Some Random Thoughts On Stuff

1. Listening a lot to Mike Tramp's latest cd Cobblestone Street. All acoustic and not metal but just because it's plugged in doesn't mean it's good. This is good, really good because it has the songs and not the fluff.

2. Watched That Metal Show with Lamb Of God, probably the best show I've seen this season. I'm not a Lamb Of God fan at all but what happened to Randy Blythe was just wrong on so many counts and the upcoming documentary and book is compelling.

3. Read two music related books recently. The first was Alex Skolnick's From Geek To Guitar Hero. Self-written and an excellent read. His upbringing was bizarre to say the least and was a major factor in how he dealt with many situations later in life. Great detail about his time in Testament and some funny as fuck road stories. Get it. Not as impressed with Lou Gramm's Juke Box Hero, My Five Decades In Rock And Roll. Sorry Lou but at just over 200 pages that's not going to cut it. The Mick Jones stuff has been told before on many occasions. The first couple of Foreigner albums are covered pretty well but from there on it's all potatoes and no meat when it comes to the band. The drummer Dennis Elliot gets little mention and bassist Rick Wills hardly any meaningful words. As for Shadow King with Vivian Campbell. That's two paragraphs. Bah humbug. The personal health issues are however written well and like me Lou has great affinity for his last Foreigner album Mr. Moonlight. A skeleton read compared to Alex's.

4. No Kiss performance at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction. Like me it looks like they don't give a fuck either.

5. Aerosmith's Music From Another Dimension is in front of me. I've listened to the first seven songs. Once. Plus I bought the deluxe version. Thing came out on November 2012. I've heard a couple of songs from the last Alice in Chains and Death Angel cds and they are the deluxe versions too. I will get around to it I just have to be in the right mood. The Alter Bridge Fortress album was the same, sat there a while then I put it on and couldn't take it off it was that good.

Richie.