Dio remembered.

Here's a great story from a U.S. news program featuring two Heaven and Hell roadies talking about Ronnie James Dio. This is one of the best tributes I've seen so far:

 

New Rush, out Tuesday!

The new single from Rush, Caravan, comes out on Tuesday via a digital download on Amazon. A second track, BU2B, will also be available, and if you purchase both, there's a also a PDF booklet. The "cover" was revealed last week--it's one of the best Rush covers in years, and one of the best covers period. These tracks will be performed by Rush on their upcoming summer tour, and Caravan at least should be appearing on their next full studio album, Clockwork Angels.

Amityville "Horror" house up for sale

I've you've got a million bucks burning a whole in your pocket, and a taste for the macabre, you can buy the infamous haunted/hoaxed house in Amityville, New York:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/7762873/Original-Amityville-Horror-house-on-sale-for-1.15-million.html

Seems a little steep for a home where 5 people were shot to death, but I guess the movies have given it a certain infamy value

Why We Love Rob Halford, #287

The Metal God tells it like it is on CNN. Unfortunately, Mr. Halford is being rational and articulate concerning an issue where the rational and articulate don't stand a chance of being heard among the shrieking yahoos.

CNN talks about RUSH

The release of the documentary "Rush: Beyond The Lighted Stage" has created more mainstream media buzz than the band usually gives on their own. CNN did this short piece that features some interesting chat with Geddy and Alex. One bum note: the reporter, while pronouncing "Neil Peart" properly, pronounces Alex Lifeson's name as "Life-ah-son". It was funny and sad at the same time.

Psychology of Heavy Metal Music: Effects on Mood, Aggression, Suicide, Drug Use and Intelligence

This is an interesting article that talks about the relation between Heavy Metal, depression and suicide.

When I was in school it was common "knowledge" that heavy metal made kids depressed and suicidal, violent, rebellious etc. The much publicized court cases involving Judas Priest and Ozzy Osbourne seemed to support this view. This article points out the obvious flaw in the so-called "scientific" studies of heavy metal: the negative results were achieved by using subjects who didn't like heavy metal in the first place! Well there's a thing!

Anyway, head over and read the article:

Psychology of Heavy Metal Music: Effects on Mood, Aggression, Suicide, Drug Use and Intelligence

Rush on Colbert

If you missed this, it wsa hilarious:

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Rush
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Fox News

Ronnie James Dio Memorial to Be Picketed by Westboro Baptist Church

Just when you thought there weren't enough fuckwits in the world, Fred Phelps And His Merry Band Of Inbreds emerge from the slime they inhabit to remind the world of what happens when you don't refresh the gene pool once in a while.

Ronnie James Dio Memorial to Be Picketed by Westboro Baptist Church

Ronnie James Dio, Metal Legend, Dead at 67 |

Although not entirely unexpected, this is still pretty devastating news--the reports of Dio's positive response to chemo were a manifestation of optimism. The news that the Heaven And Hell tour was cancelled should have prepared us for this.

I'm too shook up to really comment on this at the moment, except to say that of course there will be a tribute on next weekend's show.

For now I'd just like to thank Ronnie for the music and offer my sincerest condolences to his friends and family.

Ronnie James Dio, Metal Legend, Dead at 67 | Billboard.com

Frank Frazetta 1928-2010

Frank Frazetta 1928-2010

This is sad news. I was reading just last week that he was ill and that there was some sort of controversy concerning his whereabouts.

Speaking of Zazzle...

I just started up a new Zazzle store featuring coffee mugs (and other stuff) emblazoned with vintage comic book covers.  I love the old-style horror comic covers, with their vibrant colours and bizarre artwork, and now that many of the ones from the so-called "Golden Age" are now available in the public domain, I thought I'd share my love of them with you.  Here's just one example:

Startling Stories Coffee Mug by ether03
Make a stainless steel travel mug online at zazzle

Life's Clock Board Skateboards from Zazzle.com

There's a lot of great stuff on Zazzle (including Tapping The Ether T-shirts: hint, hint) and this is a perfect example.

I don't skateboard anymore, but if I did, this is what I'd be riding!

