Sunday, January 25, 2015

All of Me, John Legend

       So I know I am a little late with this one. But, come on let's face it, All of Me by John Legend is going to be a classic. It was already the most popular wedding song of 2014 and I'm sure that it is also many couples "first dance". I am sure this song was often on repeat on many girl's iPhones after their terrible break-up with their soul mate. For me this song is special because it is the first song I ever recorded for my girlfriend on her birthday. Either way we all know that whether you like to admit or not you love this song. That's right don't deny it, yeah I'm talking to you guys who hoped this post would be about Buckcherry or some other rock band. Come on you know you love this song. Also if you are looking for a post about some heavier music bands just wait because I always make sure to include those as well. With of course the occasionally post about how much I love Tswift.

       Enough about how much girls and even grown men go crazy over this lovely soon to be classic, let's get down to business here the stuff that really matters, let's talk music. This song instrumentally is beautiful. Words are not even needed to show the emotion John Legend was trying to convoy. His incredible piano playing can say every word he was feeling, even though the notes themselves aren't all that complicated. But, that is also what makes this song beautiful, the simplicity. And the fact that John Legend has the voice of an angel. If you have read my previous posts you know that simplicity is key, I love simply music that can just draw you in and calm you down simply with a smooth rhythm and a sick beat. And if you know me as a person you know that I am a sucker for any kind of ballad. Any kind of good ballad that is, I'm not about those crappy showchoir ballads, I love simply instrumental ballad ballads with tender, soft, and gorgeous singing. Also for my piano players out there, this is a great song to learn whether you are just starting to learn or if you are a master simply trying to impress the ladies ;) Here's the sheet music to it, if you are interested.

      Bottom line, this is an amazing song. It will be played for years as an anthem of love and for some people, it's the first song there will remember dancing to with their spouse and that pretty cool if you ask me. So thanks John Legend for your amazing voice and for this gorgeous song.   



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Joan Jett and The Blackhearts & Heart

So I am not your average teenage girl. I don't enjoy listening to boy bands or Katy Perry. I don't know Naill Horan's shoe size or who 5 seconds of summer even is. I listen to bands like Styx and Queen. I love 80's hair bands and any kind of classic rock band. Which is why I flipped when I heard that Joan Jett and the Blackhearts AND Heart are coming to play at the US Cellular Center here in Cedar Rapids Iowa!!! I was like UMMM no freaking way. I immediately went on ticketmaster and tried to see much tickets were. $86.93. For $86.93 I could go see Joan Jett and the Blackhearts AND Heart. NO FREAKING WAY!! I have never been to a concert in my life and I have wanted to go so bad!! Plus who wouldn't want to see these two amazing bands play at the US Cellular center. I know I would. And I know any feminist within a 100 mile radius would since Joan Jett herself is one of the biggest feminist in the music industry. And not to mention the QUEEN of rock n' roll.

So let's talk about the music of Joan Jett and The Blackhearts. We all know the big hits like "I love Rock n' Roll" and "I hate myself for Loving you". But there's a deeper meaning to all of her music and I guess that's why I love it. She write all of her own music from her own experiences. She first stated off founding The Runaways with co-musicians Sandy West, Jackie Fox, Lita Ford, and Cherie Currie. After the band broke up Joan Jett tried going solo in England. With little success she later formed The Blackhearts with producer Kenny Laguna's help. The Blackhearts were very successful in their first few years and continue to tour across the country,

So now that you have a little background, tell me how you could turn down going to see Joan Jett and the Blackhearts AND Heart. And for only $86.93!!! That's right you can't! So get in the mood start blaring that Joan Jett cassette you brought at the CD store for $3. And get psyched for one of the best shows you will ever see! I mean I assume, I have never seen their show, but I hear great things! And go by your tickets now before they sell out!!! Go NOW!

Papa Roach....YES

Papa Roach formed in 1993. They struggled for a few years before finally a few year later when heavy metal reached it peak once again. Their first album "Infest" had bunch of real cool songs  like the hit we all know and love;  "Last resort". The band had a sound that not many had heard but was often compared to Korn. Though personally I think Korn is no match for the Almighty Papa Roach.
Papa Roach's new album stick to their trademarks while also trying to feel out the new concepts in heavy metal music nowadays. The interesting thing this time was the fact that the band went into the studio with, according to Jerry Horton "having nothing". It seems That is worked for them since the songs had such a great impact and spoke to their audience. While no album can be as good as the first, the album F.E.A.R dared to change that norm.


