RIP Ebert and Roeper At The Movies, last show will be the week of August 16.
For almost thirty years At The Movies was the place to see reviews of
movies. When Gene Siskel passed away it wasn't the same for me so I
didn't watch much of that. With Roger Ebert still recovering from
throat cancer and Disney thinking of a change it was time to bury this.
There's one thing about Dierks Bentley and that is he is one of the
more exciting country artists to see live and I'm sure the show with
Miranda Lambert was a lot of fun although fans had to wait for the 67th
severe thunderstorm of the summer to go through. Gotta love it when he
played till one AM regardless. I really wanted to see Boston friday
night but the 66th heavy rain storm prohibited me from doing so. Could
have gone, the storm didn't hit till midnight and flooded Viola with 4
more inches of rain. Can you now see why I hate rain folks? All it has
done all year is either icestorms, or blizzards and now extreme weather
that has made living in this state a fucking chore. And the Jones
County Fair this year has been one major storm after another although
I'm sure it didn't rain last night when the Diddy Bops popped on stage.
Tired of flooded basements, I decided this weekend to close up the
damn moat with rocks which have been sitting in our driveway for the
past two years and nothing got done about it. Shoving rocks and using a
wheelbarrel with a flat tire for two hours in humid weather is not a
good idea ffor anybody but it had to be done. Trying to shovel rocks
and pretty much getting sunburned beyond belief, I finally got all the
rocks into the holes before a bad case of heat rash started up. I
probaly lost twenty pounds in the process and yes we got another round
of windy thunderstorms this morning but everything stayed dry for a
change.
But I am paying a price for it today, my back is pretty
sore and the damn printers at work are the usual. Had to switch the
cutters to split merge from whole and it took forty minites before the
damn thing work. And then having Lyle at work coming over and saying
they needed a test job back to whole mode...........
I dont care where I go on vacation in august, and I don't care if the
fucking gas is twenty dollars a gallon, I'm getting the hell out of
here.
COLDPLAY-Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends (EMI)
Sometimes I can be swayed by reviewing an album just by the
negativity that surrounds it. Not too often (don't look for a Jessica
Simpson country review anytime soon) but when I heard of the constant
bashing of Chris Martin and his band's latest album, I think it either
the NY Times bashathon or Jon Pareles's bashing of it that made me to
decide to check it out.
Fuck them all, I think this album is pretty damn hooky although it
actually sounds more U2ish than the dreaded R word band that used to be
on the same label as Coldplay. Beginning with the dreamy Life In
Technicolor which also concludes the album as Death And All His Friends
we get a more poppy Coldplay, a lot less on the piano and a bit more on
guitars and lots of Brian Eno's production work. I also tend to think
this album, if mixed properly instead of the compressed MP3 sound would
have a lot more memorable in the end. Cemetries Of London sounds a bit
Stingish with those U2 guitar chiming in the background. I can't say
this album will replace Rush Of Blood To The Head in terms of being a
classic album but I think it's better than the last album, which I think
tried too hard of being too serious. Lost! kinda remains me of the
Moody Blues in a way, but then again I've been tracking through the
Moody Blues new Remasters so I might be a bit blind to reason. 42 the
song, might be the closest thing to the piano ballads of Rush Of Blood
To The Head with a piano figure that sounds akin to Imagine by John
Lennon before going kinda of a jam groove, a curve ball thrown in for
good measure a bit like Red era King Crimson without the nasty overtones
on that album before going back to the piano and the song ends there.
Nevertheless, Viva La Vida is certainly a lot more enjoyable than X
and Y and a helluva lot more fun than the indee alt rock that the NY
times enjoy and better than Jon's boy Bruce Springsteen. VLV might be
the keeper that X and Y wasn't. Note to Mr. Perles; Coldplay isn't the
insufferable band of the decade as you say, it's only insufferable to
closed minds. Radiohead might be that insufferable band but In Rainbows
proves that otherwise, so perhaps insufferable band could be Hinder or
Three Doors Down or Taking Back Sunday. I reserve judgement on the most
insufferable band myself but when you decided to be closed minded on
the new Coldplay, it opened up my mind to review it. And find myself I
should look up Parachutes to review. Closed minded critcs; what do
they know?
Grade B plus
More Whine for your cheese
There was a link to a critic bitching about the recent Elton John and Ray Davies albums but since that didn't work, he basically said that they both sucked and they need to die.
Basically another critic's point of view. I for one, did give Elton
John's last album a decent grade and still think Ray Davies can make a
listenable album. I agree with him that The Who should call it a day
and the Stones too. Roger Daltry can't sing anymore but if they should
make a complete album with Zak Starkey on drums then it will be worth a
listen. Springsteen's last album got a shitty mix that made it
unlistenable, Elvis Costello is overrated and if anything, music is in
the eyes and ears of the beholder. Even with narrow or closed minded
critics.
RangerDan Sez.
I'm gonna run right out and buy another Cold Play CD. AGGGH, cough, vomit, ZZZZZZZZZZZZ, snore.
