Holy Crap.... I'm Beat.

Was a beautiful pre-Spring day today! The temps seem to be more bearable this Spring over last. The evil North wind (My Winter arch enemy!!) seems to be a lot less potent this time around, which is damn alright with me.

So yesterday was a beauty day too, but when I went out, I forgot my ice-cleets  and although the sidewalks were not tooo bad around this area, once I got more towards downtown (I live on just the outer part of downtown), the sidewalks had sections of sheer ice, like glass, but even more slippery. I made it around yesterday without falling on my ass... Butt, today, I remembered the cleets and man, it was ridiculous walking... Some places were just covered with sand, then mud, then slush, then ice, then ice puddles that were a couple inches deep. So by the time I had reached downtown, my hips and feet were killing me. Had to stop at Kings Place (A strip mall in a business high rise downtown) to rest for a bit. I was beat!

So, ya'll probably saw the article in the local 'zine 'Grid City' today. Matt had got a hold of me last Friday and asked if I might wright a short piece on how the video for 'Kill Scene - Zombie Nation' came together and I told him that I'd try to be brief as I know (You know) that I have a tendency to rattle on, but Matt said, "No, No, go for it"... So I think I didn't blab on too badly. I didn't leave much out of the process at all.
Whenever you release something, like an album or a video or a blog or you get an awesome show, it seems you always forget to mention some people when you are trying to be thankful. My brain has a hard enough time remembering yesterday, let alone a week or more haha. So, I looked at the article today and was thinking, 'shit, I should have thanked, this person and this person, oh shit, that person!' But I think everyone knows that the band is very thankful for everything we've been part of.

Before the Wasteland Zombies 'reunited', it was a bit of a surprise to us that people wanted to see us do some shows... Sadly, I think I was kinda a let down for people. Being away from Fredericton and that East Coast Metal scene from 1994 to 2012, there was two generations of musicians that had come into the fold and I know, and we had been told, so I'm not tooting my own horn here, but Dreamkick, The Wasteland Zombies, Power Syndrome, Holy Order, Antic, Caution and many others are somewhat 'legendary' in the area, as I'm sure in every town and city across the World has it's bands that were the hometown hero's 'back in the day' - When I moved back home here. I was embarrassed a few times as friends would introduce me to new people in the scene (albeit, I was the 'newbie') as "the legendary Chris Waddell"... It was really humbling to find out that the bands of my past had made some impact on the current scene. In fact, the singer of one of Fredericton's biggest current Metal acts told me that I had actually inspired him to go into music and pursue his first band... To have someone come up and tell you that? Well it's severely flattering. He told me that he had run into me as the band (I'm not sure if it was Dreamkick or WZ) outside of the old bar in Kings Place called 'Trina's' as we were on a break and had came up to me and he said he was just a young teen then, and asked me for some advice and I guess I gave him some good advice... Which is surprising lol, because looking back now at interviews I did, I was a fucking idiot, I rambled on, trying not to sound like a dick, but I was a dick... But to be a musician, you have to have some measure of ... Ego.... You want to make it, you want to write great music, you want to be a great band and when you've won Battle of the Bands and been scouted by EMI records (without contacting them to come see you) and you've made an impact, it is hard not to let it get to your head, but you also need that stuff to help give you the drive to try, to try and go all the way.

So, back to what I was saying and where I was trying to get at. I think, looking back now, the band should have had rehearsed much longer than we did. I think, that when we did our first shows, they were kinda sub-par and because, 'back in the day', I was so much more energetic and I think that was part of the erm.. myth about me, was that this 'Chris Waddell' guy, he was a maniac on stage! He used to be able to jump up and fly and when we 'came back', well i couldn't do that anymore... I think what I did do right, was to have our first show in Oromocto, so, it wasn't that a lot of people wouldn't show up, but it was kinda out of the way in a sense and gave us a little chance to stretch our stage legs before we played our 'hometown' of Fredericton. Our second show was the 'Evening of Heavy Metal' that was put together by the UNB Arts Faculty and some local artists, along with a local electronics recycling company. That was a great show (sadly, booked on a night that I think two other 'Metal' shows were going on in town and half the crowd had NO clue where to find the building we were playing in on campus, which is too bad, because 'Memorial Hall' is an incredible theater... The next show, was not planned, an out of town band couldn't make the bill because a snow storm was coming (though the band from Halifax made it) and we got to play with Hero's Last Rite (Fredericton's ruling top Metal band) and some great friends from Halifax, 'Chaos Theory', whom I had befriended at the first Nova Scotia Metal 'fest I attended.
So, we started to get alright, but there was some problems in the band with our drummer's brother, he was kinda lacking in the practice area and that wasn't all that great for the live set, with him screwing up and not looking confident on stage and when one guy isn't confident, it can effect the whole thing.

Later on, once we got Jamie Norrad and Jake Taylor, we really began to pull it together. Over 2017, I think we were really starting to come together as a band. But now, with my arthritis kickin my ass and starting up methotrexate in April, it's gonna be a rough go.
So I was just saying to a good friend of mine from a fantastic band from Saint John, NB, that I'd like for us to record an album and I'd really, really like to get it pressed on vinyl, and that's really a self indulgent plan, like I said to him, I just want to be able to put on a vinyl record of my band and listen to it because vinyl and the bands I grew up on, listening to them all, or almost all on vinyl, it would be so mind blowing... it'd be like hearing your band on the radio for the first time... It might be a small thing, but for the journey one makes in this industry, it'd be a great way to end this chapter of music in my life (though, I've had hard thoughts of putting together a 'Doom'/'Stoner' Metal band, all that Black Sabbath and recent sonic foray into Sleep, High on Fire, KYUSS has really made me interested in doing something different)... But we'll see

Grid City Magazine Article on Kill Scene - Zombie Nation video

A good friend who runs the local online 'zine 'Grid City Magazine' here in Fredericton asked me last week to write up how The Wasteland Zombies 'Kill Scene - Zombie Nation' video came to be.

Annnnnnd here's the article!

http://www.gridcitymagazine.com/video-kill-scene-zombie-nation-wasteland-zombies/

Check out and 'share' the article!

Much thanks to Matt Carter for this!!!

Some Recent Local Music Video Releases

Saw on the local online 'zine 'Grid City that local Pop Punker's 'CHiPs' have released a new video, so I thought I'd toss out a couple other's including the Wasteland Zombies (Just in case ya hadn't seen it yet!)

Fredericton's CHiPs!: Well what a dud! This 'Blogger' site has it's "issues", one of which is that you can include video, but the only 'choices' it gives one for posting that video or videos is 'Upload', pretty straight forward... 'From YouTube' - Which requires that you put in like the band name and song title, but MANY videos turn up, and it doesn't seem that using 'tags' even works... The other is 'My YouTube Videos'... Which again, brings up your own YouTube page videos, but may not show the exact one you're looking for... Grumble...grumble...

So here's a 'direct' link to the Chips 'Modern Days' music video...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=JT4JNknV-OY

The Green Lung Grinders 'Carcinogenitalia':
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVBNdkYNB14

And,

The Wasteland Zombies - Kill Scene - Zombie Nation:
https://vimeo.com/254784870

Not quite the post I wanted it to be, but I implore you to check out these vids! All different in their own ways! But the most important thing... They all ROCK!

Musicians CAN Make Money?!

Yes, that's a '?' and an '!' Because it's both a question and a statement. Musicians CAN make money... But of course there's a lot more to it.
Because of internet streaming services, pirate websites where one can download just about any album, the dying off of CD's and other mediums, it's been harder and harder for musicians to make money these days. Sometimes one has to be very shrewd and driven to come up with interesting ideas on how to pull this off. Merchandise has become the mainstay for some bands to make most of their money.
Last year at a couple of Wasteland Zombies shows, we asked fans what they wanted as far as merch, what they preferred, CD, vinyl or Mp3's. We were told that various types of merch is what's desired, whether that's pins, stickers, gig posters, shirts and other clothing (toques, hats, sweatshirts, patches etc).

