Slayer have sparked controversy with a new song about 9/11 from the terrorists’ viewpoint. The California foursome were fed up with other bands’ American perspective of the attacks on New York and Washington D.C. in 2001, so they wrote their own unique version.
Guitarist/songwriter Jeff Hanneman has angered 9/11 victims’ families with the extremist angled track “Jihad”, which will feature on their new album.
Guitarist Kerry King says, “In America every band under the sun has written their 9/11 song. And that’s why I didn’t want to have any part of it, but this is really cool. It kind of has an ‘Angel of Death’ feel because it doesn’t condemn anyone or say that anyone’s right or wrong.”
Can’t hurt sales can it? Not that Slayer have ever had any probs shifting units, but I’ve got an inkling that this won’t be the last we hear of this!
Henry Rollins Benefit for West Memphis Three. Henry Rollins is putting together a benefit concert in aid of the WEST MEMPHIS THREE, a trio of men convicted for the 1993 murder of three children they deny committing.
Quite possibly one of the finest sci-fi movies of all time is Ridley Scott’s ‘Blade Runner’. Whether it be the atmospheric visuals or the hauntingly majestic soundtrack by composer Vangelis, ‘Blade Runner’ has stood the test of time and is well regarded as an absolute classic in the genre. Every time I watch the movie, and I have seen it many times, I find myself completely immersed in the films’ overwhelming atmosphere. For me, watching ‘Blade Runner’ is an experience. And for this ‘Blade Runner’ junkie, the news that the film is about to be given a director’s ‘intended cut’ which promises to be different from the theatrical cut, the international cut, and the previous director’s cut, (can anyone say MEGA-CUT?) is damn good news… damn good!
Variety irons it out nicely: “Warner’s rights to “Blade Runner” lapsed a year ago, but the studio has since negotiated a long-term license. The pic, now considered a sci-fi classic, has had a troubled history from the start: When Scott ran overbudget, completion bond guarantors took control of it and made substantial changes before its 1982 theatrical release, adding a voiceover and happy ending. That version was replaced by the much better-received director’s cut in 1992, but Scott has long been unhappy with it, complaining that he was rushed and unable to give it proper attention.
The restored “Director’s Cut” will debut on homevid in September, and remain on sale for four months only, after which time it will be placed on moratorium. “Blade Runner: Final Cut” will arrive in 2007 for a limited 25th anniversary theatrical run, followed by a special edition DVD with the three previous versions offered as alternate viewing: Besides the original theatrical version and director’s cut, the expanded international theatrical cut will be included. The set will also contain additional bonus materials.”
Sopranos Series 6 Episode 11
If last week’s episode of the Sopranos was a little laid back, tonight’s episode ‘Cold Stones’ would have been more than enough to satisfy the Sopranophile with a penchant for bloodlust and mob killings.
Phil Leotardo. The old-school mobster hardened by doing 20 years in the slammer is now poised to take over completely from imprisoned boss John Sacrimon. Leotardo, ever the dramatist, menacingly and symbolically ‘comes out of the closet’ (literally) to finally murder his cousin-in-law Vito Spatafore simply because he is gay. Vito’s only ‘crime’ was - as Paulie Walnuts put it - being a ‘catcher’ so in the mob world, he has to die. As sickening as that thought is, is as sickening as Vito’s inevitable death unfolds on the screen. Beaten to death and mutilated like an animal by his brother-in-law Vito before Tony’s crew could do the job.
Even though Vito is now out of the picture, he will continue to haunt both the Jersey and New York families. Vito was a captain in Tony’s crew. It was Tony’s responsibility to have him killed, yet Leotardo took it upon himself and did the deed nonetheless.
Are we being set up for the ultimate showdown between the Jersey & New York? When Silvio and Carlo savagely kill one of Vito’s killers in the backroom of Satriales… all hell has been unleashed. The war that has been brewing for several seasons now, will be in full swing next season.
And in typical Sopranos fashion, all the mayhem and bloodshed was inter spread with tender and moving moments… Vito’s young children reading about the death of their dad in the local paper will have to live with the ’shame’ for the rest of their lives. And Carmella has trekked off to Paris, marvelling in the sheer majesty and beauty of the city, she is stil haunted by dreams of the missing Adriana, and will soon realize exactly what happened to her. (She will hire a Private Investigator in the series finale - June 4 - to look for the whereabouts of Adriana).
Sopranos Series 6 Episode 10
From the outset and on first viewing, I found this week’s episode of the Sopranos to be a little on the disappointing side. With the season about to end in a couple of episodes, surely some of the lingering and foreboding story-lines would begin to see some sort of resolution or we would see the crescendo of an almighty climax approach. Maybe my impatience is clouding my judgement on this one. I may feel differently about if if I watch it again but god-dammit, I wanted more from this episode and selfishly (a trait that is evident in all the characters of the show) I didn’t get it.
