| Robbie, Selena & Samantha |
|
|
| Band of the Month |
|
Rush
|
| Album of the Month |
|
Snakes & Arrows
|
| Movie of the Month |
|
Cheech n' Chong's:
Up in Smoke
|
| What I'm Currently
Doing |
|
World of Warcraft
|
|
| Tuesday, June 20, 2006 |
| Frank Zappa - Hot Rats |
I'm still working on getting the entire FZ collection, and this past weekend I picked up 'Hot Rat's. Thanks to 'Strictly Commercial' and 'Tinseltown Rebellion' I had already heard the incredible "Peaches en Regalia" but the rest of the record completely blows me away!
The disc starts with "Peaches", one of the best FZ instrumentals as far as I'm concerned, and the album does not let up for one moment. Although "Willie the Pimp" features lyrics it's the instrumentation that steals the show. "Son of Mr. Green Genes" follow... nine minutes of pure jazz/rock genious. "Little Umbrellas" is less rock and more jazz, not too mention less time. Clocking in at just over three minutes, this is the shortest track on the album.
The big piece of the album is the nearly 17 minute epic piece "The Gumbo Variations". I can sum this track up in one word, "WOW"! The highpoints of this track are a saxophone solo and a violin solo that just defy logic. This song alone was worth the $12 I shelled out for the disc. I think that if I had heard this earlier I would have all of Zappa's albums by now.
The album closes out with "It Must Be A Camel". A very traditional jazz piece with some incredible piano and drum work, and a perfect closer for the disc. I can easily see this being on my top 5 favorite Zappa albums list in the future.
NP: Frank Zappa - The Gumbo Variations |
posted by Rob Mallory @ 4:07 AM  |
|
|
|
| Monday, June 19, 2006 |
| Top 5, Pt. 3 |
Today I want to mention five songs that I think are worse than any others songs in existence. For a couple I don't know the name of the "artist" who force fed this crap down our throats and I really don't think the songs deserve the time it would take for me to figure out who penned the garbage.
Black Eyed Peas - My Humps... Without a doubt the #1 worst song EVER
"artist" unknown - I'm In Love With a Stripper
James Blunt - You're Beautiful
anything at all by emenim... yeah, this is cheating, but I really dislike his "music"
"artist" unknown - Laffy Taffy
Don't try and argue with me... I'm right and you know it!
NP: Spock's Beard - Goodbye to Yesterday |
| posted by Rob Mallory @ 12:35 AM |
|
|
|
| Thursday, June 8, 2006 |
| Real Quick |
Just a couple of very quick things that are on my mind right now:
01 - I really have to pee...
02 - Really, Really Bad...
... thanks for tuning in.
NP: Spock's Beard - She Is Everything |
| posted by Rob Mallory @ 10:52 PM |
|
|
|
| Wednesday, June 7, 2006 |
| Free Writing, Pt. 1 |
For a fun little project I am going to write for ten minutes straight, and publish what I write. None of this is meant to be taken seriously, I'm just very bored:
The dog was very hungry. He could not remember the last time he had eaten, and even if he tried to he would only be more hungry. Best not to think of unpleasent things like that. Then again, everything has been unpleasent since he lost his job at the shoe factory. Although he could not remember when he was told, the owner insisted there was a rule that stated eating the shoes was not allowed... apparantly the dog was the asshole.
The sun was beating down on his ungroomed yellow coat, and the heat was almost as bad as the pangs of hunger. Now that he thought about, maybe the dog was not hungry. And now that I think of it, maybe the dog is not a dog, but a goldfish...
The goldfish was sick of swimming in his tiny bowl of tepid, misty water. Oh how he longed for the days of his youth when he would swim carefree in the giant tank at the tiny pet store. Sure there were immense moments of annoyance when small children would bang on the side of the tank, but once he went deaf there were no worries in the world. No worries that is until the giant kangaroo bought him and placed him in this bowl nearly three years ago to the day.
The kangaroo wasn't such a bad guy, at least not to the fish. He may have a habit of never cleaning the fishbowl water, and sure the bong water was occasionally spilled into the already murky depths of the depthless bowl, but overall it wasn't too bad having a kangaroo for an owner. As the goldfish's daddy had always said, "gargle dee gurgle dee gooper". Truer words had never been said by anyone. The goldfish had a very wise dad.
