Saturday, December 31, 2011

Happy Birthday to Tim Matheson!

Just have to take a quick moment to wish a Happy Birthday to Tim Matheson, one of my favorite actors. Folks, if you haven't checked out Tim's body of work yet, do it. Here's a guy who can play the most sincere of characters, yet can be the biggest, meanest badass bad guy as well!

Tim Matheson IMDB.

More music from my MP3 player...

Figured I'd pick up where I left off and give everyone a little more of what I listen to...


Seven Mary Three:
Best known for tracks "Cumbersome" and "Waters Edge" from their first album, Seven Mary Three was once referred to as "a wannabe Pearl Jam" by a friend who also told me she was ashamed of me for buying their first album. I never really understood the Pearl Jam comparison, but American Standard was a stereotypical 90's radio rock CD by all accounts.


The above video is for "Headstrong," which is probably my favorite track from American Standard. You can find sound samples from the album here.
While American Standard is stereotypical radio rock, their following albums are the reason they have a permanent home on the MP3 player.


Their second release, Rock Crown, is an incredibly melancholy, rootsy, sonic treat. I must have found this one at the used record store at just the right time, because there's about a year of my life, where this never left my car's CD player. From opening track "Lucky" to final track, "Oven," this is a paradise for the somewhat depressed to sing along to.


The above video is "Times Like These." More sound samples can be found here.


Third album Orange Ave continues where Rock Crown left off. Orange Ave is another of my favorites, with tracks like "Each Little Mystery" and "Southwestern State" as highlights. This is another one where I know I was going through something when I picked this up at the used record store. As an aside, I miss used record stores. They are a dying breed, so if you still have one in your community, please support it!
Video is an acoustic version of "Southwestern State." You can find more sound samples here.
Soon after picking up Orange Ave at the used record store, I found The Economy of Sound on the new release rack of another small music store I used to frequent. Once again, I have to mention how important it is to spend your money at small, local music and video stores unless you want them all to go out of business! Economy is a stronger rock album than the previous two, only without that overly-polished feel of American Standard. "Faster" and "Man in Control?" are my favorite tracks on the CD. The previous three albums were with me through some sad times in my early 20's and are always going to be amongst my favorites for that reason.
"Wait" from The Economy of Sound. You can find more sound samples here.
Seven Mary Three has a couple more records out there that I don't have and an EP: Welcome Race Fans. Welcome Race Fans is a limited release and features "Without You Feels" and three other tracks. You can find Welcome Race Fans here. I fully intend to pick up the rest of Seven Mary Three's back catalog once I recover from Post-Holiday Brokeness.

Thursday, December 29, 2011

What's on my MP3 player?

I meant to do this one a while back and got off on a tangent instead. I have multiple MP3 players. most suffer a malfunction of some sort, but I'll give you a taste of the one I use the most: an RCA player that will still play while plugged into the car charger, which is a big deal for me, because most of the ones I have won't charge and play at the same time.


The Tea Party:
A band I love from my teen years, I once was lucky enough to see The Tea Party perform with Second Coming as the opener at the Moore Theater in Seattle. I think it was in 1995. What an amazing show!


I had to recently re-discover this group and it took a bit of cash, but I picked up their entire back catalog and loaded it straight onto the MP3 player.
This is my latest favorite song, "Oceans."
You can hear some sound samples here.

I would recommend getting Tangents: The Tea Party Collection if you are interested in hearing more of them. It's a great representation of their diverse sound!


Second Coming:
If you know me, you already know I've loved Second Coming since I was a teenager. If you know me, you've probably been forced to listen to Second Coming. They are probably my favorite band from about 1994-2000-ish. There are actually three incarnations of Second Coming: the original group which had Maxi on lead vocals, Mark Davis on guitar, Yanni Bacolas on bass and James Bergstrom on drums; The second version featured Travis Bracht on vocals and Dudley Taft on guitar, which resulted in a huge change to their sound, but was still awesome; The final version featured Eric Snyder replacing Dudley Taft on guitar.

I actually have no specific preference for one version of Second Coming over another. The original group really caught my ear because they were different. The following versions seemed a little more industry friendly, though they always had a bit of a different edge.

I was just about to write how rare L.O.V. Evil is, but apparently you can download it from amazon here. Back before legal pay downloads, you would find this CD for sale on eBay for ridiculous prices. I know, I sold a few extra copies when I was broke. Give the sound samples a listen. It's different. Oh, and Layne Staley guests on the last track. It's worth it, trust me.