The first single release of the F.E.A.R album was called "Broken as me". The mighty riff that begins the song is immediately correlated with Papa Roach's killer riffs that make their songs so catchy and freaking awesome. This can also be said for the way the track is build, it just sounds like a Papa Roach track. Another clear tell is the melodic chorus, it plays as an essential part of the songs, as well as Jacoby Shaddix screams in the bridge, for those of you who aren't into heavy metal who should probably just stop reading now.


Though we didn't think it was possible, Papa Roach find a way to make thing eve more melodic on beats like the catchy  "Love me till it hurts" and "Warriors". My favorite part of this album was the tracks that started with some electronica that comes back throughout the entire song. There is Horton's heavy riffs integrated in the song too which only further its level of awesomeness in my book 


I have to say, the keyboards are definitely making a come back in the more popular songs. The opener "Face everything and rise" is a good example of this. But Papa Roach manages to always keep the song rocking without drifting away into the fields of pop like most bands nowadays. This is one of my favorite album's and it just always lifts me up and gives me the strength to believe in myself and I want it to do the same for you guys. So if you haven't checked out this killer album, go now!

Saturday, January 17, 2015

The One. The Only. Alisabeth.

I'm going to go ahead and do a review of my good friend Alisabeth's  new album, My Foolish Heart.
This album was released in August of 2014 and has taken Cedar Rapids by storm. She had a debut concert at Brucemore's Calbert in the Courtyard, which was sold out almost immediately. From there Alisabeth has done a few more performances in Cedar Rapids and has also released two new music videos off of her new album, Sleeze and I'm Just Not. I will provide links now if you're interested in checking them out, which I suggest you do.

Alisabeth takes her unique sound and put her heart and soul into this new album with touching ballads and potential radio hits. Right off the bat your ears are flooded with a pop/punk type sound with Sleeze and Satisfy Me. The two are bound to be radio hits, catchy sound and lyrics pull you in. From there we take on a few ballads which you can tell she has poured her heart and soul into. What's fun if you ever have the opportunity to see Alisabeth live, she tells a story before each one of her songs, and where the ideas came from. Interesting enough a lot of the music was written in her car in various parking lots.

While I love her pop/punk sound, I feel the album strays away from that are really focuses on her ballads. Don't get me wrong, I love them, but I feel she should stick to a more upbeat sounds to keep the crowed dancing through the night. I feel she is sort of stuck on which direction she wants to go, but I know once she chooses what music style she wants to stick with, she's going to own the world.

I don't want to go into too much detail over the album, even though I said I was doing a full length review, because well, I want you to go out and BUY IT! Local artist, support her and her work and check it out on iTunes. It will be worth it, I promise.

Props to you, my friend! Work what you got, Girl!

Gas Prices and Music Work Together...

I have never really given it a thought. Every band needs to travel, duh, but the coast of hoping in a tour van, tour bus, or several vehicles to drag around all of your gear is going to cost you a lot. Hell, I used to struggle keeping enough gas in my tank to do my everyday tasks... Until this glorious thing happened. A gift from the vehicle Gods graced all of us with the decline in gas prices. It started in June, and has only gotten more glorious over time. We are sitting at here in Iowa, $1.87 on average for a gallon of gas. That makes me beyond happy, and makes our favorite bands even happier.

Like I said before, I never thought about bands fueling their huge tour buses until I ran across and article that stated bands are saving as much as $22,000 over 30 tour dates. That is awesome! But you know what's even better... that means that bands have the ability to lower their ticket prices. Now, I'm not saying they have, because I keep an eye on concert ticket prices, and depending on what group you want to see, tickets are still pretty ridiculously expensive. But, maybe with time, these prices will lower, or the band members will put a little more money in their pocket. I don't know...

Fun fact for you though, bands who are just starting out will most likely still have day jobs. Here's why... Think about it, you have to pay to get all of your equipment to the venue, you have to pay to have people help you unload and be sound techs, you have to pay someone to administer your work, you have to pay someone to record your songs, and then you have to pay for your merchandise to set out at your concert. A venue is only probably going to hire your for a few thousand dollars. So, after you pay everyone who has made this possible for you, you have to divvy up all of your remaining money between you and your band mates, which you could have anywhere from 3 to 6 guys. Let's be honest, there's not going to be much for you to take home. Venues are going to keep the profit of ticket sales, unless you know you're going to pack the house, and you can work out a deal where you take a percentage of the ticket sales. But, even then you have to be a decent size band to make that come true. So, moral of this story, my dream of wanting to be a rockstar is probably never going to become true because I don't want to have to scrape by my entire life playing gigs hoping to get signed one day.