A talking mailbox was the death of the dad of the goldfish. Goldfish Sr. had been out mowing the lawn when the mailbox slinked up beside him and told him his pants were on fire. When Goldfish Sr. jumped into the small swimming pool to douse the flames it was in such a panic that he had forgotten that he could not swim. His pants were not on fire, in fact he was not even wearing pants... in fact, fish can swim, so maybe his father was still alive. In fact, maybe his father was not a dead fish, but a live blade of grass...
The beautiful blade of grass was blowing in the cool afternoon breeze, feeling the wind through out it's decadent body. The blade of grass flashed a smile at a pretty female lobster that had just passed by him in the lot, but of course the lobster took no notice. In fact no pretty girls had paid the blade of grass any heed since it's horribly debilitating accident.
It was just three months ago when the blade of grass had been out for an evening stroll when he fell into a sewer drain. Trapped inside with a broken leg for nearly a week, the blade of grass spent it's days cursing Lassie. Sure the dog could help Timmy for the umpteenth millionth trip down the well, but there would be no help for the blade of grass. Also during that time the blade of grass would ponder, "What if I am not a blade of grass," it asked itself time and time again. "What if I am nothing more than a sneeze..."
The sneeze was having a bad day. Just moments ago it had been living the high life inside the mouth of the bowling bowl, but in one single life changing moment the sneeze was living on the wind. Not that the wind was so bad to the sneeze, hell the wind told the greatest stories of popcorn and spray cans, but the sneeze was just not happy with the way it's life had been going the last fifty or so seconds.
The sneeze tried to enter the mouth of a passing were-pig in a heroic act of a nice sneeze, but when the street sweeper drove by the life of the sneeze was seriously questioned by the street sweeper...
"I wonder why that sneeze even bothers to live," the street sweeper says out loud. The street sweeper was talking to itself a lot more often these days. Not questions really, but whole conversations in which he would converse with himself about himself. The thought of a slipping sense of sanity had occured to the street sweeper, but then do inanimate objects really have thoughts? Especially an inanimate object such as a large sweet streeping vehicle?!?! No, the answer of course is "no", because that would just be silly. |
| posted by Rob Mallory @ 3:57 AM |
|
|
|
|
| Top 5, Pt. 2 |
For the second part of my nail biting series we examine my Top 5 favorite Concept Albums of all time. The quick definition of "concept album" is an album that uses it's entire length to tell a story. While there are a lot of great concept albums, and I have heard few that I have not liked, these are the five that I favor above all others.
Dream Theater - Scenes from a Memory
The first slot is a no brainer, one that has already been featured in my lair. Therefore, I shall cheat and just paste what I wrote about it before:
Released in 1999 this progressive rock conceptual masterpiece was the bands first album with new keyboardist Jordan Rudess. The epic story tells of a man who is fighting to uncover a murder conspiracy centered around the woman he used to be in a past life. The music is pure prog rock and really shows off just how talented each musician is, each at the top of their game.
Spock's Beard - Snow
The final Beard album with front man Neal Morse is a close 2nd on my list. The story tells of a young albino man who can see the future by just touching another person. The music on the album is some of the best from the bands career. Keyboardist Ryo Okumoto really shines on this disc, as does drummer Nick D'Virgilio who steps up to the mic for the first time in the bands studio recording history. The vocal melodies are at times extremely beautiful, most notably on "Solitary Soul / Wind at My Back". An excellent swan song for Neal Morse.
Ayreon - The Human Equation
By the time of this albums release Arjen Lucassen was already a major player in the progressive rock community. With nearly every album in the Ayreon catalogue a concept album Arjen had a lot to live up to. 'The Human Equation' delivers in spades. Telling the story of a man in a coma at war with his own emotions. And though the music is the best aspect of the disc (especially the smoking synth solo in "Isolation") the cast of guest vocalists is incredible. Singers like James LaBrie, Marcela Bovio, Devin Townsend, Mikael Ackerfeldt and Heather Findlay make this album incredible.
