Stray Cats: She's Sexy & 17



Memorial Day: Dress Blues

I think I posted this before...  No worries.  This is one of those things worth posting more than once.  The song is "Dress Blues" by Jason Isbell; it's about a friend he grew up with.  The video is from the funeral procession of another Marine, Jason Rogers, who paid the ultimate price.

Thank you -- all of you.  I'm flying the flag out front in your memory.  And I'll drink a cold one for you.

Van Halen: Dreams

Van Halen (or, if you prefer, Van Hagar) and the US Navy Blue Angels in the video for Dreams.

The Muppet Show: In the Navy

The Muppet Show had a unique twist on Vikings.  I wonder how the Swedish Chef felt about it?

Streets of Fire: Nowhere Fast!

Whew!

"Find Me Somebody..."

I'm not going to say much here.  I'll just let Rolling Stone's website help sort out the nonsequitur of Wolverine having a private jungle encounter with Queen frontman and Rock God Freddie Mercury.

I'm so tempted to use that last picture as my avatar.

You know it's awesome.

God Save the Queen!

"Siegfried", or, "Holy Crap! Why Isn't This a Movie?"

This truly gorgeous, animated trailer set to music from Wagner's Ring Cycle is for a French graphic novel.  It is not a movie trailer.

Why not?  This is fantastic, amazing, stupifying!

Wagner's intention with the Ring Cycle was to create a complete work of art within the media of his day -- hence an Opera, in which all the arts of the theater and orchestral music combined.  But surely animated films fit this bill also?  Perhaps even more so, as they bring in elements of the fine arts that fade more into the background of the theater.

Even if we streamline the Operatic version of the story back to the original Germanic epic, we probably lose nothing, and gain one heck of a Barbarian-Conquers-All tale complete with Grim Gods, Dragons, Magic Swords, Barbarian Princes, Valkyries, dwarfs...  Set it to old school, Disney style animation and we're truly talking a modern epic work of art!

Why isn't this being made?

Well, enjoy what we've got.

Rock This Town -- Stray Cats

How About a Dose of Awesome? AC/DC makes the girls go wild!

From Australian TV in 1976.  Bon Scott makes the young ladies feel all tingly in the right places.

Dick Clark, Dead at 82

Thanks for all the pop music memories.

But the real question is whether or not Ryan Seacrest can seize the Iron Throne now...

Dear Axl -- No Soup for You!

More from G'n'R front man, Axl Rose as he tries to capitalize on the extension of his 15 minutes of fame.

To: Cleveland, Ohio, Guns N' Roses Fans and everyone who's shown support
for my decision regarding the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.

I seriously didn't plan on or expect the overwhelmingly positive response
and public support for my decision regarding the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.
With such a generous outpouring of solidarity from fans, media outlets, writers
and other artists, I'm truly humbled, blown away and unbelievably relieved! To
be honest, I thought it would go the other way and was just hoping to weather
the storm. As I said, I sincerely didn't want to disappoint anyone. It gets old
being the outlaw even if "it's only rock and roll".

It took a lot of focus and soul searching to be sincere and informative
while making a genuine effort to be somewhat diplomatic. We made, what I feel,
are real efforts to learn about the Hall and the Board, spoke as I said with the
president and various members, and though I inducted Elton John and Bernie
Taupin in '94 saying something to the effect of "I'm learning what the Hall's
about..."

I still don't exactly know or understand what the Hall is or how or why
it makes money, where the money goes, who chooses the voters and why anyone or
this board decides who, out of all the artists in the world that have
contributed to this genre, officially "rock" enough to be in the Hall?
This isn't an attack. These are genuine issues I don't have enough
verified information on to have more than rough ideas. Certainly not enough
information to make any judgments about.

I would like to apologize to Cleveland, Ohio for not apologizing to them
beforehand for not attending [the ceremony] in their city. I think they know how
much I genuinely love performing there. Cleveland does in fact Rock!!
Now that the smoke's cleared a little, any desperate, misguided attacks
have been just that, a pathetic stab at gossip, some lame vindictiveness, the
usual entitlement crap, he's obsessed, crazy, volatile, a hater. I once bought a
homeless woman a slice of pizza who yelled at me she wanted soup. We got her the
soup. You can get your own.

