MUSIC: IOWA UNSIGNED JUNE 3RD, 2012

IOWA UNSIGNED JUNE 3RD, 2012: "THIS MUSIC IS SO GAY" SHOW, MOONRABBIT, DEAD HORSE TRAUMA, MYSTR N, KID CURRY, THIS SUDDEN DARKNESS

MUSIC: Trevor Blendour -"Gonna be a Super Hero" (Music Video)

MUSIC: Selling cassettes of Iowa bands in the 21st century!

http://desmoines.metromix.com/music/standard_photo_gallery/the-2012-mixies/3037130/photo/3037139

MUSIC: Occupy a local venue!

MUSIC, MOVIES/VIDEOS, BOOKS, TELEVISION/VIDEOS and COMICS: Just A List Of My Favorites

Well, I just suppose to list my favorites for my OkCupid profile, but I got carried away and came up with this. It's obviously too much for a dating profile, but I figured I can put it here.

There's some stuff that I might take off later and stuff I probably forgot to put here, especially the comic book section since I haven't read them that much since the 80s. And in 3 to 6 months time, I'd probably have something slightly different anyway!

But generally speaking, it's probably fairly accurate. For this day and time. - OlderMusicGeek

Music – favorite artists - Violent Femmes, Flogging Molly, Cracker, Lipstick Homicide,The Vandon Arms, Wall Of Voodoo, Sloppy Seconds, Talking Heads, Devo, The Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Raveonettes, The Hallowmen, Head Candy, The B-52’s, The Velvet Underground, The Pogues, North Of Grand, The Psychedelic Furs, Visage, Me First And The Gimme Gimmes, Klark Kent, Ultravox, Fine Young Cannibals, Rockpile, (80s) R.E.M., The Beatles, Gaelic Storm.
Music – favorite local (Iowa) artists – Lipstick Homicide, Vandon Arms, North Of Grand, Look Out Loretta, Peace Love & Stuff, The Reckless Hearts, Rumble Seat Riot, Ladysoal, Nuclear Rodeo, Poison Control Center, Pumptown, Slaughterhouse 6, Old Stick Revival Singers.
Music – favorite albums (NOT by favorite artists) – The Police’s “Outlandos d’Amour” and “Reggatta de Blanc”; “Saturday Morning Cartoon’s Greatest Hits” by various artists; “Live On St. Patrick’s Day” by The Dropkick Murphys; David Bowie’s “ChangesBowie”, “Station To Station” and “Scary Monsters”; “Tubthumper” by Chumbawumba; “Dookie” by Green Day; The Strokes’ “Is This It?” and ‘Room On Fire”; “Machine Gun Etiquette” by The Damned; “Kings Of The Wild Frontier” by Adam And The Ants; Elvis Costello’s “My Aim Is True” and “This Year’s Model”; The Presidents Of The United States Of America’s “The Presidents Of The United States Of America” and “The Presidents Of The United States Of America II”; “The Pretenders” by The Pretenders; “Everything Is Wrong” by Moby; “The Garden” by John Foxx; “Deep Forest” by Deep Forest; Blondie’s “Eat To The Beat” and “Parallel Lines”; “Electric Warrior” by T Rex; “No Thanks! The 70s Punk Rebellion” by various artists; “Loud, Fast Ramones: Their Toughest Hits” by The Ramones; “Greatest Hits” by Neil Young; “The Raw And The Cooked” by Fine Young Cannibals; “Journeys Of Glory” by Spandau Ballet; “Big Science” by Laurie Anderson; “Children Of The Night” by Nash the Slash; “Zoolook” by Jean-Michel Jarre; “Get The Knack” by The Knack; “We Miss You Manelow” by Chicco; Peter Gabriel’s “Peter Gabriel III: Melt” and “Peter Gabriel IV: Security”; George Thorogood And The Destroyers’ “George Thorogood And The Destroyers”, “Move It Over” and “More George Thorogood And The Destroyers”; The Who’s “Quadropheia”, “Tommy” and “Thirty Years Of Maximum R & B”; “A Little Bit Of Mambo” by Lou Bega; “Saturday Night Fever” by various artists and The Bee Gees; “Greatest Hits” by The Beach Boys; the musical “Jesus Christ Superstar”; the musical “Camelot”; the musical “My Fair Lady”; Philip Glass’s “Glassworks” and “The Photographer”; “Tubular Bells” by Mike Oldfield; “Star Wars: A New Hope” by John Williams; “The Good, The Bad And The Ugly” by Ennio Morricone; “Psycho” by Bernard Herrmann.
Music – favorite genres – alternative, punk, new wave, electronic, Cajun/zydeco, bluegrass, musicals, classic rock, southern rock, soul, disco, big band/swing, oldies, Celtic, reggae, Latin, Americana, folk, African, children’s music, world music, soundtracks/movie scores, Christmas/holiday.