Now, I'm not trying to be mean here, but a lot of 'local' bands in the Maritimes won't ever see enough National (let alone) local airplay to really have some serious coin coming in and the proceeding article is really more about bands that ARE in that glorious level of actual airplay that is warranting some decent income. But with gigs paying very little and album sales (physical albums) severely slumping, there has to be some way for bands to make some cash and to make some cash if they've received 'advances' from their label or just owe costs for production or are just trying to save up money to record an album or try to fund a tour.

With my failing health, I've let the guys know that I highly doubt I'll be able to pull off any live shows. MAYBE one or two sporadic local shows, but I think my days of travelling  to other towns for gigs are over. Hopefully not forever.
We've never been under any delusions that we are going to 'make it' or that we'll become "Rockstars" at our age and day. Heck, even IF we had some great huge hit that caught on and some label wished to sign us and we started on our way up the chain. My health wouldn't allow me to go very far... I'd rather not see the band replace me for another singer, but Glen's (our drummer), really the 'original' member of the band and I guess it would be up to him and the guys. I'd rather the band not go on without me, selfish? Maybe, but I had said, once we had Jamie and Jake in the band, that I saw our current line up as the final incarnation. I think it's the best we've been at since the original line up that included Ray Robinson on guitar.

Anyhow... It's hard these days for bands, even the best of the best in our local area are still struggling. We've heard from touring bands that the situation is much the same across the country, but here in 'Canada's butthole' (aka Atlantic Canada), where the towns are far apart, the bars to play in are few and far between, it's almost like pounding nails into sand to make any kind of life at this. It's also been part of my 'falling out of the music scene' of late. It's not that I don't believe in the scene anymore, it's that the scene is so futile, it's hard to believe in anything. I'm not saying that bands are wasting their time. We, who have grown up on the East Coast playing music most of or all of our lives, know very well that there IS a great scene back East here in all genres, some sure, are more lucrative and popular than others, but that's the way it's always been. The bands that have formed, reigned and died off are many, but many of them have left great legacies and inspired new generations to take up the guitar, sticks, bass and mic to make their own paths.

Here on the East coast, with cities and towns spread out so far apart, it's hard for 'fans' to get to venues sometimes, it's expensive back here, alcohol is super expensive, the Winters cause many to decide to stay home and drink with buddies (thus the birth of house shows, which of course come with their own issues).

So, IF, a local band started to 'make it', how could they make money these days? I found an article on BBC news today about some companies that are aiding musicians to get the best amount of money they can from their work, without it going to 'other' greedy hands.

It's a long article, so I've posted the meat and potato's and if you wish to read the entire piece, I've put the link to the source after the article. (Note, this is a Euro article, so I'm only guessing that these services are available to Canadian musicians and there may even be Canadian companies that are involved in this area, if not, it might be a great money making venture for some entrepreneur):

 How Bands Are Escaping The Music Industry Snake Pit

(bbcnews.com) - - Music streaming - playing songs over the internet "on demand" - is widely regarded as having saved the music industry, following an era of music piracy marked by falling CD and vinyl sales.

Yet songwriters and musicians have long complained that they're not getting their fair share of the spoils, but now a number of tech start-ups are trying to help them receive what they're owed and give them more control.

Dan Haggis, drummer with Liverpool band The Wombats, is a happy man. The band's fourth album, Beautiful People Will Ruin Your Life, recently entered the UK chart at number three - a career best.

And this time around, they stand to make more money from their success.

This is because they've signed to Kobalt, a technology-driven music services company that gives songwriters and bands complete ownership of their work and a greater share of income than has traditionally been the case in the industry.

"We never used to make any money because we were always paying off our advances," recalls Haggis, whose band formed in 2003. "We'd get about a 20% share of revenues and the label would keep the rest.

"Now we get to keep about 90% of what we earn ...it's such a difference, it just made sense."

Other tech start-ups such as Mycelia and Choon are also trying to use new technology, such as blockchain, to give more financial power back to music creators and help them track down what they're owed.

Mycelia, a "think and do tank" of music professionals set up by London-based artist Imogen Heap, argues that having a verified global registry of artists and their works would help make the payment process more transparent.

And Choon, a new streaming service and payments platform, is based on the Ethereum blockchain and promises to get more cash to artists by paying 80% of the revenues generated by their streams to them directly.

It was the byzantine nature of the music industry's payments system that inspired Kobalt's Swedish founder, Willard Ahdritz, to set up his music publishing and technology platform, with the aim of collecting and tracking artists' song royalties much more quickly and accurately.

Clients can see on an app how much revenue their works are generating globally in real time.

"Transparency is probably the key word," says Haggis.

One of the problems to date has been the lack of metadata accompanying song information, argues music writer Stuart Dredge. If a recording lacks the necessary credits for the writers, performers and producers, they may not get their cut.

"Streaming isn't the villain," he says, "but it's shining a light on some of the music industry's historic problems around data and attribution and making sure the right people get paid."

But music analyst Mark Mulligan is highly skeptical of blockchain's potential to become a force in the music business.

"No label or rights association is going to allow blockchain to gain any momentum because they rely on a lack of transparency - there's a huge amount of revenue that's never attributed properly because of messy data and that just goes straight to the bottom line of record labels and publishers," he says.

While so-called collection agencies will try to track down royalty payments for artists and protect their copyright, they acknowledge that this isn't always easy given the complex nature of a global industry that now has so many distribution platforms.

PRS for Music, one of the UK's biggest music licensing societies, is involved in a multinational project with Berlin-based ICE Operations, which is attempting to automate copyright processing using cloud computing and machine learning.

"There's an awful lot more to creating a successful song than most people realise," explains PRS chief executive Robert Ashcroft, "it doesn't just happen. From the idea to the crafting, from the engineering to the sound production and promotion - it's the result of a lot of professional effort."

Better technology enabling royalty tracking and payments means that artists and writers are starting to get paid for the first time in markets such as China, where piracy has previously dominated.

Streaming is now raking in more than $5bn (£3.6bn) globally for the three major music groups - Universal, Sony Music and Warner, considerably more than the $3bn from sales of CDs and vinyl records. Services such as as Spotify, Deezer, Tidal, Apple Music, YouTube and Amazon Music have become the de facto way many of us now source our favourite tunes.

Spotify dominates, accounting for around two-thirds of all song streams. But it pays many music labels less than a cent per stream. How much of that the songwriter or band gets depends on the deal it has with the label, but the ratio of label income to artist income is roughly 4:1.

But last month, the US Copyright Royalty Board ruled that streaming services - Google, Amazon, Apple, Spotify and Pandora - would have to increase the share of their income they pay songwriters and publishers from 10.5% to 15.1%.

Good news for songwriters.

Read more here: http://www.bbc.com/news/business-43156285

SumNewZ

So I was 'speaking' with the guys in the band, really through Facebook Messenger, the only part of Facebook I currently use... If Microsoft's Messenger was still active I'd use that over the FB one, but beggars can't be choosers.

So the plan is that the guys will start to get together and begin to write some new material and then in April, I'll join up with them and put down some lyrics, then start to tighten up the new and old songs.

I'd like to see the band, at least record an album. I'm starting Methotrexate in late March/early April. If you don't know about Methotrexate it is a cancer treatment medication that has also been shown to be beneficial to persons with Psoriatic arthritis (like I got) and Rheumatoid arthritis and several other ailments (Along with being a non-FDA approved abortion pill in the USofA.
I can't say I'm looking forward to starting up Methotrexate again (I have taken this drug several times during my life with arthritis).
I've found, and my Dvlogs used to document, that this medication made me vomit sometimes a couple of times a day and throughout the week. I got pretty good at puking, which is funny to me because vomiting is one of my favorite 'film gags'... People find it so disgusting that it makes me laugh.. I don't like to vomit personally, but it is a pretty funny human function... That the human body, due to, being revolted by something, over stressed, a virus or by sticking a finger down one's throat can cause the stomach to turn itself out... Pretty funny the human body!

So yeah, vomiting aside, I'm doubting I'll be in much health to play any shows, let alone shows out of town. This medication wipes you out, leaves you susceptible to infection and like every other arthritis medication I've tried, does very little in the way of helping me.