Selfishness was running rampant in tonight’s episode. Janice (ugh she is infuriating!) bleating and moaning for more. Carmella whining about her spec-house… (she’d be more than happy for Tony to use mob persuasion on building inspectors as long as she can get what she wants). Leotardo pining for the old-school. Christopher moaning about the Maserati he paid $25,000 (!!!!) for being impounded. And finally Vito missing the old neighborhood. Missing it so much that he feels it is better to reign in hell than to serve in heaven. He abandons his new life and job in New Hampshire and fast-tracks it back to Jersey hitting another car in the process. Rather than file a police report, he murders the driver in cold blood.
Are things on the skids between Meadow and Finn? Ever since Vito has been AWOL, Finn’s been ignoring Meadow which leads to suggest the only reason he ever proposed to her was to protect himself from Vito after witnessing his co-curricular activities. With Vito now back in Jersey, could a showdown between them occur.
And in other developments, Bacala is inches away from being killed by a pack of black teen hoodlums. Paulie’s biopsy came back positive. He’s getting radiation treatment to battle the cancer. Only Tony knows. And John Sacrimoni accepts a plea bargain of a 15-year jail sentence in exchange for admitting his connection to organized crime. (And wasn’t Leotardo pissed off about that admission!)
I grew up on the music of the mid to late 70’s. Particularly the great Rock bands that were destroying cities across the US of A. Kiss, Ted Nugent, Van Halen, Aerosmith and the mighty Cheap Trick.
These were the bands I was cutting my teeth too. These were the bands that as a mere child I would learn to drum to. My parent’s couch in our old home took a pounding until that fateful day when dad finally bought me my first drum-kit. By then, I could play any drum pattern by my heroes of the day - Peter Criss of Kiss and the enigmatic Bun E. Carlos of Cheap Trick. I could play any of their songs - and probably could to this day although I haven’t drummed professionally since 1990, hanging up the sticks for good to move onto greener pastures. But I digress, that is all another blog post for another day.
One slab of vinyl that the stylus of my stereo wore down (Oh God I feel so damn old!) completely was Cheap Trick’s ‘Dream Police’ album.
Continue reading ‘Cheap Trick: Dream Police’
Sopranos Series 6 Episode 9
So the swindlers are shaking down the swindlers. The church wants fifty big ones from Paulie Walnuts who usually fronts ten large for the annual Feast of Whomever. You can bet your bottom dollar that Paulie stuck to the original deal of $10,000 because the Feast was marred with problems due to the budgetary constraints. A kiddie ride grinds to a halt and several children suffer some minor injuries. The incorrigible Janice quickly pounces on this and tries to scam her way to some sort of compensation. As she is want to do, its another fruitless cause for Janice to try and champion. I don’t know about you, but she is the most despicable character on this show and now tubby hubby Bobby Bacala is getting money from the ride owner AND demanding a slice from Paulie Walnuts besides the fact that no one from his family got hurt in the ride. Nice!
Fabulous scene between Christopher and Tony as we finally find out how Chris broke the news to Tony about Adriana singing to the feds. In the last season we were never privy to this exchange and how it ever went down. To see Christopher informing Tony of Adriana’s betrayal was just amazing and as powerful as any other high drama moment on the Sopranos. The scene reinforced the closeness between Tony and Christopher yet just as Christopher’s life is beginning to be on the improve… he tangles with the big H again after some time being clean. You really would not want to be in Christopher’s shoes when Tony finds out about this one.
Hmm Tony and Leotardo are striking a deal whilst Johnny Sack rots in prison. Surely this will come to a head when the rest of the New York crew find out what’s happening. Or is Leotardo making his move with cry-baby Sacrimoni behind bars?
And whilst we’ve had all that to deal with, Paulie Walnuts is in the midst of a intense crisis as he fears he has the big casino. Cancer. In his depressive state, he finally makes peace with the woman he thought was his mother and in a touching scene at the end of the episode, the two are watching TV together.
Gamers can stay connected with The Sopranos this fall with a video-game version of HBO’s crime family.
This Sopranos features the likenesses and voices of stars James Gandolfini (Tony), Michael Imperioli (Christopher), Steven Van Zandt (Silvio) and Tony Sirico (Paulie). “The key thing was (series creator) David Chase’s interest in … the ability to participate in an evolving art form,” says Carmi Zlotnik, executive vice president of new media programming at HBO.