Emerson, Lake & Palmer - Pictures at an Exhibition
Though recorded before 'Tarkus', 'Pictures' was released as ELP's 3rd album. A live reworking of the Mussorgsky piece of the same name, ELP put there own bombastic touch, making the album an instant classic. Whether it be Greg Lake's beautiful vocals (of lyrics he himself penned), Palmer blitzkrieg drumming, or the ever impressive madman technique of keyboard extraordinaire Keith Emerson, there is something on this album for every prog fan.
Queensryche - Operation: Mindcrime
I can't say that I have always been a big fan of Queensryche, but after listening to this album several times it all fell into place. A concept album about a hit man for hire, the story follows Nicky who is hired by the evil Dr. X to kill or be killed. The music is incredible, and this album opened quite a few doors for 'ryche.
NP: Spock's Beard - Welcome to NYC |
| posted by Rob Mallory @ 2:35 AM |
|
|
|
| Tuesday, June 6, 2006 |
| An Open Letter to my Friend Boa - by Rob |
Dear Mr. Boa Constrictor:
How are you today sir? I am fine, but something has been eating at me. Last year when we were in Venice drinking coffee in that small cafe and talking about Jean Luc you turned your head to me and stuck your tongue out. At the time I thought you were just making a gesture at a joke I had told (you remember, the one about the rabbit and the frankfurter), but when I finished my shower of moonsbeam and dove lotion this morning I realized something, you were sniffing me, weren't you?
Boa, I am now worried that I had a bad odor that day that has kept you from coming around anymore. Last week Jean Luc and I were talking about how we had not heard from you in sometime, and how much it hurt our hearts. The long walks on the beach, the car rides through South East Manitoba, even the sail boat rides through the Amazon, all of those are now only memories shared by two, and not the three "Goofateers" as we used to call ourselves. If my stink is the reason for your lack of contact, you need not worry, I have now been taking showers faithfully for almost six whole weeks now (okay, I fell off the wagon once, but nobody is perfect).
Anyhow, I don't have any contact information for you, so I'm hoping that just maybe you searched me out and are reading this very post this very moment.
I miss you my little snake, and hope to hear from you very soon.
Your friend,
Rob
p.s. Paula never actually thought you were cold hearted, it was only joke. I have it on good authority that she still loves you.
NP: Dream Theater - Sacraficed Sons |
| posted by Rob Mallory @ 2:53 AM |
|
|
|
|
| Things that Bug Me, Pt. 1 |
There are a lot of things that bug me, so for the first one, I'll go with the most recent:
I'm getting really tired of seeing promo's for upcoming news stories on local newscasts. And not just stories that will be aired that night, but stories that are coming "later this week". I mean how many days notice do we really need to prepare for a story about "Does hairspray x really work better than hairspray y?"
And while I'm on the topic of local news, there are four major newscasts in the Omaha/Council Bluffs area, and they all tell us bad weather is coming, so why do we need 400 commercials telling us that newscast x broke the news first? I don't really give a rats ass who says it first, just give me enough time to get the hand lotion to a safe and secure location. That's all I need.
Thank you for reading about things that bug Rob.
...er... I have really dry skin...
NP: Led Zeppelin - Mistsy Mountain Hop |
| posted by Rob Mallory @ 12:13 AM |
|
|
|
| Friday, June 2, 2006 |
| I Don't Want to Die |
With Janae pregnant I feel that it is time to get healthy. Starting yesterday, when I got home from work, I went on a rather long walk. For an hour and ten minutes I walked a title of just over 4 miles. Five days a week (at least) I will do the same. This coupled with my new habit of eating much less should help me get in shape, and stick around to see my children grow up.
Wish Me Luck!
NP: Dream Theater - Home |
| posted by Rob Mallory @ 4:05 AM |
|
|
|
|
| About Me |
|
Name: Rob Mallory
Home: Council Bluffs, Iowa, United States
About Me: I'm nothing special to most of the world, but to my wife & kids I am everything... and that is good enough for me.
See my complete profile
|
| Previous Post |
|
| Archives |
|
|
| Links |
|
My Sites:
My Favorite Sites:
My Friends:
Bootleg Sites:
|
| Template by |
 |
|