As I said, I'd like the band at least to record an album. 'The Town Fair', the Wasteland Zombies first 'album' was independently released by us on cassette. So does it count? It had like 10 songs, we did it in a studio (even if it was one set up for the sole purpose to record the album). But I'd LOVE to release something on vinyl, that'd be my 'dream' and then I think I'd close this chapter of music in my life. MAYBE, if I got better I might like to do a special project, but who knows.

So, Saturday evening, when I wrote that I had been feeling so 'lethargic', well that turned into shakes and having to piss about every 20 to 40 minutes. There's only one thing that makes me do that and it hasn't happened for a long time and that's monosodium glutamate. An old enemy of mine.

Years ago now, well actually 2010 was where it ended, but from probably when I was maybe 8 or 9 years old, I suffered from anxiety. I didn't sleep well at all from that age up until, again, just years ago.
I'm quite allergic to a wide variety of things, from seasonal allergies (which thankfully that issue has abated itself over the years), to many fruits and vegetables.
In my late teens, I found my anxiety was getting much worse, like really bad. This ever increasing anxiety built and built upon itself until one day around 1996 I cracked, fled from an outing with my best friend and his family that was visiting and could barely even go a block from my own home. The anxiety had grown and grown into agoraphobia. I sought out help and of course ended up on medications for many years.
But I made a life changing realization. I was 'sensitive' to monosodium glutamate and caffeine. This was compounding my anxiety. When I ate food laced with MSG, I'd have a reaction, that until that time I was unaware of. The symptoms of this reaction were, sweats, rapid heart rate, numbness, feeling incredibly anxious and it made me pee like mad. Once I figured this out and began to look at the ingredients of food before I consumed it, I found that MSG was in sooo many things, from potato chips to Mr. Noodles. I quit the caffeinated drinks and started to stay away from foods that MSG was in and found that my anxiety was soon much much less frequent and intense.
In 2010 on my trip to Egypt, my anxiety left me. It was gone. I had used Ativan to fly and travel, but I found when we boarded our plane to Luxor during the trip, that all of a sudden, I wasn't feeling anxious. So in the Cairo airport, I held back from the Ativan and ended up flying the whole way to Luxor without the drug, from that point on, I was fine.
I know I'd still like to visit a counselor sometime, while I'm no longer anxious, I still think it would be beneficial to speak with someone about these 'issues' I've had, because I may not have entirely delt with them properly, some day I will....

How Many Of You Have One Of These?

Do you know what 'that' is?

Do you have any clue?

Hint, it came from the darkest recesses of someone's mind... Someone who lived in the early 1900's. It, came from his mind.

IF, anyone can guess, what 'It' is, it's correct name, within 3 days. I will give you something, an item from my personal collection of 'things'.....
And that's you have to guess what the creature is, not the guy who created it....

Sooo Lethargic...

Man, don't know why I'm so wiped out. I slept well, got up, had a shower, cleaned up, then Pat Pelletier and his partner Marie came to pick me up and we went to Issac's Way for lunch with our close friend Nancy, it was just her birthday and we were joined by Gord and Karla Shefroth.

Gord's a singer in a band from the US called 'Aftershock', but Gord lives in Oromocto, here in New Brunswick. The band doesn't tour or anything, but they release some kick ass Metal. Gord is an amazing singer. I don't couch myself as a good singer, but Gord is amazing. SO, amazing that when Rob Halford of Judas Priest left the band 1991, the remaining members of Priest went on a global search for a new singer and them's some BIG boots to fill. Judas Priest are the 'Metal Gods', when people think of 'Metal' usually Judas Priest is one band people will mention... Well Gord, auditioned for Judas Priest and actually made it into the top tier of singer's that did. He never got the gig, but if it's a testament to his vocal ability, that's one to have in your belt!

It was great to see Pat, Marie, Gord, Karla and Nancy. We always say we need to do these 'get togethers' more often, as we usually only meet up at like Christmas or Birthdays. We're a sentimental lot and love to try and get the 'old gang' back together, but with jobs, lives and wives/husbands/ kids, it's not always easy to do.

Here's a pic from this even, think I'm gonna go lay down for half an hour....

Why ABBA Was One Of the '70's 'Heaviest' Bands

It's no secret, or at least it shouldn't be, that I'm a HUGE ABBA fan. Since I was child I've loved their songs and of course turning out to be a 'Metalhead' it's not something in your teens that you'd readily say out loud.
My love for the band has grown even more over the years as I had access to their full library and discovered a lot of 'hits', for me. on Youtube.
It's no secret about the bands recording techniques and tricks they did to grow the 'ABBA Sound'. It's a distinct and original sound and when an ABBA song comes on, you know it's ABBA.
In the beginning Bjorn, Benny and Stig Anderson were the primary writers but later the whole band became a hit writing force that couldn't be reckoned with.
They were proud of their country and of their music. Songs like 'Voulez Vous' with it's lyrics:
"And here we go again, we know the start, we know the end, Masters of the scene
We've done it all before and now we're back to get some more
You know what I mean..." - I wouldn't call them egotistical, but they knew damn well they were good.
Early hits like 'Ring Ring', with it's classic good rockin' 60's vibes and of course 'Waterloo' won them their Euro Award and began their rocketing to stardom.

Their hits to me are not only timeless but endless. Name me one other band that won the Euro song writing contest that ever went on to be as big as ABBA got?

When I worked at Electronic Arts, I met the only other person who held the same position I did that the band had such 'heavy' riffs in their material they might as well be Metal. We discussed our favorite songs and the ones we felt were the 'heaviest' while we faced insults and laughs from our co-workers. I'm sorry, but it's the truth. There's many many 'heaviness' in so many songs in so many genres. Heavy isn't just loud guitars and played in among 'heavy lyrics' with thundering Metal bass and drums. Heavy music can be found in any genre.

Songs like, 'Does Your Mother Know' has great guitar with 'heavy riffs', the backing vocals are cool as fuck and the song is just a driving dance song that leaves one with a smile your face. As does 'Take A Chance On Me', another masterpiece of Poptacular awesomeness. And yes, I believe I just created a word there, but it works! The underlying rhythm of the song is so grooving and moves along like a hot blade through butter.
Other ABBA songs with some 'heavy' riffs are, 'Mamma Mia', Bjorn's guitar playing and mild solos make the song snap. The chorus chimes and rings in your head forever. ABBA song's are truly unforgettable.
'The Name of the Game' is another flat out favorite, the verse is slow and sexy, the girls talk about their not so hidden feelings for their men, the chorus itself has some great back up vocals and the acoustic guitar is 'heavy' on it's own, match with Benny's piano and what I think might be a French horn, possibly trumpet or even a keyboard.

S.o.S. is another of my favorites. It's got riffs in it that are just incredible. It's no wonder there's been a couple of Swedish bands that have 'Metalized' ABBA songs. The part of the chorus, where they sings, "When you're gone, how can I even try to go on"... There's a riff that Bjorn plays that is so heavy, it was one of the first tracks that I really noticed just how 'heavy' the band is.
Listen to it (Oh and I love the girls choreographed 'dance moves' for this one)

There's of course all the 'standard' hits that everyone knows, but I've found some precious gems that I never even knew existed. Songs that were laced throughout the bands great career that no one ever seemed to pay much attention to, let alone give radio time.
Some of those lesser known songs are: Tiger - It's kinda 'silly lyrics, but it's still a rockin' tune

A song that I 'discovered recently, and oddly enough through the cover of a Canadian band at that. CBC radio had released some of their 'Brave new Waves' recordings from the late '80's early '90's and one of those sets was the Pursuit of Happiness and they did a 'cover' of a song called 'On and On and On', which I had no clue was an ABBA song. In fact when I listened to it, it dawned on me just from the first listen that it must be originally done by ABBA

'Eagle' is a strange song for some reason, while I loved the song, it appears to me to be an anomaly among all their songs. it's included in 'ABBA the Movie' and it's lyrically a bit different than other songs by the band...

