Lou Reed/Metallica “The View” vs William Shatner’s “Iron Man”

Which piece of crap will float to the top? Lou Reed said  “Lulu” is for the literate people… I must be stupid because I don’t get it but I would like to have the “Amazing Letterman” change the “L”s to a “D’ for Lou Reeds project…

chuck

 VERSUS

” Beggars & Thieves” vid featuring JAKE E. LEE!!!

This video is great!  Jake E. Lee isn’t the only “guest” in the video. Check it out. This is how videos should be made! Great song too btw.

chuck

Ten Questions with Jim O’Ferrell from The J.O.B. Band

1. Welcome to Kick Acts. Tell us a little about yourself and your band and were you can be found at on the web.

I’m Jim O’Ferrell and I am one fourth of The J.O.B. (The Jim O’Ferrell Band), an original modern rock band. I’ve been a solo singer-songwriter most of my life. I wrote a lot of songs during my free time while I was deployed as an Infantryman in Iraq. When I got home from the war and left the Army in April 2008, I teamed up with my buddy Jason Crawford, who crafts awesome guitar leads. We started the band initially as a way to explore the songs I put together while I was overseas. The project evolved from there and now we’re working on our fourth album. Our official website is at www.thejoband.com.  Also, you can visit us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-JOB-The-Jim-OFerrell-Band/62691966261.

2. Who are your musical heroes, influences & why?

All four of us in the band have very different music backgrounds. I came up as a kid listening to everything from Creedence Clearwater Revival to Led Zepplin. I went thru the 1990s listening to Pearl Jam, Nirvana, and Metallica. Right now, I have Tool, Opeth, and Foo Fighters in my car stereo. As a lyricist, I actually am more influenced by writers. When I hit a creative wall, I set the guitar down for a little while and read work by Dylan Thomas, Walt Whitman, and other authors to get my brain working. As a guitarist, Jimmy Page and David Gilmore are two guys I admire and I’d like to have coffee with. The other guys in the band would each have very different answers. It’s that difference in our individual music histories that gives our band its own sound, its own identity.

3. Do you have any advice for someone just getting started in playing music? Any pitfalls they should avoid?

Follow your heart. I was ‘just getting started’ for 20 years. It took me a long time to figure out what I really wanted to do with music. It really is a journey. I would say to explore music; writing, performing, all of it. And don’t be in a rush. My advice as a fortune cookie would be, “Don’t spend so much time trying to play the music you think someone else wants to hear that you forget to pursue the music that is inside you.”

4. Do you have a greatest gig story you’d like to share?

It’s hard to pick one out. We’ve performed live on television a couple of times and that was a blast. We were featured rockin’ out in a Virginia Lottery TV commercial last year, too. That was a cool experience. We’ve traveled a bit and played a lot of great shows. We’ve had some extraordinary moments and played some awesome venues. And we’ve played in showcases that were real loose and just short of a disaster. Even those, you learn from. We give 100% every time we play and when an audience feeds that back to you, that’s a great gig story.

5. On the same token as the above question. How about a “worse gig” ever story.

Like any band that’s been on the road, we’ve played a few houses with empty bar stools. That can be a buzz kill, but it happens when you’re traveling. All you can do is make the most of it and jam the hell out of your set list for the few folks that are there. It’s all a part of the lifestyle. Don’t sweat it and have fun.

6. Do you have any other hobbies other than playing music? Collect stamps? Collect hats from off the side of the road? Draw pictures of boobs?

The band is my full time gig, so when I’m not jamming, I’m handling the business end of it; promotion, marketing, booking, media kit production, contacting radio stations… all the behind the scenes stuff. When I take a break from it, I paint with acrylics and canvas… fine art kind of stuff. My terrible paintings decorate our band house. When I really need to cut loose, I tear up the highways on my motorcycle. There are very few things as exhilarating as flying down a dark empty interstate at midnight crouched 24 inches from the road on two wheels at 140 miles per hour.

7. What do you think about the present music scene or lack of? Care to address that?

If all I considered were the spoon fed offerings of commercial radio and major labels, the music scene would seem pretty superficial and manufactured. But the arena is much bigger than that. For every cookie cutter over produced corporate backed artist, there is a White Stripes, or Saul Williams, or Opeth exploring new areas. There are some great inspiring artists out there making it work. As a band, the internet allows us to project our music to a global audience. It’s cool as hell when I get a merch order for t-shirts and CDs from fans in Taiwan, or Scotland, or even Texas or Florida. That means they’re listening to us and they like what they hear. The live gigging scene can be muddy, but what you get from it equals what you put into it. It’s survival of the fittest, like anything else. The better gigs and better venues are there for the bands that write good songs, put in the serious time and effort, and play good music.