But, gas prices are awesome and they're helping everyone. So, hooray for now! Ask me this summer what I think of gas prices. I may have a different opinion of the world then...


Source: http://www.music-news.com/shownews.asp?H=Falling-gas-prices-helping-live-music&nItemID=86492

Thursday, January 15, 2015

I Have a Confession About TSwift...

Let's take a moment to discuss this new issue I am having trouble dealing with. It's hard to admit, and I'm quite embarrassed to do so, but I simply can not help it. I'm going to be brave here, and say something that might shock many of you. Some of you may hate me, some of you may love me even more, but this is going to be very difficult. Even more difficult than me coming out as gay. Are we all ready? (Deep breath...) Ok, I... I... I LIKE TAYLOR SWIFT. That's right! I have fallen in love with her new pop hits that have taken over the radio waves. I can't help it, I just can't. It's all so catchy and fun to sing, and I hate Taylor and myself for it, but dammit, I love her new music.

Wow, now that that just happened let's take a moment to recap that I do still enjoy my classic rock bands, modern rock bands, and I still have respect for myself and still dislike Nickleback. But, TSwift has done something to many of us that we simply cannot explain. Why did she make us love her? Why has she done this?? I can't help but crank up the stereo when I hear Shake It Off. I even do a little dance in my car when it happens. And Blank Space... I can't. I can't even. I love the song and the music video. She's making fun of herself in the video. How can you not like someone who has the capability of making fun of themselves?

I used to hate TSwift and everything about her. Her music, her insanity, the fact that all of her songs are about petty relationships she has had since she was 14, but now, it's like she's grown up and is actually doing something that people can enjoy. She is making us fall in love with her. I don't know how she's doing it. Every time I hear her songs in the car I just have to sing. It's like I'm part of the TSwift cult now, and it scares me, I'm not going to lie. But, I'm just going to have to take this day by day until I fully accept my love for her and her music.

So, now that I have that on my chest, I feel I can continue blogging being my true self. You all deserved to know what I have been hiding for quite some time now. If you hate me, well, the haters gunna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, but I'm just gunna shake it off, shake it off. :)

Sunday, January 11, 2015

No, You Won't Be Beyonce

No, You Won't Be Beyonce...

It has been announced that Katy Perry will be preforming at halftime February 1st, during the Super Bowl. An estimated 115 million viewers will be tuned in to see what Katy has to give us this year, and she's not afraid to admit she's nervous. In an interview she stated that it's going to be "different". Which isn't always a bad things. She also apparently nervously stated that she won't be like Beyonce, but again said it will be "different". I'm not going to lie, I'm nervous for her. I can't imagine being in front of that many people waiting for me to mess up so it can be talked about all over the news the next day. Perry will also have famous helpers beside her onstage during her performance but only reveled one of them.

Last year Bruno Mars preformed at the Super Bowl, and as well all remember, the queen herself, performed the year before that, some even say Beyonce's performance was so hot that she was the reason for the blackout. ;) Anyway, while those performances were great, and I loved watching both of them perform, I'm not going to lie, nothing will ever top 2004 Super Bowl infamous nip slip of Janet Jackson while performing with Justin Timerlake. We can now thank those two for the 5 second delay on all live television. We may never again see a glorious slip like that ever again. But really, Katy Perry should be trying to live up to those two, not the other performers over the past couple of years. The day you can make my jaw drop the way Jackson and Timberlacke did, well, then my dear, you have succeeded in life. I'm all about controversy on TV.

So, question to you blogger world, how do you think Katy Perry is going to do? Do you think she's going to nail it, or are we going to talk about her performance for a few days after, and then forget about it after a month or two? Or is it going to be 2004 Super Bowl talk worthy? I'm not a big fan of Katy Perry, the only thing I like about her is her cat's name Kitty Purry, not that ladies and gentlemen, that is funny. But, I do hope she does well, or I hope she fails so bad I'm still entertained. Who knows, I'm just excited for the Super Bowl. Carry on, good people.