Even obscure songs like 'Bang Bang a Boomerang' is a killer tune, it's got a bright and bouncy bass line that trips through the verses with a great snare on the pre-chorus. Lyrically it's a really well structured and comically poetic tribute to love. When you think that English of course was their second language, the lyrics they wrote are even more stunning and of course there can be found some of the songs sung in their native tongue...

I remember Jack Black once talking about amazing awesome bands and that those bands had what he called the "sauce" and it's in a bottle this "sauce" and some bands can just shake up that bottle and the sauce comes blasting out and there's no end to it, other bands, they run out of the sauce and they fade into oblivion.

Listen to the track, 'Gimme, Gimme, Gimme', of course Madonna, not too long resurrected her career (again) with the use of a sample from this song. The track has, again, amazing guitar riffs, a brilliant bass line. The beat and the lyrics are just flat out ABBA greatness.

Check out these song's I've listed here, they are among my favorites and I hope you will be open minded enough to REALLY listen to the guitars, bass and piano, orchestration and of course, Agnetha and Frida's out of this world vocals, really listen to these magnificent hits from one of Pop Rock's greatest bands. I suggest for best results use headphones and crank it

Incoming....

Well, normally I love storms. I really do, the crazier the storm the better. Of course I'm hunkered down in my apartment, safe from the elements and usually quite prepared for bad weather... and I am for this one, though I don't know how 'crazy' the storm will be.
There's a freezing rain warning up and when I was watching CBC this morning, the weather lady said that we MAY experience freezing rain for up to.... 14 hours! Now, normally, that would be super, super bad news. But given that the time period for the freezing rain is from around 7PM tonight until tomorrow morning sometime and the most important part of all this is that the temperature isn't going to drop after the storm but rise to near +12 to +16 Celsius.
So, normally with a freezing rain storm, the temp would drop afterwards, encasing the World in ice and making everything and anything outside dangerous, but given the mild temps coming up, that which is frozen should thaw and melt.

Ok, so I download movies and sometimes I see something and I'll check it out to get the gist of what the movie is about. The other day I came across 'Grindhouse Nightmares'... DON'T download, rent or buy this movie. Please take my word for it, it's horrible. It might sound good, the cover poster might look great, but it's horrible. Somehow they seemed to get Michael Madsen to appear in it, I can't see them having the money to pay him or maybe that was where the budget for the movie went. I'd hope that it isn't listed in his IMDB... They call it a 'Gangster Musical'....
It starts off with a horrible short, then it goes into a bunch of fake trailers (which Madsen appears in several of).... There's one with some Nazi naked girls cutting people up which was kinda cool... Seriously, I'm watching this as I type and it's getting worse and worse....

DON'T WATCH THIS MOVIE!!!

It was movies like this that pushed Mike Fields and I to start working on our own script, 'Mutant Baby'... We even shot some tests with a puppet 'Mutant Baby' that Fields made.
We were working on it during the time period that the FX shop we were employed at had been nominated for an Emmy Award and Fields and I did a phone interview with CBC New Brunswick.
During the interview we brought up the 'Mutant Baby' concept, in which when asked what the synopsis was, Fields replied, "Well it's about a mutant baby that takes over Vancouver", to which the CBC then went on to call our plan of a movie, 'Mutant Baby Takes Over Vancouver'... Which is an awfully long title... I think the local rag, the Daily Gleaner (a very thin an mostly useless local newspaper in Fredericton), also interviewed us and also called the film, "Mutant Baby Takes Over Vancouver".... Mike ended up busy on movies and I had started working with Electronics Arts, but the script is till here and still pretty cool (If I do say so myself).

One of our good friends while working at Lindala Make Up Effects, Geoff Redknap actually pulled off a major indie horror flick in 2016 called 'The Unseen' (not to be confused with the 1980's 'The Unseen' or the 2017 'The Unseen'). I think it might be available on Netflicks Canada and possibly some of the other 'movie rental' companies. I've never seen it myself, I've seen the trailer and some excerpts, Mike Fields and a gang of our other friends did make up FX for the film, so you know that's top notch and on IMDB, it gets some great ratings.

WATCH this movie by my friend called, 'The Unseen'!

That might not be THE trailer for Geoff's flick, but it's the closest I could get with this damn 'Blogger' website, that only allows to 'search' a video's title and usually brings up everything EXCEPT what you're looking for.

Sometimes people ask me if I miss working in the tv/film industry. That's a tough one, as we had a fucking blast. Crazy times, crazy experiences but on the flipside, crazy hours, crazy workloads and working with (not necessarily taking) crazy chemicals; the latex foams, urethane skins, clay dust and other noxious chemicals were horrible for one's health. But you have to 'weigh' this, incredible opportunities with the bad. I couldn't handle the hours and the chemicals these days. So, yes, I miss it, no, I wouldn't go back to it.
We had so many great times. So many stories to tell. I have a bunch of VHS tapes that I need to get converted to digital, but I need to see them before I send them out to get digitized, hehe, just have to see if there's any incriminating evidence on them before other eyes are subjected to the craziness that was 'the shop'

I had signed up years ago on Google for some 'alerts'. You select what 'titles' for alerts you want, then when there's news, they'll send you an email on the subjects you've chosen. For instance, I like to keep up on what's shakin' in North Korea, so I get emails on their nuclear program and general news on anything 'disruptive' going on there. Also, I have keen interests in space news and developments. so I get news on Ion engine development, new planets found, news from Mars and on new findings in the universe.
One of the other alerts i get is on 'Gobekli Tepe', the ancient site in Turkey that has started to overturn and rewrite the history of us humans.
Here's a link to some info on Gobekli Tepe - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6bekli_Tepe
It's an amazing site that is not even half uncovered. I'm a little worried about the site now that it's discoverer has passed on. Klaus Schmidt who found the site or rather found it again, but uncovered much of what's been discovered up until his passing a few years ago. Schmidt wasn't beyond having, hmm those who were not academic archaeologists, explore the site and was very open about his findings. Since his passing the site has been taken over by other powers and even a huge, nay, massive structure has been built over the site to keep out prying eyes and to protect it from the elements. Given that so much remains to be uncovered and given that the site is rewriting our history, it's not been beyond mainstream archaeologists to 'bury' the truth of some sites. Now i'm not saying they are covering up evidence of alien intervention in mankinds evolution from hunter/gatherers to farming and civilization, but we just had more transparency before and now, we might not. Given the sensitive nature of what may be uncovered, there's just no reassurance that ground breaking, amazing finds may be concealed, especially if they run against the grain of the current narrative.... Know what I mean?

So today i got an 'Gobekli Tepe' email alert, and sometimes, the stories have nothing to do with Gobekli Tepe, except to name it in the article. This particular article on an excavation in Sweden was pretty interesting.
Here's the article:

8000-Year Old Underwater Burial Site Reveals Human Skulls Mounted On Poles

(phys.org) - - A team of researchers with Stockholm University and the Cultural Heritage Foundation has uncovered the remains of a number of Mesolithic people in an underwater grave in a part of what is now Sweden. In their paper published in the journal Antiquity, the group describes the site where the remains were found, the condition of the remains and also offer some possible explanations for the means by which the remains found their way to the underwater burial site.

People living during the Mesolithic were hunter-gatherers, the researchers note, which is why the burial site and its contents are so surprising. At the time of its use, the burial site would have been at a shallow lake bottom covered with tightly packed stones upon which the remains of humans had been laid. The remains were all skulls, save for one infant. The adult skulls (except one) were missing jawbones, and at least two of the skulls showed evidence of a stick thrust through the opening at the base through the top of the skull—normally associated with posting a skull to scare enemies. But hunter-gatherers were not known for posting skulls or engaging in gruesome funeral rituals. Instead, they were known for disposing of their dead in simple, respectful ways.