I would also recommend this compilation, which features Second Coming, Diamond Star Halo and a lot of other obscure Seattle bands whom I love.
You can buy this one here.
The second Second Coming album has two versions. The Timestyle Music Records version is rarer and worth picking up if you can find it, but the Capitol Records version has extra tracks, including "Unknown Rider" which is featured on The Sixth Sense soundtrack. I got lucky enough to hear demos of this album way back in the day and wish those were available somewhere as well. The version of "Vintage Eyes" was slightly different and I prefer it slightly over the CD version.

Above is my favorite song from the album. This song was written about vocalist Travis Bracht's teen years in foster care. It still brings tears to my eyes from time to time. This entire album is worth a listen and you can catch sound samples here.


The third Second Coming album has an even heavier edge. There are two versions of 13 as well, I'm not certain what the difference is, but I think one of the tracks is slightly different on the newer version. "Drop Dead Fred" is a testosterone-laced ode to kicking Fred Durst's ass. "Faces of Me" and "The Evil in Man" are probably my favorite tracks. Sound samples can be found here.

There was also an acoustic EP released on the coattails of 13. Sound samples can be found here.


There is another Second Coming album which was available for free download for a short time, but after searching for over an hour, I found that it's no longer in cyberworld. Bummer. I'm glad I found it when I did.

Some awesome Second Coming photos:

Other bands on my MP3 player:
Anthrax, Antigone Rising, Best Kissers in the World, Black Flag, Black Happy, Blue Spark, Bruce Dickinson, Carmine, Carrie Akre, Diamond Fist Werny, Dokken, Dream Theater, Duran Duran, Everclear, Fates Warning, Galactic Cowboys, Gary Numan, Genesis, Geoff Tate, God Lives Underwater, Goo Goo Dolls, Goodness, Goody Blick and the Country Kind, Green Apple Quick Step, Heart, Inflatable Soule, Jodie Watts, John Butler Trio, Josh White, Katies Dimples, Killing Joke, Kim Virant, Kings X, Lazy Susan, Luscious Jackson, Lush, Mad Season, Man Ray, Marble, Marilyn Manson, Maxi, Michael Penn, My Sister's Machine, Nine Inch Nails, Nirvana, Novatone, Old Lady Litterbug, Pantera, Peace and Silence, Pearl Jam, Pete Yorn, Pigeonhed, Primus, Queensryche, Sage, Savatage, Sebadoh, Seven Mary Three, Shudder to Think, Sir Mix-a-lot, Sister Psychic, Sky Cries Mary, Stone Temple Pilots, Sunny Day Real Estate, Super Deluxe, Sweet Water, The PARC Boys, The Rockfords, Tommy Henriksen, Toto, Underground Moon, ZuZu Ltd.

I'll probably explore some of those bands in future posts, but this one's getting long, so I shall set you, my readers, free for the night!

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Holiday Music...

My taste in holiday music is just as eccentric as my taste in everything else. So I'm going to share some holiday music you may have never heard of!

First, let's revisit Bob Rivers. Bob Rivers and his friends have put out tons of awesome holiday parody music for your enjoyment. I personally cannot resist "Wreck the Malls" ("tamper with their Muzak system; switch something for Twisted Sister") and "Grahbe Yahbalz" ("Grahbe Yahbalz like Michael Jackson...").
I Am Santa Claus video here.
There's no sound samples, but here are the amazon.com listings for:
Twisted Christmas
I Am Santa Claus


Electric Holiday:
This one was given to me as a holiday gift by my high school friend, MI. I had already made it through the gag gifts, as we were sitting in the parking lot of a used record store. MI handed this wrapped gift, obviously a CD, with a look on her face. And I knew exactly what it was, especially when she said that she had bought it for me, but she really didn't want to give it to me. I actually looked for a long time to find another one to give to her (before the days of home CD burning), but never succeeded.
I still have this and was listening to it in my car while running a couple last-minute errands today. Fun little poppy EP with a ridiculously adorable cover!
Electric Holiday on amazon.


