Hi all,

Things have been at a bit of a standstill here, for a few reasons. One is that I am moving at the end of the month, and woefully behind on getting this place packed up. Second, said new location is a new house, and I’ve had to sign my name probably 8,000 times in the last few weeks, and I have reams of paper I will probably never read, which I must read by May 1.

And in other good luck, I managed to get in a car accident about a week ago. I am fine, but I managed to do $10,000 of damage to my car. (this is what it looked like.) It’s going to get fixed, but in the meantime, we’re scrambling to function as a one-car family.

So: things are busy, and somewhat on hold. I will look forward to getting back into the swing of things after I get moved. Until then, sit tight.

Thanks,
Jon

The metal legends Spinal Tap have announced a one-night world tour, starting and ending at Wembley Arena in London on June 30th. (I think this is the night of the solstice - does this mean they will break out the old Stonehenge set?) Bassmaster Derek Smalls said “One night is not enough, and it’s way too much.”

The band, who has not returned to the studio, plans to find another album of lost songs for release this summer.

No word on what brave individual will fill the drummer’s throne for this night, although David St. Hubbins said the evening will be a tribute to “all of our drummers who have passed on, either to their reward or to middle management at Sainbury’s.”

The opening act will be The Folksmen (documented in the film A Mighty Wind.) Somehow I don’t think both bands will come out at the end of the night and jam together.

(Thanks musicradar.com)

A Rush album of covers? Okay, I didn’t buy this when it came out, because I’d already seen all of the car commercials that featured these songs. It’s always amazing how old hard rock goes from the AOR stations to the brokerage commercials now.  I mean, I love Led Zeppelin and The Who, and I’m glad somebody’s providing them some cash during their later years, but I don’t think the works of Jimmy Page are going to make me get off my ass and buy a Cadillac.  Maybe if Keith Moon drove one into a hotel pool and expounded on the various safety features that kept the car from sinking like a rock, I’d pay attention.  Anyway, the Rush album:  a collection of cover songs, from a band that’s known for never covering songs. I’m not a big fan of buying filler albums of throwaway content. And how would a band that plays so surgically handle a bunch of old covers? What spin could they put on them, other than Geddy’s high-pitched voice?

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Metallica was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Saturday night, and played two songs as a five-piece, with two bassists: Jason Newsted and Robert Trujillo. Below is the video of “Master of Puppets”; they also played “Enter Sandman”.

My observations:

• It was cool that they played one pre-black song.
• Flea inducted the band, and talked about how he was blown away when he first heard the band back in 1985.
• Cliff’s parents was there, and his dad (who is very reminiscent of Ross Perot) spoke, which was cool.
• The artwork on Kirk’s guitar was pretty bad-ass.
• Lars acted and looked like a total douche.
• Two bassists are cool, but are still about half of what Cliff Burton was.
• Dave Mustaine was invited to be in the induction, but turned down the invite, because he was touring in Europe.  I wonder if there’s more to that story.

 
Video after the jump:
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In the sports world, there’s a concept called “a rebuilding year”. It’s when your team has fallen apart: the star talent has been traded elsewhere, the new kids from the minors are still learning the ropes, the coaches have all been fired and replaced by third and fourth-tier managers, and the seasoned players are all performing at a sub-par level. But even if the team finishes with a 61-101 record (i.e. the 2008 Seattle Mariners), the fans say it’s a “rebuilding year”, because lessons were being learned, and things will be better next time. Queensryche’s eighth studio album, Tribe, is something I’d consider a “rebuilding album”. It’s not great, but it shows hints of promise, or at least enough for hard-core fans to not completely dismiss the band.
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Queensryche’s latest, American Soldier, is out today! Check it out over at Amazon.com:

One of the downsides of doing a lot of album reviews for a zine is that you have to listen to a lot of crap that takes a lot of effort to get through once, let alone enough times to write a thousand words about it. And that job is even harder when it’s crap that follows this season’s crap of the week formula. But one of the huge upsides of the job is when I get a demo or CD that is truly, entirely unique, the kind of album full of melodies that stick in my head and won’t knock loose for years. And from note one of DC Slater’s solo album Altitude, I knew it would be one of those kinds of albums.
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Who killed Mary? That’s the takeaway on probably the finest concept album ever created by a prog-metal band. Before Queensryche’s third album, the band already had an impressive collection of unique metal material, but Operation: Mindcrime not only progressed their sound and voice, but added the element of a timely and complex plot that tied together the 15 tracks on this epic album.
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First off, the video for “If I Were King” is available now on Military.com. Check it out here. It’s not bad, although I could use a little more of the storyline video and a little less of Geoff Tate. It’s a little clearer this time that it’s a Somalia and Bosnia vet, talking about a friend that died and his guilt that it was the other guy and not him. It’s also interesting to see the band shots hide the fact that Queensryche was temporarily a single-guitar band. Still, very cool stuff.

Also, there’s now a sneak peek at the last six tracks of the album:

7. Middle Of Hell
8. If I Were King
9. Man Down!
10. Remember Me
11. Home Again
12. The Voice

Quicktime
http://rhino.edgeboss.net/qtime/rhino/listeningparties/517967/517967_1888.mov

WMA
http://rhino.edgeboss.net/wmedia/rhino/listeningparties/517967/517967_1888_100.wax

Real
http://rhino.edgeboss.net/real/rhino/listeningparties/517967/517967_1888.smi

If you’re a Rush fan, you’ve probably already heard, but I’ll repeat it anyway: the Paul Rudd/Jason Segel movie I Love You, Man is pretty damn funny. It also features a pretty prominent plot element concerning the band Rush, along with a performance of the song “Limelight” by the band.

The movie is a buddy comedy about a guy with no buddies (Rudd) who suddenly wants to make male friends before his wedding, so he’ll have a best man. He meets Segel, and the two hit it off, spending long hours in Segel’s man-cave, talking honestly and playing Rush songs religiously. The two later go to a Rush show, and at the end of the film, at the wedding, they (along with a wedding band) play the song “Limelight”. (Stay for the credits…) They also (try to) play “Tom Sawyer” early in the movie, and the entire subplot is littered with Rush references. And it helps that the movie itself is funny as fuck.

Not much of a review as an endorsement here - it’s worth checking out. If you want to hear the Rudd/Segel version of Limelight, check it out here.