The gravesite was found in what is now southern Sweden, near an archaeological site known as Kanaljorden. Archeologists have been working at the site since 2009, but it was not until 2011 that the human remains were found—until that time, researchers had been finding animal remains. To date, the researchers have found the remains of 11 adults. In another surprise, the team discovered that all of the adult skulls bore signs of trauma—each had been whacked in the head multiple times. But the trauma was inflicted differently depending on gender. The males were hit on top or near the front of the head, while the females were typically hit from behind. None of the wounds appeared life-threatening, however, though without the rest of the corpse, it was impossible to identify what had killed them.

Cranium F318 with wooden stake. Photograph: Fredrik Hallgren. Credit: Antiquity (2018). DOI: 10.15184/aqy.2017.210

The researchers are unable to offer an explanation for what they have found at the site, though they suggest it was possible the victims had died or been killed elsewhere and then transported to the burial site. Possibly because they were considered exceptional in some way.

Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2018-02-year-underwater-burial-site-reveals.html#jCp

So much cool stuff happening around the planet! AND Off the planet:

(spaceweather.com) - - THE ROADSTER AND THE STAR CLUSTER: Elon Musk's cherry red Tesla Roadster is doing things no electric car has ever done before. On Feb. 6th it left Earth onboard a Falcon Heavy Rocket. On Feb. 8th it crossed the orbit of the Moon. Yesterday, the Roadster paid a visit to a star cluster:

"I captured this series of photos from my cozy home office in New Jersey using a remote-controlled 0.5-meter telescope at the Chilescope observatory a few hours north of Santiago, Chile," says Michael Keith. "The Roadster was at a distance of 3.7 million km from Earth--a new record! Although it is was very dim (about magnitude 19.8) I wanted to try to capture it because it was close in the sky to a nice globular star cluster: NGC 5694 is much farther away than the Tesla Roadster, alnost 115,000 light years from Earth."

Since NASA published orbital elements for the Roadster on Feb. 8th, amateur astronomers have been tracking the electric car, with groups leapfrogging over one another in an effort to capture the most distant photo of this unique spacecraft. Among photos submitted to Spaceweather.com, Keith's is the record holder. For reference, 3.7 million km is almost 10 times farther from Earth than the Moon. This record will surely fall as astrophotographers around the world continue tracking the interplanetary Roadster. Whether anyone can take a more beautiful photo than Keith did, however, remains unknown. Stay tuned!
Source link: http://spaceweather.com/

Yay! Family Day!

So, New Brunswick had it's first 'new' holiday today, 'Family Day'! If I'm correct, I think almost every province has one of these now. I found it curious that it was like mid-month. Not sure how or why they picked this day for it, but, well it don't matter to me much either way, well aside from stores being closed, but like with storms I was prepared and went out and got anything I needed yesterday. Albeit, stores can be open if they want I believe, but government, major retailers like Sobey's Walmart (I think) and banks were all closed.
I was watching Ralph Bakshi's 'Wizards' last night. I thought I had seen it before, but a lot of it didn't look very familiar. Fields and I might have watched it back in the day, but I was probably smoked up on weed and drinking beer, so that could be why the movie recollection was hazy at best. I didn't really like it. It almost seemed like it was rushed or half put together. I know Bakshi's style is different from a lot of other animators, but yeah, this one just didn't really do anything for me.

Today was a lazy day, it's the cat's fault, it is. Every time I went to get up, she'd open her eyes from beside me, and then yawn and then she'd purr and I'd wake up again some time later.... Dang cat, she's a evil kitty!

I don't like to get involved with many TV series these days, despite having a lot of time on my hands, I just don't want to 'escape' into a plethora of fantasy shows.
That being said, I am watching the 'Waco' series. I remember all of it going down really well from the newspaper reports and all the coverage on television at the time. It was a crazy time and another one of those moments in America when they had started to wake up and see that the government was maybe taking some things a little too far... I've found the series so far, seems to take in account both sides of the story. I've seen some documentaries on what happened and it's a convoluted messed up story to be sure.
I was surprised to see John Leguizamo as part of the cast, as well as the dude who played General Zod in the 'Man Of Steel' movie. Great actor.
Also caught the 3 10-minute episodes of 'Stargate Origins' - I didn't realize it was a webseries when I started it, nor did I realize the 'episodes' were 10 minutes long hhehe. Maybe they are pitching it as a pilot. It's not done too bad. I didn't get much into the Stargate universe series that they had, though I did watch most of the SG-Universe show/series.
I think an 'origin' series on the whole storyline would be pretty cool.

We got some warm wet weather coming our way, this is good and bad.
Good, because it's gonna be warm and not -30 and Bad, because it'll no doubt beat me around quite a bit. I can feel the pain in my shoulders and back creeping in already. Some snow tonight and possibly freezing rain tomorrow night.... 

Rock & Rule

Yeah! Anyone remember that one?

While I guess you could compare 'Rock & Rule' with 'Heavy Metal' the movie. 'Heavy Metal' of course being released in 1981 and 'Rock & Rule' in 1983.

I feel about 'Rock & Rule' the same way I feel about 'Spinal Tap' and 'Bad News'. They are both different enough stories to stand on their own, without having to say that this one, ripped the other off.
Mind you, in the end 'Rock & Rule's' ultimate meaning is the same as 'Heavy Metal's' - The battle between good and evil and love with triumph in the end. I find that 'Rock & Rule' is in some ways less constrained than 'Heavy Metal'. Then again, the magazine 'Heavy Metal' had, had years of practice in print with it's artists, on the other hand, Nelvana, the Canadian animation company from Canada (who brought the world animated commercials, kids TV shows and even an animated spot in George Lukas' highly panned 'Star Wars Christmas Special' - probably the only thing cool about that horrid 'special'). The two films differ in that there is far less 'graphic violence' in 'Rock & Rule' than both the 'Heavy Metal' movies 'Heavy Metal' and '2000's F.A.K.K.'

I can't remember where I first saw 'Rock & Rule', for some reason and I believe this because as almost ALL Canadians growing up in the '70's, 80's, CBC was in some places the only channel available... If I HAD seen 'Rock & Rule' on TV, it have been a maybe watered down version.
We did rent a lot of VHS movies in the '80's, so it might have even been then.
I'm pretty sure Mike Fields and I ended up watching while housemates in Vancouver.
We actually went to the Nelvana studios in Vancouver when Fields was still looking for work in the Vancouver film industry. For some reason, I was sure they had something to do with that 1993 Coca-Cola 'Polar Bears' commercial that was so famous on tv... But looking around online it seems that it was 'Rhythm and Hues' who were involved with that commercial and not Nelvana...

So if you haven't opened up a new 'Tab' and searched it out, you're probably thinking, "What the Hell is 'Rock & Rule'. Well it was a Canadian made adult animated movie. Now when I say, 'adult', I don't mean it's a porno, in fact, there's much more nudity in 'Heavy Metal' than there is in 'Rock & Rule'.
'Rock & Rule' is 'adult' because it has scenes of drug use, some 'semi-nude scenes' and what they'd called 'adult themes', and those would be the story somewhat being about a 'evil' arch villain named 'Mok' who's involved with elements of 'Satanism'.
'Mok's' kinda a cross between David Bowie, Mick Jagger, Iggy Pop and Lou Reed, if that's not the personification of evil right there, I don't know what is!

The story is told in a post nuclear world where there's no humans, but at the top of the pile, intelligent inhabitants of Earth are now mutants, dogs, rats, cats and 'others' that have humanoid forms and speech abilities.
The villain Mok needs a certain sung musical tone in order to bring a massive demon into their world, for what else? The ultimate power!
The 'good guys' are some goofy musicians headed up by 'Omar' and 'Angel' a couple that hints at kinda being Blondie (Debbie Harry) and Chris Stein.

The soundtrack has amazing songs by Cheap Trick, Debbie Harry & Chris Stein, Lou Reid, Earth Wind And Fire and Iggy Pop.
The 'evil' undertones and graphics are pretty outstanding, in fact, like 'Heavy Metal' the animation is pretty sleek for it's time, seeing as the movie was attempted to be released in 1983, they must have began work on it maybe in late 1979 or so.