Again: HUGE thanks to the fans and to everyone for the incredible public
support. My congratulations to the other artists inducted. And my apologies to
the city and people of Cleveland, Ohio. I hope you'll forgive me and we hope to
see you again soon!

Keep Rockin',Axl

Unlike my open letter to the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, Guns N' Roses
Fans and Whom It May Concern this was written for GNR's official website,
Facebook account and my personal twitter account and not intended as a press
release. If anyone does choose to pick this up as has been done previously I'd
appreciate if you'd run in full including this paragraph so as not to give a
partial picture, have things taken out of context or to imply or inadvertently
give the impression this was intended for other outlet.

I spent a lovely weekend at the Rock Hall. It's a great place with a ton of music history on display for all to enjoy. I didn't even think the ticket prices were all that outrageous.

Axl is not the first to decline induction. The Sex Pistols also famously declined. But Axl, you're not them.

Dear Axl -- This is the most relevant you've been since the mid-90's.

The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, Guns N’ Roses Fans and Whom It May
Concern,

When the nominations for the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame were first
announced I had mixed emotions but, in an effort to be positive, wanting
to make the most of things for the fans and with their enthusiasm, I was
honored, excited and hoped that somehow this would be a good thing.

Of course I realized as things stood, if Guns N’ Roses were to be
inducted it’d be somewhat of a complicated or awkward situation.Since then
we’ve listened to fans, talked with members of the board of the Hall Of
Fame, communicated with and read various public comments and jabs from
former members of Guns N’ Roses, had discussions with the president of the
Hall Of Fame, read various press (some legit, some contrived) and read
other artists’ comments weighing in publicly on Guns and the Hall with their
thoughts.

Under the circumstances I feel we’ve been polite, courteous, and open to
an amicable solution in our efforts to work something out. Taking
into consideration the history of Guns N’ Roses, those who plan to attend
along with those the Hall for reasons of their own, have chosen to include
in “our” induction (that for the record are decisions I don’t agree with,
support or feel the Hall has any right to make), and how (albeit no easy
task) those involved with the Hall have handled things… no offense meant
to anyone but the Hall Of Fame Induction Ceremony doesn’t appear to be
somewhere I’m actually wanted or respected.For the record, I would not
begrudge anyone from Guns their accomplishments or recognition for such.
Neither I or anyone in my camp has made any requests or demands of the
Hall Of Fame. It’s their show not mine.

That said, I won’t be attending The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame Induction
2012 Ceremony and I respectfully decline my induction as a member of Guns
N’ Roses to the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.I strongly request that I not
be inducted in absentia and please know that no one is authorized nor may
anyone be permitted to accept any induction for me or speak on my behalf.
Neither former members, label representatives nor the Rock And Roll Hall
Of Fame should imply whether directly, indirectly or by omission that I am
included in any purported induction of “Guns N’ Roses”.

This decision is personal. This letter is to help clarify things from my
and my camp’s perspective. Neither is meant to offend, attack or condemn.
Though unfortunately I’m sure there will be those who take offense (God
knows how long I’ll have to contend with the fallout), I certainly don’t
intend to disappoint anyone, especially the fans, with this decision.
Since the announcement of the nomination we’ve actively sought out a
solution to what, with all things considered, appears to be a no win, at
least for me, “damned if I do, damned if I don’t” scenario all the way
around.In regard to a reunion of any kind of either the Appetite or
Illusion lineups, I’ve publicly made myself more than clear. Nothing’s
changed.

