Rush to contribute.

What started as a simple idea has now turned into an International effort tohelp people living with HIV/AIDS.

For additional information on this project, us, and other projects we areaffiliated with, please visit www.myspace.com/rushtofightaids , www.aidsprojectworcester.org or www.s-cap.org.

Thank you for your time and any consideration you might have for our project.

Sincerely,

Jessica Tretler
* RUSH to fight AIDS*
4833 Front Street
Unit B #184
Castle Rock, CO 80104"

As I understand it, the soaps, shampoos, conditioners that you pick up from hotels and keep for no very good reason are exactly the kind of thing they would find useful. It doesn't cost much to toss them in a large envelope and send them along, and you'll feel good for having done it.

Best of luck to Jessica and Lisa!

Playlist for May 17, 2007

Yet another bumper week for new releases and classic metal on Tapping the Ether. The new Kamelot release, Ghost Opera, made its debut on the show--a couple of weeks before its official North American release. I played two songs, the title track and The Human Stain. The title track is good, but the Human Stain is brilliant! Look for more Kamelot in the weeks to come!

David Gilmour...............There's No Way Out
Pink Floyd......................Time
Great White....................Living Loving Maid
Great White....................Once Bitten, Twice Shy
Sinner...............................Emerald
Saxon.............................Red Star Falling
Saxon................................Let Me Feel Your Power
Iced Earth........................Ten Thousand Strong
Kamelot............................Ghost Opera
Kamelot............................The Human Stain
Weird Al Yankovic..........I'll Sue Ya
Edenbridge.......................Empire of the Sun
Tristania...........................The Ravens
Megadeth..........................Sleepwalker
Megadeth...........................Washington Is Next
Intense...............................Anger of the Ancients
Trail of Tears.....................Deceptive Mirrors
Vintersorg..........................Kosmosaik
Voivod.................................Angel Rat
Voivod.................................Mr. Clean
Martyr.................................Havoc

We played the Pink Floyd because I've played the Wrathchild America cover of "Time" a few times this year and thought it only fair to give the original an airing. Has to rate in my five favourite Floyd songs. The Weird Al was a spoof of Rage Against The Machine's style of Nu-metal, which I normally wouldn't play, but it's funny and went well with my commentary on how Canadians tend to view our southern neighbours.

Playlist for May 12, 2007

It's been a joy doing the show since I got back from my trip. I'm rested, summer's finally here, and there's been scads of new material for me to pick and choose from (and by new I mean both new releases and classic material recently acquired). The two hours seem to fly by--makes me long for the old days when Tapping the Ether was 6 hours long!

AC/DC.........................Heatseeker
Ozzy Osbourne...........I Just Want You
Rush.............................Driven
Rush.............................Speed of Love
Marillion.......................Beautiful
Def Leppard.................Rock On
Saxon............................Red Star Falling
Saxon............................I Need To Rock
Pagan's Mind................Search For Life
Thought Chamber........Sacred Treasure
Redemption...................Suffocating Silence
Redemption...................Bleeding Me Dry
Triumph.........................Rock Out, Roll On
Slavior............................Shelter
Megadeth.......................Play For Blood
Megadeth.......................A Tout La Monde
Eidolon...........................Day of Infamy
Wrathchild America.....Time
Voivod.............................The Nile Song
Paradise Lost..................Small Town Boy

As you can see, it was a fairly proggy start to the show. It was nice to have some new Saxon to play--I'm sad to say that the band has been woefully underrepresented on Tapping the Ether over the years. What I've heard of their newest album is very impressive though. I also played not one, but two bands with connections to Fates Warning: Redemption (FW vocalist Ray Alder, ex-guitarist Bernie Versailles), and Slavior (former FW drummer Mark Zonder, who once played with Redemption as well).