I say, 'Attempted release' because there was a deal with MGM but while Nelvana was making the animated movie, management changed at MGM and the new powers that be, didn't quite dig the movie as much as their predecessors did and they shelved the movie when it was finished.
Although according to Wikipedia, it was shown in limited runs in the US as well as a movie fest in Europe. It did end up being released on VHS (but was very hard to find, although I know for certain that from somewhere in the 1980's to when Fields and I watched it, that it was on VHS then).
There appears to be two versions of the film, a Canadian cut and an American cut (with some different voices for characters).

The film has developed a 'cult' following through it's many showings on Showtime and HBO in the 1980's and '90's.

If you get a chance, check it out, it Rocks! Truly, it's a Rock Opera! And that's another thing that distinguishes itself from 'Heavy Metal' the movie.

'Rock & Rule' 'Heavy Metal' and 'Heavy Metal - F.A.K.K.' make a great evening of animated Metal, Rock and Pop music.

You should also check out sometime 'Bad News' and 'Bad News... More Bad News!' (1983).

Done a year before the much more well known, if not infamous 'Spinal Tap'.

'Bad News' is a .... Mocumentary of a Rocumentary.... and really pokes fun at the New Wave of British Heavy Metal' that began to sweep the globe in the early 1980's, giving us bands like Iron Maiden, Saxon & Def Leppard, to name a few of the more popular bands of that era.

'Bad News' is a movie spin off from the comedy gang of 'The Comic Strip Presents', who had a reasonably popular TV show in the UK called 'The Young Ones' which ran in the UK in 1982-'84.
'Bad News' follows the trials and tribulations of the London area Indie Metal band called 'Bad News'.
A documentary film crew follows these rag tag, egotistical, constantly screwing up musicians as they climb from obscurity to semi-obscurity to a total implosion, all in one movie.

In it's sequel - though I think it was released at the same time, 'Bad News... More Bad News' has the same documentary crew catching up with the gang from the band as they are asked to reunite, get a record contract and then play a fatal show at the very real and famous 'Monster's Of Rock' festival in the UK (with bands on the bill such as, Ozzy, Motorhead, The Scorpions and others).

While living in Vancouver, a mutual friend of Mike Fields and I were introduced to this movie and we found it so hilarious that we never returned the video and watched the VHS so many times we had to track down and obtain a new VHS copy (which I still have to this day), we had rendered the original copy we had pilfered unwatchable...

If you love or hate 'Heavy Metal', search out 'Bad News' and 'Bad News... More Bad News' and check it out!

Personally, I find the 'Bad News' movies to be a hundred times funnier than the 'Spinal Tap' movie(s).
Fields and I found that the guys in 'Bad News' reminded us of some people we knew growing up (kinda like Trailer Park Boys) and that made us laugh even harder. We were such fans of the film, I had recorded the 'songs' of the film onto a cassette that we could listen and laugh to at our leisure, seeing as no soundtrack existed for the film.

The antics of this band make the guys in Spinal Tap look like they are of 'Iron Maiden's' status,  even though there's some similarities between 'Maiden' and 'Bad News'

If 'Bad News' doesn't make you laugh your guts out and spit your beer across the room, I'll give you your money back!*

*no I won't

When Kitties Attack - The Sequel - The Bloody Paw Wars!

So, those that followed me on FB knows well enough that Elsa is CWAZY! She's been so since I got her.
I've written about her tactics, slapping paintings, unplugging outlets and have written about, that at night when I go to bed, I have to play with her or else.. Or else, she'll attack when I slip into bed.

Knowing this, when I go to bed, I keep a hoodie on, so that IF she attacks, I can swing my legs under my sheets and my top half is protected.

Last night I had been in bed quite a while and I had woke up and kinda thought my oil heater was too close to some stuff, I didn't see Elsa around, but I got out of bed in my underwear and short sleeve shirt, moved the oil heater quickly and as I swung myself back into bed, I felt something furry by my legs. I had managed to get my legs under my sheets, but Elsa was already on me, biting and scratching into my arm and back. I tried to hide my arms under the sheets, but then she'd just attack my back. I needed to get my hoodie on... So as I'm reaching for it, I keep it on my headboard, so it's nice and handy, Elsa is wrapping herself around my arm and sinking her teeth and claws in. The more I say, 'No!' or 'Don't!' it seems the more agitated she gets lol... So I managed to get my hoodie on and protect my head and arms, back... The last time this happened, she actually had got up behind me on my headboard and jumped full on, all four feet on my head, I had my hood up which saved my scalp!

Anyhow, so I had my hood up, Elsa had come around to the side of me, tail flailing, whipping back and forth, a worked up kitty. I'm sayin, 'Elsa! No!' and her tail just whips back and forth.. So I laid down and was kinda fearful that she might go for my face, which so far, she's never done.

That kitty is whack!

After 'publishing' this post, I had just finished supper and came into the living room to find Elsa doing something newly crazy... She's standing on the cushion of the big comfy chair my neighbor gave me when he got a new chair for Christmas from his wife. So, Elsa is standing there, her hair is almost raised up and she's biting into the fabric of the arm of the chair...

I ask her, 'What in the name of Samhain are you doing???' And she looks at me and then bites back into the chair arm and continues to maul on it ..... This cat ain't right in the head... I think she mighta been dropped and bonked her head... She's the weirdest animals I've ever had... But, I love her, she's my kiddo and if anything, my 'weirdness' has passed onto her lol

In about 10 minutes from posting this, The Crazy Train, with it's new host Johnny James Dio will be on, he's gonna give the Wasteland Zombies some airplay.

Check it out at:
http://chsrfm.ca and then click on the Pop Up player in the upper right hand corner of the webpage!

Now, THAT was a beautiful Winter's Day

Had a great day out and aboot, the kind of day that I can almost forget the pain because it's just so nice out and when the Sun shines on your body, you can literally feel the heat.
In hard times, on the coldest of days, I'd saved a memory for such times.

When I went to Egypt, I went a couple days earlier than the tour started, mostly because I'd never traveled internationally before and I didn't know how my body might react to the time zone change, the climate change, elevation... I didn't want to get to Egypt and then the very next day be thrown into the tour full out. A 'tour' of Egypt or really any 'tour' in the World isn't a 'vacation'... Some days we were up at 4am to be ready to leave for 5/5:30.

I stayed at the Mena Hotel in Cairo. Check it out online, it's a literal fortress. Kings, Queens, movie stars, presidents have stayed there and the next day after I had arrived, I was enthralled just by the hotel.
It took me like 20 minutes plus just to get out to the front of the hotel, not because it was far, but because I was just taking everything in, the place was incredible.
Once I got to the front, there was a hotel worker who offered to take me on a tour of the hotel, it had such history, it deserved a tour.
So I went off on this tour and about halfway through and at a section of the hotel you'd really needed to get there by a golf buggy, it was that big of a place.
He took me to the 'new' part of the hotel. He said, and I knew, that I was "lucky" because I was the only person in my tour to get a room in the old section of the Mena House Hotel... The new part was ritzy and high tech, marble floors, electronic card key locks and doors. We turned a corner and on both sides of the hall water came pouring out onto channels on each side and then as we followed the channels out some doors, and I was floored.
From there the channels flowed down stairs, into pools and then into more channels, into more pools and then they flowed right into the swimming pool and the terrace that surrounded the pool was right out of a fairy tale.
After the tour I decided that I'd go for a swim. So I took a buggy back to my room, changed and then took a buggy back. On that return trip the driver had told me at famous/infamous Egyptian archaeologist Zahi Hawass was giving a lecture at the hotel, but I had missed it and him. At the time Mr. Hawass was the main dude in Egypt, he was the minister of antiquities and was well known to 'steal' digs from other archaeologists. The guys really a dickhead, but it still woulda been cool to meet him.
Once I got to the pool, I slid in and swam around and then noticed that you could see the pyramids from the pool. I swam to the edge of the pool facing them and told myself in my mind, 'Ok, remember this moment forever, when you're depressed, hurt, cold, feeling down, reflect on this moment, on this time and hold onto it'... Which was what I did, Of course the trip held many more majikal moments, the cruise on the Nile river with a full Moon rising over the sand dunes, with palm tress in the foreground. Touching the walls of Luxor and Karnak temples... hehe I desperately want to go back, I'd live there if I could, it's one of the most ancient places on the planet.