Movies – Star Wars, Blade Runner, It’s A Wonderful Life, Kill Bill 1 and 2, Sin City, Pulp Fiction, The Matrix Reloaded, The Good The Bad And The Ugly, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Alien, Cloverfield, Yellow Submarine, Monty Python And The Holy Grail, Brazil, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Mad Max 2 (The Road Warrior), Psycho, Batman Begins, Batman, Pink Floyd – The Wall, The Wizard Of Oz, 300, (500) Days Of Summer, High Fidelity, Wonder Boys, Raising Arizona, Apocalypse Now, Eraserhead, Raiders Of The Lost Ark, The Shining, A Christmas Story, The Godfather, Casablanca, Miracle on 34th Street.
Movies – favorite genres – science fiction, horror, action/adventure, suspense, comedies, animation/cartoons, film noir, independent, cult films, arthouse, classics, westerns, foreign films.

TV shows – all-time – X-Files, Lost, all the Star Trek series, Kung Fu, Monty Python’s Flying Circus, South Park, The Simpsons, Millenium, My Name Is Earl, Doctor Who, Scrubs, Looney Tunes, The Tick, Duckman, Powerpuff Girls, Dexter’s Laboratory, Samurai Pizza Cats, Freaks And Geeks, Futurama, Malcolm In The Middle, Seinfeld, Popeye (the black and white Fleischer ones), Tom And Jerry, Boston Legal, Barney Miller, SCTV, The Twilight Zone, Andy Griffith.
TV shows – current – South Park, Community, Simpsons, Doctor Who, Supernatural, The Cape, Chuck, Outsourced, In The Middle, Big Bang Theory, Undercovers, Hope.

Books – “The Odyssey” by Homer; “The Epic Of Gilgamesh”; The Theban trilogy (“Oedipus The King”, “Elektra” and “Oedipus At Colonus”) by Sophocles; “High Fidelity” by Nick Hornsby; “Catcher In The Rye” by J.D. Salinger; “If On A Winter’s Night A Traveler” by Italo Cavino; “Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain; “Short Stories” by Ernest Hemingway; “1984” by George Orwell; “The Stupidest Angel: A Heartwarming Tale of Christmas Terror” by Christopher Moore; “The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide To The Galaxy” and “The Restaurant At The End Of The Universe” by Douglas Adams; “The Name Of The Rose’ by Umberto Eco; “Crime and Punishment” by Fyodor Dostoevsky; “The Lord Of The Flies”; “The Shining” by Stephen King; “Charlie And The Chocolate Factory” and “Charlie And The Glass Elevator” by Roald Dahl; “Old Mali And The Boy” by D.R. Sherman; “The Post Man” by David Brin; “The War Of The Worlds” by H.G. Wells; “Dracula”; “Tarzan of The Apes” by Edgar Rice Burroughs; “Doc Savage: The Man Of Bronze” by Kenneth Robeson; “Beowulf”, any "Calvin And Hobbes" by Bill Watterson, any "Bloom County" collection by Berke Breathed, any "Doonesbury" collection by Garry Trudeau, any "Far Side" collection by Gary Larson.
Graphic novels and comic book runs – the Alan Moore run on “Swamp Thing”; “The Watchmen” by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons; “V For Vendetta” by Alan Moore/David Lloyd; the Alan Moore run on “Miracleman”/”Marvelman”; the Starman omnibuses by James Robinson; “The Dark Knight Returns” by Frank Miller; “Sin City” by Frank Miller; “Batman: Strange Apparitions” by Steve Englehart, Marshall Rogers and Terry Austin; the Denny O’Neil/Neal Adams Batman comics; the Chris Claremont/John Byrne/Terry Austin run on “X-Men”; the Frank Miller run on “Daredevil”; “The Rocketeer” by Dave Stevens; the Doug Moench/Gene Day run on “Shang Chi: The Master of Kung Fu”; “Warlock” by Jim Starlin; the Len Wein/Berni Wrightson run on “Swamp Thing”; “Deathlok, The Demolisher” by Doug Moench and Rich Buckler; War Of The Worlds” by Don McGregor and P. Craig Russell; the Michael Golden run of “Micronauts”; the Doug Moench/Bill Sienkewicz run on “Moon Knight”; the Peter David run on “The Incredible Hulk”; "Star Wars: A New Hope - The Special Edition" by Bruce Jones/Eduardo Barreto ;“The Death of Superman” by various writers and artists; anything by Rick Geary; the John Byrne run on “The Fantastic Four”; the Stan Lee/Steve Dikto on “Doctor Strange”; the Stan Lee/Jack Kirby run on “The Fantastic Four”; the Stan Lee/Steve Ditko run on “The Amazing Spider-man”.
Children’s books – “Eric The Punk Cat” by Adrian Henri and Roger Wade Walker; “Green Eggs And Ham” and “Fox In Socks” by Dr. Suess; “Birthday Monsters” by Sandra Boynton, “Anansi The Spider” by Gerald McDermott; “The Polar Express”; “Santa’s Twin” by Dean Koontz; “Mpho: A Child Of Lesotho, Africa’s Mountain Kingdom” by A.M. Fullerton Thorn; “What Are You Doing In My Universe” by Chuck Hillig.
Books – favorite genres – science fiction, mysteries, horror, Victorian literature, comedies, folklore/myths/legends, children’s literature.