Life's Clock Board Skateboards from Zazzle.com

Heavy metal dinosaurs rock the kiddie crowd in Finland

HAEMEENLINNA, Finland - The usual heavy metal fan may not be a five-year-old girl in pigtails, but she is typical of hardcore following of Hevisaurus, a metal band that has hooked the kiddie crowd in Finland.


The group, which rocks on about homework and monsters, played its first gig, a charity event, only last September but its fan base of mainly five-to-seven-year-olds has grown rapidly.

The band was born when a flash of lightning and witches' spells revealed, cracked and brought to life five metal dinosaur eggs buried deep in a mountain 65 million years ago - around the time most other dinosaurs became extinct.

Full story:


http://www.asiaone.com/News/Latest+News/Showbiz/Story/A1Story20100503-213844.html

BLACK SABBATH

BLACK SABBATH – Earliest Known Recordings!

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Interesting story about acetates featuring the earliest known recordings of Black Sabbath. Recorded on the very cusp between Earth and Sabbath, the songs are a mix of blues and psychedelic, but there's no mistaking Ozzy.

Transylmania (2009)

I saw the trailer for Transylmania last year and, being a sucker for vampire movies of any kind thought that it looked like it might be worth a look. And I'm conflicted. Really conflict.

I'm going to waste your time by beating around the bush here--the movie sucks. It really sucks. And yet...I enjoyed it. Maybe it was the mood I was in, or my expectations were just low enough to find it amusing, but if taken in small pieces, there's some okay stuff there. The jokes are lame, the acting uniformly crapacious, and the script is all over the place--seldom in a good way. But somewhere around the latter two thirds of the movie the ratio of dreck to watchable reverses itself, and the last 20 minutes of so are quite good.

It's obvious that the writers love both vampire movies and teenage sex comedies and know their stuff. The problem is that they can't resist cramming every single convention and cliche they could think of into the 90 mins. There's a reason why Hammer films never made teen comedies, and a reason why the hacks responsible for Date Movie -style "comedy" never made sophisticated gothic dramas.

These guys tried to do both and the result is never funny enough to be the first or classy enough to be the second. There are about 2 actual laugh out loud moments (both too graphically tasteless to make it to the trailer, where all the otherwise watchable footage went) and some nicely atmospheric set pieces, but the aforementioned crappy acting and paper-thin characters manage to undermine those potentially brighter moments.

Bottom line: if there's nothing on TV and you are watching this movie without having had to pay anything for the dubious privilege, then you might not loathe yourself too much for enjoying it. Otherwise, stay away

Upcoming Movie: Black Death

There's a British Horror/Fantasy movie coming out on May 28th called Black Death that seems to be sailing under everyone's radar, which is a little surprising giving the pretty awesome trailer (see below) and the acting talents of Sean Bean. Reading the sketchy sypnoses that I've been able to find made me think immediately of "The Navigator", and "The Church"--two movies of which I have fond memories. The trailer made me think that my initial knee-jerk reaction was way off, but it looks like a very worthwhile flick. Hopefully it will get a wide enough distrobution that I can see it on the big screen.

AC/DC meets Iron Man 2

I finally got around to seeing Iron Man this weekend, and was very pleasantly surprised. Robert Downey Jr. continues to impress (his Sherlock Holmes was simply brilliant) and the movie, while not stunningly original, was solid in just about every way. I'm now looking forward to the sequel more than ever.

Iron Man 2 comes out later this week, and since Marvel and Columbia Records cut a deal for cross promotion, AC/DC's music will grace the soundtrack, and in return footage for the movie was used to create video for AC/DC, perfoming "Shoot To Thrill". Enjoy!

Rush's Return to the Limelight -- RollingStone.com

Music -- Latest News -- Rush's Return to the Limelight -- RollingStone.com

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We talked about this on the air a couple of weeks back, but this Rolling Stone interview with Geddy Lee gives a few more details. The speculation that Rush would be previewing new material on this tour and releasing it piecemeal seems to be true. Some interesting comments about Moving Pictures too.

Thanks to Wheezer, the Cincinnati Metal God, for providing the link

In other exciting Rush news, the two year campaign to get the band a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame will come to fruition on June 25. Donna Halper, who is the American radio dj who "discovered" their first album over 30 years ago has been the driving force behind the campaign. No details about the unveiling ceremony have been released yet, but when I know, you'll know (or you can check out the Rush Is A Band blog and probably find out the same time I do).