So, today, walked over to Superstore on Smythe, hit the Dollar Store for a few things, then made my way down Westmorland, zigzagged through some streets before winding up at Sobeys to grab something.
At Sobeys I ran into Brian Davis (of Spinesplitter/Dapper Dan fame), I don't usually run into him there when he's not working. So it was great to talk to Brian, he's a great guy and a great drummer.
Then as we were talking another local celeb popped by, Rob Scholl is a graphic artist who's done a plethora of posters, band logo's shirt designs and not just locally, but globally. I run into Rob quite frequently as we live pretty close to each other. I actually met Rob's Mom when I went on walks and would find her catching a breather by the hold train bridge. Both great folks!
So Rob, Brian and I shot the shit for a while, talking about bands, politics and Fredericton goings-on.
Always great to see both of them.

I was a bit pissed off tonight reading a CBC article on the new 'Pot outlets' to be opened in New Brunswick, the article had someone refer to the future patrons of the stores as "users" like these stores are going to be fucking 'safe injection' sites or something.
I had thought of writing CBC about this matter, but then thought better of it. The government and the people involved are still from the 'old guard', they still have views like marijuana is addictive and it's a gateway drug and that it causes people to hallucinate. The saddest part about the legalization of marijuana is that this 'old guard' has not bothered to educate itself, or if it has, it's using old school propaganda to do so. Well more power to them. Let them be stupid idiots and let us who know better just move on in life in peace.

Rant complete.

IT'S BEEOOOTEEFULL Out!

Get outside and bask in the Sun!

Supposed to be a high of +6 today! Spring's still a long way off, 32 days I guess.... But I'll take this Sunshine and warmth.... I'm like Superman, I find the Sun's warmth and rays rejuvenating and invigorating... It's for days like this I cope with the pain.

DOOMSDAY MACHINE!

The End is not 'nigh, the end is here....

Today was a gorgeous day. I just noticed that the website I've been going to and I originally asked Google, How Many Days Until Spring 2018? And now it says 18... Bit in reality, I don't know where the fuck 'Google' got that answer from, but it's actually like 33 days until March 20th... The first day of Spring... Either way, the weather has warmed up. Today was just above freezing, tomorrow, we're headed for a high of +6 Celsius! W00T! 
Now, I'm aware that it's February, so we could have more blizzards, snowstorms, icestorms, invasions by killer whales, you name it. We ain't in the clear until June... But, that being said, we're in the midst of some really nice temps. Lookin at the rest of the week the temps up in Fredericton here are all around freezing or just above or a smattering below.

I've moved from weeks of Black Sabbath to Pantera and High On Fire, more music from SLEEP. Don't know what's sparked this spat of Doom-ish, Stoner Rock but it's happenin'. I'll need something for sure to wipe the sound of the Furby organ outa my brain....

Horrible to see yet another mass shooting in Florida.... Wonder who'll get the blame for this one.

Before Christmas I had been searching for some kind of skull to get stitched onto my cowboy hat.... "What? A cowboy hat? Why would Chris have a cowboy hat???" you might ask...

Well, it's a story.... In 1996 maybe 1997 while working at the FX shop, Toby got a contract to work on this kid's TV show pilot in Edmonton, it was called 'Why TV', not to be confused with Y TV... It was about this alien and some human and they'd time travel to different era on certain educational subjects...
We arrived in the Summer, I think it mighta been like late June or July. The television studio we shot in was famous for having been the place that SCTV moved to in it's later days. That was damn cool to walk hallowed halls where John Candy, Rick Moranis and Martin Short walked.

Being the long haired Metal dude I am and being in Edmonton, the guys at the TV station were candidly and not so candidly poking fun at my long hair. So, I figured since I was in the home Province of the cowboys, the best steak, oil and gas, I'd get myself a cowboy hat and show them!
So, I bought em a genuine beaver felt hat! I've had it for years, don't wear it much, but I was on a 'The Cult' kick a month or so ago and it reminded me that Ian Astbury used to wear a cowboy hat with this sick skull on it and it got me a thinkin.... So I started to scour the internets for a really cool skull... But I was kinda at a loss of how he'd actually got it on the hat. I had assumed he'd got a skull belt buckle and had someone stitch it to the hat. So that was my goal.
I found this cool Skull:

Ordered it and before long it was mine. So now, I just need to get it affixed to the hat. I gotta take it to a couple shops downtown to see if they can pulled it off.
And I'm hoping that it'll look like this 'mock up' I made:

So that's the plan... Now I just gotta find the right business who can do it. I think I gotta place, but I just have to get down there and see if they can do it up.

Nifty eh?

HEY! Check this out!

HAHA Click Bait!

It's my band! I gotta do this. We waited a good year for this video to come out and we all love the work that Jared and Creeker Films, Jon Blizzard on editing, did with this! 

Spread it around! You know other bands? You know a record producer? Publicist? Die HARD Metalhead?

Give em this link!

https://vimeo.com/254784870

MySpace/Old Pix & Dope Smoker

I got an email today from of all places, 'MySpace'.... Now of course most will remember MySpace preceded Facebook. At the time, I actually liked MySpace and had NO desire to migrate, follow the herd to this thing called Facebook. The only reason why I did was because of the demanding girlfriend at the time, I was agitated into it... Sure, it has it's pluses and it's negatives outweigh those by thousands of miles.
But Myspace was kinda cool. I contacted and struck up small friendships with some of my idols, including Tommy Niemeyer of the Accused and Eric Dover of Jellyfish. I posted pics, wrote a blog and was fine in that World...
Anyhoo, so today an email, some lady had 'added' me on Myspace, I'm sure it was more spam than an actual person 'adding' me. But it made me curious, what is/has MySpace become? How has it survived?
Not that any of those questions were answered, I went, had to redo my password as I'd forgotten what the original was, but once that was sorted out, I entered into a convoluted and really confusing ...erm website, for lack of a better term at the moment...
It took me like 10 minutes just to find my own/old material I had put up there. They've made it quite as I said convoluted, I didn't see how one could change it, but looking at the gallery, instead of scrolling vertically like most sites, you had to scroll horizontally... It had a bunch of 'features' and when I clicked on them, they said they weren't set up.. I really had no desire to sit and figure it out, so maybe I'll go back, maybe I won't.
I think when I hit Facebook, there was a way that one could migrate all your pics from MySpace to Facebook, so there were some pix that I hadn't seen in ages, but there were other's that were mostly on Facebook.
Some cool blasts from the past including this pic of me in my electric wheelchair:

That thing was a fucking deathtrap! I had applied through a referral to Red Cross and one of those was for this electric wheelchair... I had to wait until someone either was miraculously healed or died before I'd get my hands on one.
So this one, when they dropped it off to me, said it was a little 'buggy' and had some quirks, but they  said and I'll quote them here, "Drive it until it's destroyed, then we'll get you a new one".

So this chair, which I couldn't get in the house because of stairs, I had a friend built it a lockable shelter under our patio at my place in Burnaby. it worked out alright, but the path to the front of the house was a little bumpy, narrow and often filled with spider webs....
So, I get this sucker and the thing worked alright, kept a good charge, but the 'toggle' to move forward, back, left and right, well it was screwy... And sometimes in order to go forward I'd have to kinda toggle the toggle, well it's hard to explain, but it made it really difficult to drive and then sometimes, the chair would just turn rapidly to the left... Like it was a shock, you'd be rolling along, then all of a sudden the chair would just swing to the left and that was freakin scary especially along the very, very busy streets near my place.... I had complained about it, but it was all they had for me and I got that response of drive it until it can't go any longer (or I got veered into traffic)... I eventually got a bit better through the physio treatments I went to twice a week for several years and called the company to come pick up the piece of crap and it took them almost a year to do so. I almost preferred a standard wheelchair over that beast...

