Mot Mind - Buffalo NY

This Is Your Life - Ronnie James Dio

Ronnie James Dio is one of the most beloved figures in rock history. His gifts, both as a singer and songwriter, are instantly recognizable, whether he was with Rainbow, Black Sabbath, Heaven & Hell, or leading Dio. Sadly, Dio lost his battle with stomach cancer in 2010, but his towering voice and legacy live on.

To celebrate Dio’s life, an all-star group of his friends and fans recorded 13 of their favorite tracks for a tribute album, entitled This Is Your Life, to raise funds for the Ronnie James Dio Stand Up and Shout Cancer Fund (www.diocancerfund.org). This non-profit 501(c)(3) charitable fund, which is dedicated to supporting cancer-prevention research, raising awareness and educating the public about the vital importance of early detection and prevention, was co-founded by Dio’s longtime manager and wife, Wendy Dio. 100% of the monies received from this album by the Ronnie James Dio Stand Up And Shout Cancer Fund goes directly into cancer research.

About The Ronnie James Dio Stand Up and Shout Cancer Fund
The Ronnie James Dio Stand Up and Shout Cancer Fund is a privately funded 501(c)(3) charity organization which has already raised more than $600,000 in its short history.  Monies raised to date have been committed to the cancer research work of the T. J. Martell Foundation for Cancer, AIDS and Leukemia Research and the gastric cancer research unit of the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, where Ronnie was treated for gastric cancer during the last six months of his life.    

The first track to be released from This Is Your Life, a cover of Rainbow’s ‘Starstruck’ re-recorded by the legendary Motörhead featuring Biff Byford of Saxon, is available for streaming on the web now exclusively via Yahoo! Music. The track first appeared last Friday on Eddie Trunk’s Q104.3 FM radio program, and will air again via Sirius XM Satellite Radio’s Hair Nation (Channel 39) via “Eddie Trunk Live” later today. Yahoo! Music, however, is the only place you can hear ‘Starstruck’ via the web, on demand.

Would you like to join Wendy Dio, Rob Halford, Corey Taylor and others in celebrating this release and the life of Ronnie James Dio? Join the celebration at the 3rd Annual Awards Gala and This Is Your Life pre-release listening party on Monday, March 17, 2014 at The Avalon in Hollywood, CA. The gala begins at 6:00PM, and tickets (VIP and GA) are available via www.diocancerfund.org/events. The event will include live performances of songs from the album by Halestorm, Corey Taylor, Jason Christopher, Christian Martucci, Roy Mayorga, Oni Logan, Jimmy Bain, Rowan Robertson, Brian Tichy and more surprise guests! Head to www.diocancerfund.org for information or to purchase tickets online.

Produced by Wendy Dio, This Is Your Life includes contributions by such metal heavyweights as Metallica, Scorpions, Anthrax, and Rob Halford, as well as appearances by many of the musicians who performed with Dio over the years. This Is Your Life will be available from Rhino on April 1, 2014, in physical and digital versions.

See below for an the amazing track list, which includes Metallica’s epic, nine-minute “Ronnie Rising Medley,” which combines the Rainbow songs “A Light In The Black,” “Tarot Woman,” “Stargazer,” and “Kill The King,” Rob Halford’s collaboration with frequent Dio collaborators Vinny Appice, Doug Aldrich, Jeff Pilson, and Scott Warren for “The Man On The Silver Mountain,” Anthrax and Adrenaline Mob’s takes on “Neon Knights” and “The Mob Rules”, Corey Taylor’s (Stone Sour, Slipknot) cover of the classic “Rainbow In The Dark”, Tenacious D’s (Jack Black and Kyle Glass) spin on “The Last In Line,” and many, many others.

RONNIE JAMES DIO: This Is Your Life Track Listing:

“Neon Knights” – Anthrax*
“The Last In Line” – Tenacious D*
“The Mob Rules” – Adrenaline Mob
“Rainbow In The Dark” – Corey Taylor, Roy Mayorga, Satchel, Christian Martucci, Jason Christopher*
“Straight Through The Heart” – Halestorm*
“Starstruck” – Motörhead with Biff Byford*
“The Temple Of The King” – Scorpions*
“Egypt (The Chains Are On)” – Doro
“Holy Diver” – Killswitch Engage
“Catch The Rainbow” – Glenn Hughes, Simon Wright, Craig Goldy, Rudy Sarzo, Scott Warren*
“I” – Oni Logan, Jimmy Bain, Rowan Robertson, Brian Tichy*
“Man On The Silver Mountain” – Rob Halford, Vinny Appice, Doug Aldrich, Jeff Pilson, Scott Warren*
“Ronnie Rising Medley (Featuring A Light In The Black, Tarot Woman, Stargazer, Kill The King)” – Metallica*
“This Is Your Life” – Dio

* Previously unreleased

Queens of Noise

Recently took this rock book out from the library.
It's from 2013 and it's dedicated "For Sandy".
I'm assuming the author, Evelyn McDonnell is referring to Sandy West who is pictured right in the middle, next to Lita Ford and Joan Jett. West passed away in 2006.
There's some cool pics in this book along with some crazy, rock 'n roll stories.
It's interesting to note that manager Kim Fowley, of "Alley Oop" fame, put The Runaways together and purposely compromised the all girl band of California teenagers. If you're into rock 'n roll books, Queens of Noise is a great rock 'n roll read.
Here's a pic of Joan Jett and Lita Ford rockin' out...