MUSIC: My Quick Thoughts On Yellowbrick Magazine's 8 For 8 Show At People's

This is from me, and NOT some reprinted material. - OlderMusicGeek

I and my friend, Sassy Witch, went to The 8 For 8 Show (8 bands for 8 bucks) sponsored by the Yellowbrick magazine.. And I didn't have my phone with me to send tweets and Facebook updates, so I scribbled my thoughts on a piece of paper. And The Sassy Witch decided to add hers too!

The first band, Goodbye Kai, I thought were a good, but not great band that were driving. The Sassy Witch said they were very energetic, but not her cup of tea.

Sassy Witch liked the second band, Happy Go Lovely, which we both thought were very 70s-ish. In fact, their lead singer with his curly blond locks would look perfectly fine in a 70s rock video!

The third band, Bella Verona, was slow noisy generic indie rock with six members including two guitars and keyboards. I thought they would have sounded better in a stripped down quartet. But Sassy Witch thought they were the best band yet, but would be better in a quieter genre.

A Past Unknown were interesting! In fact, The Sassy Witch, thought her tattoo covered son would love this Christian screamo/hardcore band. Yes, they were a Christian band but with a lead singer wearing a stocking cap that sings like Patrick Warburton (Joe, the handicapped cop n “Family Guy”) screams. But why choose a genre where noone can understand the lyrics as a way of passing a Christian message? And they preached too long for a secular show!

But one guy in the band had a shirt that said “We mosh for the Lord”! And, dang, the three guys backing the singer could squat down low with their legs far apart while still playing! My thighs got sore just watching them!

Just The Kid, the fifth band was freaking awesome! The just played this super fun catchy rocking alternative music. And they knew how to work an audience. They had us all dancing, singing along, and laughing at their between song chatter. As The Sassy Witch thought they were the best of all and cute as well as having great lyrics. Plus, the band does a rocking cover of “Tik Tok”!

The sixth artist, Cashes Rivers, was pleasant acoustic rock. The Sassy Witch wanted to hear him playing with his full band.

The last band, History On Repeat, was good, but generic, hard-driving rock.

So overall, it was a good, but not great show. But definitely not worth 8 bucks, although I appreciate Yellowbrick sponsoring a show like this. And I'm definitely going to check out Just The Kid again!

MUSIC: 50 Concerts (But Really 50 Music Acts Seen Live)

Okay, I got this from a friend on Facebook. - OlderMusicGeek

OK, here are the rules. Test your memory and your love of live music by listing 50 artists or bands (or as many as you can remember) you’ve seen in concert. List the first 50 acts that come into your head. An act you saw at a festival and opening acts count, but only if you can’t think of 50 other artists. Oh, and list the first concert you ever saw first (you can remember that, can’t you)?