Here's a couple more pix I pulled from Facebook:

Of course 'Alita' needs no introduction! Miss her so much. She was my little girl and the best pet I've ever had the privilege of caring for.

Long before Elsa and Alita, 'Piggey Sue' came into my life. She was a room mates friend's cat and they had just had a baby and Piggey was, well in the way. So they asked my room mate Denis if we'd take her.
I remember the day they came over with her, I came out of my room, sat on the couch and Piggey came right over to me and it was love at first sight. They were surprised as much as I at how quickly she took to me and I knew she was mine because anyone in the house that picked her up, she'd fart on them. I shit you not. This cat's major defensive weapon was stinky cat farts and she seemed to be able to conjure them up at will on people.
Piggey was amazing. Our room mate Denis had a cat called 'Power' and Power was an evil Tom cat, that cat kicked the crap outa everyone, even us sometimes haha. But sadly, when Piggey Sue moved in, Power was brutal to her and we had to break up many fights between them. The 'good' side of this was that it made Piggey tough as nails and when Denis and Power left, Piggey became the mistress of the neighborhood. I know this will sound crazy, but I literally found 3 cat collars in our yard, that didn't belong to Piggey.
It would seem that when she was out, when challenged by another cat, she'd kick the crap out of them and then take their collars as prizes. I swear I'm telling the truth here.
One day I found one and it had the name of the cat and I knew it lived up the street, so I had the embarrassing task of going up to their place and knocking in their door to let them know that their cat had had it's ass handed to it by Piggey and well, here's it's collar.

Piggey ended up coming down with hypothyroidism and sadly she passed away in 2010. Piggey slept with me each night and would curl up right by my head, sometimes I'd used her as kinda pillow. We had a deep connection and again, this will sound very very odd, but it's the truth;
Piggey would come into my room as I was in bed, eyes closed hoping to pass out into sleep, I'd feel her jump up on the bed and she'd walk towards me and come right up to my face and lick my lips. Just a kiss, then she'd lie down. It was very strange behavior, I'd never heard of a cat doing this kind of thing. I'm not even sure how or why out of all the places on my head that were not under blankets that she'd 'kiss' me on the lips. She was such a sweet kitty. She'd even follow me to the store.
Unlike Elsa, I could get away with things like this:

I miss her deeply too. She was an angel of a cat. Miss her dearly too... But I do love Elsa. Sure she's a bitch to everyone else and yes, even to me sometimes, she still a loving kitty.
The first day Elsa came to my home, she walked out of the carrier and right to me. She was a sweet, brave cat. The first night at the house, unlike some other cats I've had (excluding Piggey), Elsa jumped on my bed, sniffed around a bit, then curled up right next to me as close as she could.

I've got a video here of some bad shit she does....

What an asshole eh? Haha, gotta love her.

I've known about 'Sleep' and their epic song 'Dopesmoker' for some time now. KYUSS wasn't the beginning of the 'Stoner Metal/Rock' scene. There were plenty of bands doing it before KYUSS or 'Sons of Kyuss' came into being. It was just that Kyuss did it best, for a while...

'Sleep' was formed in the early 1990's. They still exist today, but it's a much different incarnation than what it was when they recorded and released the massive, almost indescribable riff laden 'Dopesmoker AKA Jerusalem' a 75 minute plus epic. It also has various other incarnations that are 73 and 52 minutes respectively.
'Sleep' is a Stoner Rock band from San Jose, California and are part of that 'Desert Rock' scene that bands like 'High on Fire', Kyuss, Fu Manchu, Saint Vitus and many, many more.

The band had just been signed to a major record label when the song that would become known as 'Dopesmoker' would finally had reached it's end. The band felt that the song always rocked, but never felt like it could end, each ending led to further minutes of the opus.
Once recorded and that took almost a year or two, the label felt that they couldn't release it. They didn't know what to make of the song or what to do with it... The band (as that incarnation) would break up before it was released.

So, take the time, smoke some ganja (a LOT of ganja, crank up your source of music and enjoy (If you live in an apartment, this will surely annoy the neighbors):

Fire On The Moutain

There's probably nothing more powerful than when lyrics to a song become reality and even more powerful when those very lyrics become reality right before your eyes.

It's no secret that I am a HUGE fan of KYUSS, the band that began with Josh Homme, John Garcia and Brant Bjork (No relation to 'Bjork' of Icelandic fame). By 1994 the band had released their third album, 'Welcome To Sky Valley'.
I've often described the band's music as laying far out in the desert with the Sun scorching your brainpan. Later Josh Homme and Nick Oliveri would shut down KYUSS and form 'Queens of the Stone Age' - Another personal favorite.... Albeit Homme recently kicked a female photographer in her face (well, kicked her camera and that hit her face), but that peace of Asshole-ery aside, the guy, much like Grohl of the Foo Fighter's (who did a stint on drums for QOTSA), Homme is a musical genius who could poop out amazing songs on a daily basis...
'Welcome to Sky Valley' was released in June of 1994 and by July not only had I acquired the album, but I was steaming along the Canadian railways towards Vancouver for my 5th time. This one was for good (or so I thought). My good friend Mike Fields and I had decided to head West, he had the film industry in his eyes and I had the World in mine. Mike didn't leave for the West when I did, but he came out a few months later by plane.
I've taken the train across the country twice, the second time I was much older, a tad bit wiser. By 1994 I had three bands under my belt; the first band 'K.G. Wolfe', the second 'Dreamkick' and then 'The Wasteland Zombies', music had become my life and my main plan for Vancouver was to secure a job with a lighting and sound company, a goal I achieved within weeks of hitting the West Coast.

The train is or at least was a really, truly unique and awesome experience. While we'd driven across the country many times by car, flown by plane and by myself on the evil bus (never, ever, EVER take the bus any longer than you have to, that trip took me 5/6 days and I think I left part of my sanity somewhere on the prairies...).
The train, again, is/was the ultimate party for a young person, VIA rail had this Con Rail Pass, that any student couldn't purchase. With this pass, you had 30 days to explore Canada. You could get off and on ANYWHERE you wished, stay as long as you wanted, as long as you got to your destination by the 30 days you were golden.
I was well familiar with the train rides, the partying, the horrible sleep (especially if you traveled coach) and often times the great friendships you'd strike up with fellow passengers.
On the way West I had stopped in Toronto to hang with my good friend Jay Wysoki, then I made no more stops until I hit Vancouver.
Traveling through the Canadian Rocky Mountains by train is a voyage I'll never ever forget, whether seeing the mountains from a distance or traveling by car, train or air they are the sleeping giants of the World, ages have past them and they exist in silent wonder, grand and foreboding, yet awe-inspiring.
While traveling through the Alberta, the train used to go to Calgary and I would have stopped there to see my relatives as I had done many times before, but I had no way to get from the train to Calgary and then back to it to Edmonton... So North we went, through Edmonton and then into the Rockies.
The train heads South Westward once you hit the mountains and you pass through Jasper and then through Kamloops.
We had no means of 'news' as we (my fellow passengers and I) traveled through the Rockies and had no idea that massive forest fires were burning until we reached Kamloops.

I completely remember that evening the train rolled into Kamploops, which like many towns and cities in the interior of British Columbia are nesttled in the mountains and forests of the Rockies...

Kyuss' song 'Odyssey' was playing as we rolled in and the hill and mountainsides were filled with an ominous red glow.

"Fire on the mountain

And it rages inside of your soul

The fire inside the belly of the beast

Well it thunderizes your soul" Lyrics from KYUSS' 'Odyssey'

What a sight, a couple of the pals I'd made on the train, a young kid and this gal from Australia saw as we stepped off the train for a few moments while passengers got on and off and supplies and luggage was moved around.

The air was thick with the smell of acrid smoke, the glow from the mountain side was awe-inspiring, magnificent and tragic at the same time and those lyrics were then etched into my brain with that acrid smell and that haunting redish/yellow glow.

The trains path from Kamloops didn't cut directly through the fires, but close enough and it was such an eerie time to travel through this part of the Rockies and one I'll never forget....

Please note: Photo's are not taken by me and were robbed from the Internets!