goodbye

Well, we're done here. Rap at ya over at The Greatest Blog Ever Written.

it's a gas

Had a little extra cash to burn (huzzah 60 hour weeks) so I went to the local used music peddler. I wasn't really looking for anything, but it's usually those kind of trips were you find the best stuff.

Vinyl:
AC/DC- For Those About to Rock...: It was there, and it was in really nice condition for being an original pressing. Since I've just about finished my Kiss and Metallica vinyl collections, I've set my sights on this band now. It would have been Pearl Jam, but that stuff is really expensive.

Ace Frehley- Trouble Walkin': To whomever bought this album twenty-one years ago: shame on you for not busting it out of its shrinkwrap and listening to it. But, thank you for taking it to the store so I could buy it for $2.99. This is said to be the strongest of all Ace's solo efforts, but I'll just have to take someone else's word for it.

CD:
Radiohead- The Bends Deluxe edition: Has all the b-sides that are really hard to find on this side of the pond, plus it was amazingly cheap. Reminds me that I really need to track down the OK Computer release, since that has the best b-sides.

Also popped over to Barnes & Noble and picked up the latest issues of Classic Rock and Rolling Stone. CR has a feature on Led Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti, which I guess is worth reading. RS had something on Roger Waters and The Wall, a subject that will probably always fascinate me.

Been digging on lots of live Pearl Jam lately, since I rediscovered all those 2000/2003 live CDs I have. And do I have a lot of them. The last show of the 2000 tour was in Seattle, and it possibly one of the finest documents of this band live. I was listening to that pretty much all week, which was great. I'm actually listening to the Katowice, Poland show from the 2000 tour right now.

Bought a new stereo last weekend. It plays vinyl, CDs, cassettes, and has a line in for mp3 players. It makes me happy. The sound for the vinyl could be a little better, but this little box will do until I can afford to build the ridiculous stereo I want.

Portnoy leaves Dream Theater

Dubya. Tee. Eff.

This is a sincere shock. That band was such his baby that I couldn't imagine him ever giving it up, but sometimes you have to do what's right for you, even if people think you're nuts.

let's face it...

This could be the coolest album cover art of the year.

And hey! A new album from The Sword! Always awesome.

Stuff You Should Be Aware Of #9

Jeez, long time no post.

So anyway, here's a band I discovered by way of Classic Rock magazine back in 2008. They're a band out of Chicago called Bible of the Devil, and here they are playing a really, really bitchin' song called "Ol' Girl."

selling out

So, I finally have myself an iPod. I owned a little Philips 2G mp3 player, but 2 gigs isn't anywhere near enough space for my eclectic music tastes. A couple weeks ago, I upgraded to an iPod Touch with 8 gigs. I have it half full already. I do wish now I'd have spent the extra $150 for the 32 gig deal. Why is it I couldn't find a Touch with 16 gigs? This is why I resisted an iPod- I'm not exactly keen on the way Apple does business.

But I sold out anyway. I purged my messy iTunes library and started fresh. Pearl Jam's 'Backspacer' was the first album on there.

People keep telling me I need apps on this thing. Why, exactly? It plays music, and occasionally surfs the interwebs. That's what this does for me.

Stuff You Should Be Aware Of #8

U2- Lemon. I like this tune, and some people don't really know it exists. It comes from 1993's Zooropa, the companion piece to Achtung Baby. So clearly, it's from U2's creative height.