Should you choose this challenge, here’s what you do:
Copy this. Make your list. Change the number at the top, and add your title. Then email it to your friends, and return it to the person that sent it to you.


Well, I don’t know if I can remember 50 concerts I’ve been to, but I think I can remember 50 acts I’ve seen. I mean I could if I included all the local acts I’ve seen at various bars – though if I could remember all the names of the acts is another question! But I’ll stick to fairly well known groups here – the key word being “fairly”! So here goes…

(To be honest, I kinda cheated and looked up on the web to see who were at some of the festivals I attended to refresh my memory!)

1. Kiss
2. John Cougar (And NOT John Mellencamp or even John Cougar Mellencamp. This was in support of his first album. And it was an vinyl record album, NOT a cd!) (opening act for Kiss – believe or not)
3. Ted Nugent (twice)
4. Molly Hatchet (twice) (Don’t judge! This is how we rocked before punk!)
5. Blackfoot (opening for one of the Ted Nugent shows)
6. The Tubes (The stories I could tell about going to this show and coming back – but that is a blog in and of itself!)
7. Husker Du
8. Soul Asylum (opening for Husker Du)
9. Rick Wakeman
10. Ian Dury And The Blockheads (Glastonbury Festival ’85 – the one where it rained and the place was covered in mud)
11. The Pogues (Glastonbury Festival ’85)
12. The Men They Couldn’t Hang (Glastonbury Festival ’85)
13. Billy Bragg (Glastonbury Festival ’85)
14. Monochrome Set
15. The Ramones (Lollapalooza '96)
16. Rancid (Lollapalooza ’96)
17. Cornershop (Lollapalooza ’96)
18. Phillip Glass (also saw an opera of his if that counts)
19. Peter, Paul and Mary
20. Flogging Molly
21. Violent Femmes
22. Cracker (twice)
23. The Bottle Rockets (opening for Cracker at one of the shows)
24. Duke Tomatoe & The Power Trio
25. Pookiesnackenburger (an English cabaret band)
26. The Police
27. Curley Taylor & Zydeco Trouble (Taste Louisiana Festival ’06)
28. Sankomota (South African band I saw in Lesotho)
29. Electric Light Orchestra
30. Hall & Oates (opening for E.L.O. – otherwise, trust me, I wouldn’t have seen them at all!)
31. Ravi Shankar
32. Pat Benatar
33. Sonic Youth
34. R.E.M. (twice)
35. 10,000 Maniacs (opening one of the R.E.M. shows)
36. The Bangles
37. Boomtown Rats (Glastonbury Festival '85)
38. Joe Cocker (Glastonbury Festival '85)
39. The Style Council (Glastonbury Festival '85)
40. Calliope (a group that played Renaissance/medieval music)
41. Queen (Who had a horrible opening act! I went to the bathroom during the act, and there was a line at the toilet! And the group got their biggest applause when they said they were doing their last song. Then they dared to come out for an encore – despite a very mild applause at the end – and asked if the audience wanted another song. More people said no than yes!)
42. The Who
43. George Thorogood & The Destroyers (If memory serves me right, I saw him twice. Once was during his 50 states in 50 days tour back in ’80. We were state/day 37, and he was still going strong. Of course, he was a lot younger and thinner then!)
44. Jamie Bergeron & the Kickin’ Cajuns (Taste Louisiana Festival ’06)
45. Reel Big Fish
46. Roger Miller (Musician formerly of Mission of Burma, not the folk musician – but I was actually first interested in the concert because I thought he was the folk musician! He did though do “King Of The Road”! – On a synthesizer!)
47. Elvis Costello (who told David Letterman that our town was the best audience on that tour!)
48. Echo And The Bunnymen (Glastonbury Festival ’85)
49. Talking Heads
50. Frank Zappa

Local acts, past and present, I’ve seen (Support local music!) - at least, the ones I can remember:

1. Sinister Sons
2. Buick McSnake
3. The Hollowmen (numerous times)
4. The Chant (a few times)
5. The Big Picture
6. Vandon Arms
7. Slaughter House 6
8. North Of Grand
9. Look Out Loretta
10. Hollywood Burnout
11. Little Mojo
12. David Zollo
13. Poison Control Center
14. Pumptown
15. The Delstars
16. Gumbohead
17. An Afternoon Snatching
18. Old Scratch Revival Singers
19. Steve Robinson And The Foundation
20. Exit