Due in October, the game (from THQ, for the Microsoft Xbox 360 and Sony PlayStation 2, rated Mature for ages 17 and older) is timed to fill the gap in new episodes on HBO. The current sequence ends June 4; episodes are expected to resume in January. In the game, players take the role of a mafia soldier and the illegitimate son of Sal “Big Pussy” Bonpensiero. As a mob war brews between rival families in Philadelphia and New Jersey, they must earn money on collections, protect their turf through intimidation and gain admiration in the family to advance within the organization. Says THQ’s Steve Dauterman: “It’s contemporary as opposed to (Electronic Arts’) The Godfather and (Vivendi Universal’s upcoming) Scarface, which are more of the previous generation of crime-family games.”
…Now if only someone would release an action-figure set based on all the characters. That would be a sure fire hit!
The Welsh nutters, Dirty Sanchez are making a movie: The concept of the film is that the Devil has heard about the dare-devil nature of the Sanchez boys so he’s set them the ultimate challenge, to complete stunts based on the 7 Deadly Sins or be damned to the gutter forever.
In order to regain their status as hard-asses and crawl out of the gutter - the 7 deadly sins they must complete in seven exotic locations are:
Sloth - UK >> Anger - Moscow Russia >> Lust - Bangkok Thailand >> Envy - Ko Phi Phi Thailand >> Pride - Tokyo Japan >> Gluttony - Mexico >> Greed - Dominican Republic
And most interesting of all the film-makers have secured Lemmy to play the Devil and do the music.
Lemmy: “If they (Dirty Sanchez boys) think they’re tough… Wait till they meet me.”
LINKS: Dirty Sanchez, Motorhead
I played 2003’s AFI album ‘Sing The Sorrow’ to death. It was easily the album of the year for ‘03 and it was clearly AFI’s best album to date. So when news arrived that the new album is just around the corner, this particular punter got very excited (what an amazing year for quality releases huh?)
Two years in the making, the seventh album from AFI was a labor of love. “There’s a lot more attention to detail on this record,” Guitarist Jade Puget affirms. “We spent a long time writing it. We refused to rush ourselves. We took our time not just on every song but on each guitar part, each vocal, each bass line.” A true partnership, each band member (Davey Havok/vocals, Jade Puget/guitar, Hunter/bass, Adam Carson/drums) worked to create what has become AFI’s most dynamic, cultivated work to date.
AFI will be touring May through August in the USA and abroad. Check www.afireinside.net for dates and ticket information.
Check out the sampler streams right here:
(Windows)
(Real Player)
The new AFI album ‘December Underground’ will be on the streets 6/6/06.
Sopranos Series 6 Episode 8
Young AJ Soprano is becoming a bit of a cult hero amongst his friends and peers. Here’s the son of a notorious crime boss and gangster living off the legend that is ‘Tony Soprano’ yet unlike his father - AJ is a little boy lost. By any other definition he is a mama’s boy. He’s failed out of school. He’s working a dead-end job and all the supposed glamour of the mob lifestyle has completely escaped him. He wants to be like his dad so bad but there is no way in hell his dad would ever have a $1890 drink bill or be tipping midget waiters at a nightclub. Whilst Tony Soprano would have underlings paying money up to him and free meals and drinks wherever he goes, AJ is the total opposite - paying for all his friends and tipping waiters and the like. After each and every AJ failing, and there have been many, he feels his natural course is to try and impress his father and do the deed on Uncle Junior. Even in this he fails miserably and ends up arrested. What exactly he was thinking by his attempt to kill Junior is another example of his ineptitude. Even if he succeeded in killing Junior, did he even have an escape plan? He quotes the Godfather scene to his father, when Michael Corleone pulls off an execution - but Corleone had it all meticulously planned. AJ is anything but meticulous. Fredo Soprano anyone?
In other developments, Vito establishes contact with his wife but in the meanwhile, Leotardo has a hard-on for Vito (pardon the pun!) and wants him more than dead. Will Vito’s call be traced back to his hiding place where now Vito has outed himself with one of the locals?
Tony is definitely a changed man. Whilst the seductress real estate agent Julianna finally tempts Tony to sell a property he owns, the two finds themselves in the throes of lust. As Juliana begins to unbutton Tony’s shirt, he remembers his loving wife Carmella buttoning up his shirt before he was to leave the house. With deep love and care, Carmella was dressing him up yet now Tony finds himself about to cheat on the one woman who truly loves him. It was like the angel and the devil sitting on each of his shoulders, but this time, Tony rejected the devil and went home to his angel. Albeit in a fit of rage that there was no smoked turkey in the fridge(!)