Source: http://www.music-news.com/shownews.asp?H=Perry:-Im-not-Beyonce!&nItemID=86312

Don't You Forget About Me, Simple Minds

Think back to the 80's. And if you weren't alive in the 80's don't worry, neither was I, but think about everything you know about the 80's. Think about the music, the movies, the pop culture, everything. Now think of the most popular, most amazing, best 80's movie ever. You thought of the Breakfast Club right? Alright, alright  maybe you thought of Dirty Dancing or Sixteen Candles, but come on we all know the Breakfast Club is up there. I know you are thinking what does the Breakfast Club have to do with music, but take a second what song plays at the end of the movie creating one of the most iconic scenes in movie history. Don't You Forget About me by the incredibly talented and unrated Simple Minds became an anthem for teens all over the nation. When Bender (played by Judd Nelson) the "Criminal" of the movie, throws up his fist as a sign of satisfaction of winning over the "Prom Queen" no one can help but smile. We all know the feeling of accomplishing something you never thought was possible and that exactly what John Bender did that day, he accomplished the impossible.
Anyway enough about this incredibly perfectly written movie that just happens to be my favorite. Let's get down to business, the sick beat that started it all. Simple Minds was a not very well known Scottish rock band formed by a couple of guys in 1976. They tried and tried for success and it finally all paid off in 1984 when John Hughes said he wanted to use their song in his new movie "The Breakfast Club". The job was originally offered to Elton John but he turned it down and thank god he did, because personally I know I wouldn't want any song other than "Don't You Forget About Me" by Simples Minds to play at the perfectly ended iconic film.
Simples Minds took off from there coming out with some other hits such as "Alive and Kicking" and "Belfast Child". They even went on to win many British Music awards. But, like many other 80's Bands "Don't You Forget About Me" seemed to be their one big hit and rightfully so, I mean how do you measure up to one of the most iconic movie endings ever? Bottom line you can't. Simple Minds is in the mist of revival, thanks to lead singer Jim Kerr, He's taking a more solo route this time, but nonetheless still a killer band. If you want to hear more of their stuff go to ITunes and check out their new album or go now to their website and get tickets for their new tour set to start this year! But, no matter what GO WATCH THE BREAKFAST CLUB and be reminded of this killer old hit song and the classic film it was the anthem of.

Thursday, January 8, 2015

Belieber's Need to Calm Down

Belieber's Need to Calm Down

50 Cent, rapper, big time tough guy in the early 2000's, is now being bashed by 12 year old girls for misspelling teen heartthrob, Justin Bieber's name. Apparently the rapper tweeted that people should stop following the idiot heartthrob of music, saying he's a baby, but once he posted Bieber's name spelled "Beiber" 12 year old females around the world cried out against the rapper. 50 cent went on to say he doesn't want to be put up against Bieber fans because they won't let anything get by them.

So, I'm not even going to ask you of blogger world any questions, because this irritates me more than you know. Back off Cindy from Michigan, Bieber doesn't know who you are, doesn't care who you are, and will never be in love with you the way you hope he one day will. He's an idiot, and you young girls need to set your standards a little higher. Go for someone with some talent or something. You know what, they don't even need that much talent, just go for someone with half a brain, and who doesn't think they are God's gift to this earth. 50 cent was shot nine times for Gods sake, and he's afraid of the troop of tweens that are now out for blood because he misspelled Bieber's name. I will spell that idiots name however I please. In fact, for the rest of this blog, Bieber will now be referred to as Idiot. That's his new name. Hate on me, I dare you.

Now, don't get me wrong, some of his music is catchy, and I'm not going to lie to you and tell you I don't have some of Idiot's songs on my iPod, but what I can tell you is his involvement with drugs, his excessive partying and other shenanigans are uncalled for. People make excuses for him and they say he's being made an example of because he is famous. Or that he's young, and we all do stupid things when we are young, which we do, but most 18 year old's that are doing stupid stuff aren't wrecking $100,000 vehicles, and then managing to get out of going to jail because they have so much money they can buy their way out. He needs to be made an example of.

Anyway, we got so far off topic it isn't even funny, but I feel better and that's all that really matters here. Bottom line, I like 50 cent more that Idiot (Bieber, in case you forgot that is his name now). And for all you tween girls out there, calm your shit.


Source:http://www.music-news.com/shownews.asp?H=50-Cent:-Dont-bash-Bieber!&nItemID=86318