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Showing posts with label Guitar Hero. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Guitar Hero. Show all posts

Monday, September 30, 2019

Maybe Next Time It Won't Be in Jefferson

Sadly, Scott Stapp played only one time in Iowa on his 2019 The Space Between the Shadows Tour and that was in July 2019 in Jefferson, IA, which is a really odd choice for playing a gig. At the time, he was coming from Arlington Heights, IL, (Chicagoland) and traveled 3/4ths across the state to get to Jefferson, IA. I have relatives that are from Jefferson, IA, and it's a very long ways away from a big city. Based upon the videos below, I would have liked to see Yiannis Papadopoulos play guitar.


Competitions Yiannis has won




Improvisations





Free improvisation with the Orchestra



Recent TV appearance at Fox and Friends



Thursday, February 7, 2019

No YM for Me in 2019

Legendary guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen is releasing a new album called Blue Lightningon March 29, 2019. He has released a video for a new tune:


While yes, he is touring starting in April 2019, I don't have the opportunity to see him in concert as none of the dates below work for me. This is where he's playing:

4/13
Dayton, OH
Oddbody’s
4/25
New Orleans, LA
House of Blues
4/26
Houston, TX
Warehouse Live
4/27
Dallas, TX
Gas Monkey Live!
4/28
San Antonio, TX
Vibes Event Center
5/01
Tempe, AZ
Marquee Theatre
5/02
Tucson, AZ
Rialto Theatre
5/03
Santa Clarita, CA
The Canyon Events Center
5/04
San Diego, CA
House of Blues
5/05
Anaheim, CA
House of Blues
5/07
Fresno, CA
The Tower Theatre
5/08
Las Vegas, NV
House of Blues Las Vegas
5/09
Montclair, CA
The Canyon Events Center
5/10
Vallejo, CA
Empress Theatre
5/11
Pasadena, CA
The Rose
5/14
Denver, CO
The Oriental Theater
5/15
Lincoln, NE
Royal Grove
5/16
St. Charles, IL
Arcada Theatre
5/17
Turtle Lake, WI
St. Croix Casino Turtle Lake
5/18
Sioux City, IA
Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Sioux City
5/22
New York, NY
PlaysStation Theater
5/23
Derry, NH
Tupelo Music Hall
5/24
Old Saybrook, CT
The Katherine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center
5/25
Ardmore, PA
The Ardmore Music Hall
5/29
Sellersville, PA
Sellersville Theater
5/30
Ridgefield, CT
Ridgefield Playhouse
5/31
Hartford, CT
Infinity Music Hall
6/01
Niagara Falls, NY
Seneca Niagara Resort & Casino
6/02
Sayreville, NJ
Starland Ballroom
6/04
Milwaukee, WI
The Pabst Theater
6/05
Lexington, KY
Manchester Music Hall
6/06
Atlanta, GA
The Masquerade
6/07
Clearwater, FL
Capitol Theatre
6/08
Orlando, FL
The Plaza Live


Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Guitar Hero Guru / MLIW / Top 200 - 175 Metal Albums

I used to be a drummer. I even wrote a poem in college called "Damned Drummer" that talked about what it was like for me to sit in a class and tap my hands while listening to a professor. I started lessons in 1980 and, I admit, I didn't practice nearly as much as I should have practiced. I didn't want to learn the rudiments and if I got through one of my exercises in my book, I was happy, even though my teacher would write "play 10 times" to encourage me to practice. Didn't work - I still neglected my practice time. This is a youtube vid of a guy who took all the practice time I neglected, changed to guitar and went to town. I am in awe.

By the way, I've tried Guitar Hero and, well, I'm sticking to drums. I don't have the patience to learn guitar. I have tried it a couple of times. I learned the beginning part of Rush's "Closer to the Heart" on a Saturday AM when the wife and kids were gone but it was a) the easy version and b) I couldn't play with any fluidity. I have since tried GH at Best Buy and it was embarrassing.

In Other News...

Modern Life is War is calling it a day after being on the road and playing together, according to their Myspace page, Apr 26 2008, @ 6:00P @ the Moose Lodge in Marshalltown, Iowa, is their last show. They are playing Iowa City on a Tuesday night - yeah, that's really practical for a working man to make - so I guess I'll never see them live. Oh well. Their music on their Myspace page is, well, average. There's a lot of aggression, which is usually pretty good. They just don't trip my trigger, though. If you are compelled to do so, you may read about them on the Lala website.

Finally...

I used to buy Hit Parader when I was younger to read all about the bands I liked. I rarely missed an issue though, over the years, I've whittled my entire collection to a single 'metal lyrics' issue with lyrics from Dokken, Whitesnake, G-n-R, Poison, and others, if that tells you anything about the era in which I grew up. Well, my friend Phil sent me a note today about Hit Parader's current issue about the "200 Metal CDs You Can't Live Without." I'm already skeptical when I see the cover because it has pictures of Slipknot, Korn, and Aerosmith - three artists I don't consider in my head to be on my list. In fact, tonight, I wrote up a list. I couldn't come up with 200 'metal' CDs. Even though it is my favorite genre, my tastes cross over into other genres. I like Billy Joel's "Glass Houses" and Spitafield's "Remember Right Now" and neither of those releases are metal. So here's my 25 favorite metal CDs. My criteria to make the list:
a) currently own it
b) currently can listen to the CD repeatedly without getting tired or bored listening to it
c) each song must be one I like in some way. This is a tricky criteria. I like, for example, Megadeth's "Cryptic Writings" but I don't like "The Disintigrators" and "She-Wolf." Never have. That excluded that release from my list. These are NOT in order.

When applicable, I've included a link to my review of the release in the pages of Dailyvault.com.
  1. Megadeth - Rust in Peace

  2. Slayer - South of Heaven

  3. Pantera - Vulgar Display of Power

  4. Metallica - And Justice for All

  5. Metallica - Master of Puppets

  6. Disarray - In the Face of the Enemy

  7. Anthrax - Among the Living

  8. Ozzy Osbourne - The Ultimate Sin

  9. Black Sabbath - Paranoid

  10. Guns-in-Roses - Appetite for Destruction

  11. Dokken - Under Lock and Key

  12. Destroyer - KISS

  13. The Privilege of Power - Riot

  14. AC/DC - Back in Black

  15. Motley Crue = Shout at the Devil

  16. Archetype - Fear Factory

  17. Sacrament - Lamb of God

  18. Love at First Sting - Scorpions

  19. Dangerous Toys (self-titled debut)

  20. Queensryche - Operation Mindcrime
  21. Ratt - Out of the Cellar
  22. Rush - Moving Pictures
  23. Sepultura - Chaos A.D.
  24. White Lion - Mane Attraction
  25. Judas Priest - Painkiller

WAIT!! What about Aerosmith? What about Korn? What about Led Zeppelin? What about Deftones or Van Halen? Finally, what about Deep Purple or Sevendust? Not me. I might appreciate their music, in the case of LZ and VH and would enjoy seeing them in concert. Die-hard fan that breathes and lives for their music like a lunatic? Nah, that's not me.

This just in from Hit Parader re: the next Metallica release:
"As word about more and more songs begins to “leak” out from Metallica’s latest recording sessions, one fact has become abundantly clear; despite their stated desire to “experiment” with their current batch of tunes, for the most part the material has “Classic Metallica” stamped all over it. While some long-time fans may want to draw instant comparisons to past band magnum opuses such as ...And Justice for All and the legendary “black” album, the group members themselves aren’t so sure. “These songs have a quality all their own,” said guitarist Kirk Hammett. “There are definitely elements that people will relate to as being Metallica, but there is definitely something different going on here.”