The nucleus of The Runaways was Joan Jett and Sandy West, pictured below.

the Lonely Biscuits - things sure have changed

As I typed the band name and title of this CD it occurred to me that I resemble those words lately...
anyway, things sure have changed sounds great...hopefully I can get around to a CD review soon...
Special Thanks to Rob from FB.

http://thelonelybiscuits.com/

Bloggers are people too

I was recently asked by a friend why do you have a music blog? ...Why? because I love music.
I don't use my google blogs as a source of income, I've gotten paid one time as a result of having my blogs.
I just remembered, I was paid to promote one local business and I was paid once to review a CD.
Playing an instrument within a band context is how I usually like to express my love for music.
Playing out never made me rich, but just being in those musical moments when everything is flowing and the notes are right on satisfy me to no end.
I've learned that being involved with a band takes alot of time, effort and patience.
I do not have the time to put into a band at this moment in my life...
I also like to review music, this is another way I express my passion for local/new music.
When I do listen to music I prefer to hear new stuff.
I like to listen for the new and different ways a band may use a keyboard sound or a guitar to make a song sound new and different.

I would like to ask why do people constantly post jibberish/food photos and silly drama on facebook/twitter? ...
what purpose is that serving? ...

I have alot of passion for many more, very important things in my life but unfortunately my access to those things has been cut off and I'm wondering what the future holds for me...so expressing my love for music on this blog will continue on because someday I may not be able to post anything at all, on any site.

Any respectful comments are appreciated.
I can be reached @ jtellfotos@yahoo.com, Thank you.

Metallica - ESP Guitars

Kirk Hammett has been sporting some cool, horror movie based, custom finished guitars lately so I thought I would post a few of them on my blog since I am a fan of Metallica, horror movies and guitars.
First off is the most recent "White Zombie" (WZ) superstrat ESP model that G.C. displayed in it's most recent mailer. WZ is a Bela Lugosi horror film from 1932 and it's considered the first full length zombie film. The film has influenced many other zombie and horror films. The movie's influence has even influenced a few, prominent metal musicians as well.

www.metallica.com
www.espguitars.com
Metallica photo courtesy of G.C. mailer.

Here's another custom, ESP guitar inspired by the original, 1932 horror film, The Mummy.

www.kvhtoys.com

Kirk Hammett photos courtesy of F.M.O.F. magazine.
www.famousmonstersoffilmland.com

New Music

New music reviews for 2014.

I must mention Matthew Ruhl's "Real Life Cinema" (RLC) first. If you're into emo-music then this is the local CD you should check out.
I'm not particularly into emo-music but I appreciate the singer songwriter alone with his acoustic guitar musical sound that dominates RLC. The first track, #1 Guy 4 2nd Place, includes a cool, lead guitar solo. The vocals and guitar of "Atticus Endure" is backed by an awesome egg-shaker track.
The guitar intro for "A Life Shaped By Pain" is great, this is my fave track on RLC.
Matthew Ruhl can be found on the Facebook.
I've included a description of Emo-Music, courtesy of wikipedia, for those of you who aren't into or aren't particularly familiar with emo-music.
Emo is a style of rock music characterized by melodic musicianship and expressive, often confessional lyrics. It originated in the mid-1980s hardcore punk movement of Washington, D.C., where it was known as "emotional hardcore" or "emocore" and pioneered by bands such as Rites of Spring and Embrace.
As the style was echoed by contemporary American punk rock bands, its sound and meaning shifted and changed, blending with pop punk and indie rock and encapsulated in the early 1990s by groups such as Jawbreaker and Sunny Day Real Estate. By the mid-1990s numerous emo acts emerged from the Midwestern and Central United States, and several independent record labels began to specialize in the style.
Emo broke into mainstream culture in the early 2000s with the platinum-selling success of Jimmy Eat World and Dashboard Confessional and the emergence of the subgenre "screamo". In recent years the term "emo" has been applied by critics and journalists to a variety of artists, including multiplatinum acts and groups with disparate styles and sounds.