8. Tell us something about each of your band members that we wouldn’t expect to hear… Like their hobbies or something like that…

Our bass player, Justin Poroszok, is also a gifted cartoonist and Comic Con enthusiast; Jason Crawford, our lead guitarist, is an award winning graphic artist and also has his own very cool electronic/noise solo music project called ‘In Nomine Mortui’; our drummer, Antonio James Jr, plays drums with gospel groups on Sundays, and I was once an Instructor at the US Army Ranger School.

9. Hypothetical situation. You’re stranded on Gilligan’s island and you get to hook up with only one of the girls… Is it Ginger, Mary Ann or Mrs. Howell and why?

That would have to be Mary Ann. She has that wholesome farm girl thing going for her. Ginger would be too high maintenance, and Mrs Howell hasn’t been in the MILF category for a long time.

10. # 10 is called “Shout It Out Loud”. It’s were you get to talk about whatever you want to talk about. So go ahead and “SHOUT IT OUT LOUD”!

There are only 12 notes in western music. That’s all there have ever been. The art of music is seeing what you can do with those 12 notes that is fresh, exciting, and relevant. We have two new songs out, ‘Messenger’ and ‘Nowhere’, and we’re in the studio working on more. These songs are the latest example of what we do with those 12 notes. Both are on our official website at www.thejoband.com. Please give them a listen. If you dig what we’re doing, please pass the word.  – Jim O’Ferrell, The J.O.B. (The Jim O’Ferrell Band)

http://www.youtube.com/thejobandtv

Dimebag Darrell Tribute from Brandt at DGREGstudio!

http://dregstudiosart.blogspot.com/2011/12/dimebag-darrell-tribute-video.html

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Dimebag Darrell Tribute Video

 

Inks on Bristol / 2011

On today’s date 7 years ago, Dimebag Darrell, guitarist for Pantera was shockingly murdered on stage in Columbus, OH while playing with one of his side projects, Damageplan.  The shooter, Nathan Gale killed three others and injured seven in his rampage.  Gale was shot dead by a shotgun blast to the face from a police officer in the ensuing mayhem.  I created a tribute portrait of Dimebag this week for Rock Star Martyr who will be covering the guitarist today on the anniversary of his passing.

Dimebag was recently voted one of the Top 100 Guitarists of All Time by Rolling Stone but by many accounts should have been closer to the top of the list.  He helped define a unique Southern Heavy Metal sound which drew Pantera legions of devoted fans and a posthumous cult following since his abrupt death.

Click HERE for the Rock Star Martyr Website to read more about Dimebag and other dearly departed Gods of Rock!

Click HERE for a stream of more of my Rock Star Martyr portraits for this ongoing series and collaboration!

Here’s the time lapse video I created of the coloring process for my portrait set to a track from none other than Pantera.  If it gets a little foggy on the footage when I’m coloring the sweet leaf, don’t adjust your screens, it’s all natural and part of my tribute, in memoriam

DREGstudios!
The Artwork of Brandt Hardin
www.dregstudios.com

Remembering Dimebag Darrell

It was seven years ago today that a deranged gunman jumped on stage and slaughtered Darrell. I missed most of his career but did come to enjoy his playing later on. Here are three of Pantera’s biggest hits. Darrell’s guitar playing was thick as brick!

Civil War performed by GNR in Nashville..

First time in 18 years its been played live by Axl.

Guns n Roses to be inducted in to Rock N Roll Hall of Fame..

But what about KISS? And which version of GNR is going to be there? The original band of the Axl cover band that’s out touring now?

chuck

http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=166952

UNS N’ ROSES is among the artists that will be inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame at its 27th annual ceremony on April 14, 2012 in Cleveland, Ohio, home to the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame And Museum. Also scheduled to be inducted are RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS, BEASTIE BOYS, THE SMALL FACES/FACES, Donovan and Laura Nyro. Freddie King well enter the Hall Of Fame as an Early Influence, while the late producer and TV host Don Kirshner will receive the Ahmet Ertegun (nonperformer) Award and producers Cosimo Matassa, Tom Dowd and Glyn Johns will receive the Award For Musical Excellence.