The only reason, at this point, under the circumstances, in my
opinion whether under the guise of "for the fans" or whatever
justification of the moment, for anyone to continue to ask, suggest or
demand a reunion are misguided attempts to distract from our efforts with
our current lineup of myself, Dizzy Reed, Tommy Stinson, Frank Ferrer,
Richard Fortus, Chris Pitman, Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal and DJ Ashba.Izzy came
out with us a few times back in '06 and I invited him to join us at our LA
Forum show last year. Steven was at our show at the Hard Rock, later in
'06 in Las Vegas, where I invited him to our after-party and was rewarded
with his subsequent interviews filled with reunion lies. Lesson learned.
Duff joined us in 2010 and again in '11 along with his band, Loaded,
opening in Seattle and Vancouver. For me, with the exception of Izzy or
Duff joining us on stage if they were so inclined somewhere in the future
for a song or two, that's enough.

There's a seemingly endless amount of revisionism and fantasies out there
for the sake of self-promotion and business opportunities masking the
actual realities. Until every single one of those generating from or
originating with the earlier lineups has been brought out in the light,
there isn't room to consider a conversation let alone a reunion.

Maybe if it were you it'd be different. Maybe you'd do it for this reason
or that. Peace, whatever. I love our band now. We're there for each other
when the going get's rough. We love our fans and work to give them every
ounce of energy and heart we can.

So let sleeping dogs lie or lying dogs sleep or whatever. Time to move
on. People get divorced. Life doesn't owe you your own personal happy
ending especially at another's, or in this case several others',
expense.But hey if ya gotta then maybe we can get the "no show,
grandstanding, publicity stunt, disrespectful, he doesn't care about the
fans" crap out of the way as quickly as we can and let's move on. No one's
taking the ball and going home. Don't get it twisted. For more than a
decade and a half we've endured the double standards, the greed of this
industry and the ever present seemingly limitless supply of wannabes and
unscrupulous, irresponsible media types. Not to imply anything in this
particular circumstance, but from my perspective in regard to both the
Hall and a reunion, the ball's never been in our court.

In closing, regardless of this decision and as hard to believe or as
ironic as it may seem, I'd like to sincerely thank the board for their
nomination and their votes for Guns' induction. More importantly I'd like
to thank the fans for being there over the years, making any success we've
had possible and for enjoying and supporting Guns N' Roses music.I wish
the Hall a great show, congratulations to all the other artists being
inducted and to our fans we look forward to seeing you on tour!!

Sincerely,Axl Rose
P.S. RIP Armand, Long Live ABC III

The Lords of Salem

Oh, Rob Zombie. Only you would be inspired by Solomon Kane stories to create a video in which the Kane stand-in is the villain, but still manages to win.


You've got such a bleak outlook on life, Mr. Zombie. Perhaps you need a trip to Disney World, the happiest place on earth. It will turn your frown upside down!

The Tain, as retold by The Decemberists

This is the Tain, or Tain Bo Cuilgne, or the "Cattle Raid of Cooley" as retold in verse by the Decemberists.
What's going on? Well, the King and Queen of Connaught get into an argument about who has more wealth. It turns out the King is very slightly ahead by owning a prize bull. So the Queen calls out the army to invade Ulster and steal the Brown Bull of Cooley. The army is repelled by the hero CuChulainn, who is the only warrior of Ulster available to fight due to a curse.
CuChulainn is nigh invincible when he is in his battle rage, which transforms him into a monster. He lays waste to the Connaught army. But eventually the Queen sends the warrior Ferdiad, a boyhood friend of CuChulainn, to face the hero.
CuChulainn survives, and chases the Queen and the army out of Ulster, but they take the Bull of Cooley with them. The two prize bulls meet in a pasture and fight. The Bull of Cooley impales the other bull, then breaks through the fence and runs home to Cooley, where its heart explodes.
Yes, like so many wars, this one was a waste of time and life. And this story dates from the pre-Christian era of Ireland; some truths are eternal. If the outline of the story doesn't seem like much, pay close attention to the video, which relates the story with more poetry -- and shadow puppets!

It's A Long Way to the Top If You Want to Rock and Roll

AC/DC, with original vocalist Bon Scott, plays the greatest rock song ever that features bagpipes.
Yes, BAGPIPES!