Trim the Tree:
I bought this last one myself while trying to find another copy of the above CD for my friend. This one's a prize winner in many ways. Lyrics like: "Well it's Christmas Eve, everybody knows that it's time to leave, crust of plastic snow stapled to the eaves, Order up another shot for me..." are so appropriate for the holiday experience of any grown person. The song, "(LGH) For Christmas," is ridiculously fun... if you have a sense of humor. It's the ultimate holiday stoner song: "...then we'll drop some Frosty Windowpane and dream of Screaming Candycanes..." My ex-hippie mom loved this thing to death, though I had to agree to not play it around the grandparents, for obvious reasons.

This wins the gift-wrapping accompaniment award for me this year, even though track four, ("Yule Log") is actually the sound of a log crackling on the fireplace.

Trim the Tree on amazon.

Wishing you many musical adventures in the New Year!

The Final Day of Bruce-Mas!

Hey all! This means we've made it to Christmas Eve with all our limbs intact... well... except for Ash, that is! I want to wish everyone reading a Happy Holiday and thank you for putting up with my bizarre musings!

I've got lots of fun posts on the agenda for once the holidays are over. Thinking about musing over movie kisses and movie sex, as well as review the awesome movie I watched last night, along with several others. And I'm considering re-enacting Burn Notice with ducks!

And thanks to Bruce Campbell for not sending an assasin after me. Here's a Burn Notice holiday card for all my good friends out there in cyberland!

Friday, December 23, 2011

Stocking Stuffers?

I've been accused of not giving Autolycus enough love this holiday season.  My bad, just never had time to 'shop something up for the 12 Days of Bruce-mas. But I figured I'd better make it up to the Hercules and Brisco fans out there by posting these lovelies...
A little Brisco, anyone?
And can't forget Jack!
Hope these warm your heart this holiday season!

On the Eleventh Day of Bruce-Mas...

Here's some screenshots from the Burn Notice Christmas special...

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Friday, December 16, 2011

On the Fourth Day of Bruce-Mas, I give to you...

More promotional photos from Evil Dead 4: An Evil Dead Christmas. Okay, just one more. I have to spread out the Brucey Goodness for several more days!


Thursday, December 15, 2011

On the Third Day of Bruce-Mas...

... I give to you...

Another promotional photo for Evil Dead 4: An Evil Dead Christmas!

Geek Confessional...

Okay, I need to admit to something that few, if any, of you will understand.


 I play Fantasy Football and Fantasy Baseball and LIKE it!


That's right. This geek isn't spending the weekend playing D&D. No, I'm watching huge men batter each other in the pursuit of an odd-shaped ball.


I've got two of four teams going to playoffs this year. Pretty good for third year at it. I like strategy games. This fits the bill.


So in case you're one of the few readers who also plays, I give you....


Fantasy Football Humor!

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

On the Second Day of Bruce-mas...

Here's a promotional photo for Evil Dead 4: An Evil Dead Christmas...

Why I'm a Farmhand and not a Filmmaker...

My fellow farmhand MGX and I had a lively text conversation this afternoon, which degenerated into a brainstorm on farm-related book and movie titles... mostly horror. You may have to be a farmhand to get the true horror of these, but then again, you might not.


Farm horror stories:
The Garden of Shame (ok, this is an actual location on the farm, though it's no longer shameful)
The Land of the Foresaken Brassicas (MGX)
I Can't Get Up After Kneeling On The Cold Ground So Long (a drama)
Corpse of a Thousand Cabbages (MGX)
Revenge of the Runty Potatoes (MGX... might be a comedy)
The Fields Have Eyes! (MGX... recommends Rob Zombie for director)
The Clutching Fingers of Angry Zombie Housewives (MGX... Vincent Price as lead... nobody will get the Angry Housewife reference)
Compost Pile of the Dead
I Think the Ducks Are Stealing My Sanity...
Man With The Screaming Sorrel (this has to have Bruce Campbell in it!)
I Know You Dusted the Beets Last Summer
Cock (Rooster) of the Damned
Satan's Chicken Flock
The Birds (MGX... remake of the Hitchcock film with the Muppet chickens)
He Who Picks the Beans (MGX... based on a Stephen King novel)
The Chickweed Has Eyes (must have tentacles per MGX)
Can't Sleep, The Cows Will Eat Me

New additions (thanks MGX!):
The Turnips That Time Forgot
The Root Maggot That Ate New York


I hope these made you laugh. They made my day totally awesome!


I leave you with the Homicidal Squash, farm mascot and friend to all...


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