The ceremony will be taped for broadcast by HBO, which plans to air it in early May. Like the 2009 inductions, which were also held in Cleveland, the event will be open to the public; tickets go on sale for Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame + Museum members at 10 a.m. on December 16, and to the general public at 10 a.m. the next day. Tickets are $50 and $100, with a two-ticket limit on all orders. More information is available at www.rockhall.com.

GUNS N’ ROSES was nominated in its first year of eligibility.

“It’s a great honor,” former GUNS N’ ROSES guitarist Gilby Clarke told The Plain Dealer. “The band deserves it. It was a long time coming.”

Acts become eligible 25 years after the release of their first record.

Eccentric singer Axl Rose is the only original member of the current GUNS N’ ROSES lineup, and while he has recently been on friendlier terms with guitarist Izzy Stradlin and bass player Duff McKagan, he and guitarist Slash are not on speaking terms.

Asked about what the former bandmates will do if they are inducted, Axl told VH1 Classic‘s “That Metal Show” in October, “I don’t know what it means in terms of me with the old band and the old lineup. If we were to be invited, I don’t know what they would ask of me. It’s up in the air.”

Drummer Steven Adler told Rolling Stone magazine that he remains skeptical that Axl will be willing to perform with the original lineup. “You figure that time heals all wounds,” he said. “But some people just REALLY hold a crazy grudge. I just had lunch with Slash two days ago. He loves Axl. He holds no grudges towards him. Twenty years of great music wasn’t created because of some stupid grudge… Can’t we just be fucking people who played music and accomplished a huge goal in their life and just play a couple songs? It’s only rock and roll, my god! It’s not rocket science.”

Earlier this year, former GUNS N’ ROSES bassist Duff McKagan spoke to MusicRadar.com about the possibility of the band being inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.

“My only experience with the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame was when VELVET REVOLVER played it and we were inducting VAN HALEN,” he said. “That whole band was supposed to be there, including David Lee Roth — we were going to do a song with him. It all started falling apart in the two weeks leading up to the gig. It was sad to watch…

“We were just the innocent band that was there to play VAN HALEN songs, and we saw their whole thing crumble. To see Michael Anthony and Sammy Hagar show up, when it was supposed to be everybody… Michael and Sammy were really cool guys and good sports about it, but they took all the heat over the situation. A lot of heat.

“I don’t know if I want to set myself up for heat. It’s going to be a debacle, isn’t it? A press debacle. I just don’t know what else to say about it.”

Asked about what the former bandmates will do if they are inducted, Slash said, “We’ll cross that bridge when we get there . . . If they’re gonna pass you over, I don’t think it’s worth worrying about too much.”

Slash said that he was glad to see Alice Cooper going in this year, and as for who has been overlooked, the guitarist said, “The one that comes to mind right off the bat — and it’s not even a band that I’m a huge fan of but definitely is eligible — is KISS. And I know that they’ve been passed over every fucking year.”

Are we Army Ants or People with no Manners?

My wife and I were Christmas shopping Sunday afternoon. We went to Eastland mall, Toys “R” Us and several other places. One of the last places we went to was Burlington Coat Factory on Green River road.  It was around 5 pm in the afternoon. The store wasn’t busy. Very few customers were there at the time, maybe ten at the most including us two. As I looked around the store I noticed that the place wasn’t picked up at all. The staff was around but it was really not busy like you think it would be for the Christmas Season. Anyway, I snapped a few photos with my cell phone. I noticed one shopper (Lady with her small kids and Husband ) were in the shoe department and she accidentally knocked over a tall stack of boxes shoes. They fell like the Eiffel tower. Did she stop what she was doing to pick them up?… No…Did her husband pick them up?… No… They carried on like it was nothing. I think I am more disappointed in how the shoppers went through the store like army ants and didn’t put stuff back on the shelf and just left it lying on the floor more than I am of the staff not straightening the place back up in a timely matter…What’s up people. We are all adults. If you pick something up and decide its not for you. Place it back were you got it. It that so hard to do???

Here are the photos:

Will Someone tell the Water gods enough already?

KickActs November Stats…

59,023 page hits for November… Just saying.