I've always been a big fan of the Queens Of The Stone Age. (QOTSA)
"...Like Clockwork" (...LC) is their latest release and it rocks out in the hard, nu-metal style the Queens enjoy to employ while rocking out. I was first introduced to ...LC on mainstream radio.
"My God Is The Sun" is a good song but the song that really peaked my interest was "I Sat By The Ocean".
There are many memorable, musical highlights as well as alot of weird sounds on ...LC so I decided to write a couple of words about ...LC for you.
Shattering the silence at the beginning of ...LC is the sound of breaking glass. The weird intro caught me off guard and it sounded like the intro of a horror movie for a second.
The mid-tempo groove of "Keep Your Eyes Peeled" builds up a fair amount of tension before the band lets loose @ 3:10. The dirty, bass sound carries this song along nicely.
There alot of better songs to come and the 1st song sets the mood for the rest of the CD.
"I Sat By The Ocean" is a fairly melodic, hard rock song. The sliding, guitar lines make this song sound unique and different, even though it's just an electrified, slide guitar. The chorus seems to rise and fall and after a couple of listens the melody of the chorus lingers in your brain. The cool chorus hooked me immediately, seemingly brainwashing me into wanting to hear this song over and over again...
Once I got over this great song, the urge to hear the rest of the CD grew stronger every time I heard one of the songs played on the radio.
"The Vampyre Of Time And Memory" reminds me of Pink Floyd.
"If I Had A Tail" is a great song that has a funky, guitar groove. The ending sounds creepy.
"My God Is The Sun" is classic QOTSA. The beginning is heavy and fast and it breaks down into a distorted bass and drums groove before the vocals kick in. The chorus is fast and heavy.
The beginning of "Kalopsia" is spooky. The verses slow tempo and uptempo 'chorus' is another Queens classic song twist that makes listening to the Queens music very interesting.
The next 2 songs have very cool intros.
"Fairweather Friends" starts off with a vocal sample which leads into a metallic, guitar intro which then leads into a vocal/guitar verse which leads into the main part of the song.
"Smooth Sailing" sounds like it starts off with someone touching the end of a plugged in guitar cord. This sound is looped which dictates a tempo that continues into the main part of the song.
The title track also sounds like it was influenced by Pink Floyd.
If you're a fan of QOTSA this is a must have.
Special Thanks to Rob from All Music & All Bands.

Next up is Jake E. Lee's latest musical effort "Red Dragon Cartel". Jake first came to prominence when he played with Ozzy on the albums Bark at the Moon and The Ultimate Sin. Then came Badlands which achieved moderate success with it's 3 full length releases.

Jake sounds like he hasn't missed a beat, all the tracks have excellent lead and rhythm guitar performances.
The main vocalist on the CD is Darren James Smith but a few guest vocalists' appear on the CD making the music that much more interesting to check out.
Standout tracks include "Feeder" which features Robin Zander on vocals. The bass track sounds like it was played by a guest bass player but I can't find out who it was played by on the web.

"Wasted" features one of my favorite metal vocalists', Paul Di'Anno. The hard, metallic song is brilliant, it sounds like an updated version of the classic metal style. It's great to hear Paul Di'Anno again. The Di'Anno/Lee combo is a metal lover's dream and the song doesn't disappoint.

may or not be continued...

Spoil Me Silly - Eastern Hills Mall

www.spoilmesilly.net

Thank You to SPOIL ME SILLY for sponsoring the special KISS THIS! Valentine's day show.
Spoil Me Silly donated a gift package to giveaway at the show.

Unbelievably, the gift package went to a man which I thought was silly in itself.

McGee Art Gallery

McGee Art Gallery will be having another event for its latest group art exhibit.

"Small Works, Great Gifts: Valentines Art show"  

Reception will be on Saturday, February 8 from 6 pm-10 pm.

This exhibit features amazing artwork in multiple mediums: painting, jewelry, pottery, prints, photography, mixed-media and more!

Hope to see everybody there:

Chris McGee

Sol Cat

Sol Cat: Welcome To Cowabunga EP review.
Ups And Downs starts off with a cool, spacy, hypnotic keyboard part... I hear similarities to Radiohead right away. Once the lead guitar kicks in and the aggressive sounding bass guitar starts the sound is similar to Yes but the comparison stops when vocals continue on. The vocals sound unique and the phrasing completes the new, groovy sound the band jams on. The bass guitar is distorted and out front for this song which adds alot of depth and musicality to the opening track.
Whats Wrong With That? is more of a straight ahead, alternative rock song. The vocals are kinda laid back which adds to the groovy feel of the song. There is a remote similarity to Muse on this song.
Keep Your Heat is a melodic, keyboard driven song. The song takes a turn into a louder, all out jam near the end. The melodic beginning makes the ending sound bigger and brighter.

I must say I dig Sol Cat's sound, the overall sound is fresh and unique and going forward I think Sol Cat has alot of potential to make some good music in the future.

http://www.solcatmusic.com
https://www.facebook.com/solcatband