Observations From The Forefront: Yes, Mike Davis, Blue Cheer

It's business as usual and the show must go on for Yes, who decided to replace Benoit David with Jon Davison. Kind of nice of Yes not to let David in on the secret that he was out but then again it comes down to old farts trying to live past glories.  Keep the money rolling in, get a Jon Andersen soundalike and get back on tour.  I still cannot get much into Fly From Here, it has its moments but I'm beginning to think that Chris Squire is blowing his wad on sound a likes rather than making up with Jon Andersen.  To which Squire sez that he does forsee working with Jon in the near future, not now though.

In another case of a band with no original members left, the manager of Blue Cheer has announced that they will go on without Dickie Peterson who died in 2009. Tony Rainier will take over vocals and leadership.  Not too many people are on board with this but it does remind me of Molly Hatchet who has gone on without any original members left.  Bobby Ingram leads that tribute band.  Only pre Danny Joe Brown Hatchet album worth hearing was Devil's Canyon, the rest simply a heavy metal southern rock mess that has no identity of its own.

Micheal Davis was part of the MC5 and later worked with Destroy All Monsters and Rich Hopkins passed away from liver failure at age 68.  Only remaining members are Dennis Thompson and Wayne Kramer.

Finally the Whitney Houston funeral was on TV Saturday but basically I didn't catch any of it.  And of course I Will Always Love You has once again hit the charts to further annoy the folks of that earworm song.  Like Michael Jackson, the cable news channel and everything else ran it into the ground which made watching TV painful if your not a fan of I will always love you.  Fucking song is still in my head a good 10 days after her death and even I can't listen to the Dolly Parton version either.  Some places even had their flags down to half mast in her tribute which is a bit too much.  In terms of theory, that should be reserved for soldiers who are dying in the damn wars of Iraq and Afghanistan.  It is sad to see drugs and alcohol take another musician's life and perhaps if it wasn't for her there would be no Mariah  Carey.  But she's dead now and will somebody please play something else besides I will always love you?

Ratings are going to be around 1500 views thereabouts.  I don't really see anything to pop it over 1,800 views the past two months but I could be wrong.   But then again it's kinda hard to type on my GF's computer, which seems to hiccup and delay a lot here.  The Brains Blog continue to get the majority of views, and the 3rd best overall of the month is Best Of 2009 blog to which it gets twice more views than the 2011 best of.  But then again I feel like I more or less competing with the old blogs when I do a new one up.  Geez folks if you want to add some views, then add the 2011 or Best of 2008 to which nobody has even read judging by the ratings of them all.  Later in the week another top ten to throw at you.  And maybe a couple more surprises.

Whatever they are.