2008, where's the beef?

Most music I've gotten into this year was made by groups that no longer exist. I got into Pentagram as well as a group called Flower Travellin' Band. It's very hard for me to find new current bands that I actually enjoy. Here is one that blew me away just recently. The Sword. They are total Conan/sword and sorcery metal in the best way. Just dig on this video.

Even if you don't enjoy metal music you can't deny the video is awesome.

Another current band that finally grabbed my attention is the Eagles of Death Metal. Their album "Death By Sexy" is pretty damn good. Their new one "Heart On" isn't as good, but maybe it needs to grow on me a little more. There just aren't any songs on it that smoke like "Cherry Cola" from Death by Sexy.


So there. Two current bands that I could actually go see play somewhere, if I had money to spend on shit like that.

As for local groups, I would go see the Muggs any day of the week. Universal Temple of Divine Power is awesome.

Oh Shit! New BSG webisode!

New BSG Webisode!

Can't wait for more!

J'dub gets a write up + GI JOE movie news.

You should check out this interview with Jeremy Wheeler, mastermind behind the Bang mix tape dance party among many other things. I've been a part of Team Bang since 2003. It's a great thing. If you haven't been to the Bang, then you need to go. The Bling Bang New Years Eve Party will blow your funky mind. We've got the Friendly Foes and Kiddo closing out 2008, with the insane dance party madness taking over after midnight for 2009. Get there early as I'm sure it'll be sold out by 10:30.

In other news, I read some details this morning regarding a test screening of the new GI-JOE trailer. The reviewer hated it. To bad really. I'm hoping that the movie will be good. Sounds like we'll all get to see it during the Stuperbowl. I might actually have to watch it this year.

School daze...

I've been going to school the last year or so at WCC learning the mystical arts of HVAC. It's hard. Really hard, especially for someone who would rather go home and play his guitar. Unfortunately our society places little monetary value on 99.9% of musician class. People like me are forced into careers doing things that don't really interest them, yet earn a respectable paycheck. Bummer. Slavery sucks.

I have a crazy ass 40 question essay exam in about an hour and 1/2 from now that cover 5 chapters on hydronic boilers, radiant panels, radiant baseboard heat, fan coils and different piping systems. How the hell is someone supposed to memorize 5 chapters worth of hydronic bullshit? Maybe if I was unemployed and let the government pay for all my shit, like most of the people in my classes, I would then have tons of time to study all that boring crap. After that class I have to turn in Lab 3 for my energy audit class. I'll be lucky to make it home by 10pm. Ah, such is life.
UPDATE: I don't think I failed the exam, but it was super hard.

Tiki Art Show Holiday Party 2008

Big thanks to the MCB for informing me about this! I'm going to try like hell to make it out.

It's time for the annual Chin Tiki Art Show and Holiday Party at Chin's Of Livonia.
Saturday, December 13th 2008
1pm - 2pm
Chin's28208 Plymouth RdLivonia, MI 48150
This year is our best ever with over 15 vendors!!
** Speedcult
** No Fun Records
** Tiki Carver
** Pinstripe Art
** Black Velvet Paintings
** Dave Burke
** Joe Z.
** Slaw
** Heather Watts
** Cat's Meow and many, many more vendors and artists!
+ Tiki Raffle with tons of prizes!+ tropical drinks, food available, exotic and wild music!And it's FREE to attend!But plan on buying lots of Christmas gifts, having a tiki cocktail and visiting with friends!
http://www.%20speedcult.%20com/
http://www.%20myspace.%20com/speedcult
http://www.%20myspace.%20com/cats_meow_detroit
http://www.%20myspace.%20com/delvillarreal

Weekend recap

Damn, it's only Tuesday? I guess I'm still in sleep-in Sunday mode.
T and I, along with C&C went and saw Gorevette last Friday and they were great, good time Rock 'N' Roll music. They did some covers like "Neat, Neat, Neat" from the Damned, "What do I Get?" from the Buzzcocks, as well as the Nikki Corvette song "Girls like Me". They did originals too. The song "Lustfully Yours" is a jam. You can check it out on the bands myspace page. I know that Gorevette recently recorded a bunch of songs with Jim Diamond so I expect something should be coming out early 2009. They're playing again soon at Small's for the Back In Spades Reunion show on Dec 20th. That show should rule. Back In Spades should pack em' in and justifiably so. They were/are a great Detroit Rock group with two of the best local guitar players in their ranks. They broke up way to early so it's nice to see them do a show. Hopefully it'll lead to more.
Also at last Friday's show, we caught the last half of Silverghost's set. I enjoyed what I heard. I normally don't dig on synthesizer-indie pop kind of stuff, but they do it really well. At one point I thought it would be cool if they had a drummer, but I guess that might take away from their electro sound. Silverghost lands in A2 on Friday at the Halfass with Charlie Slick and Tyvke. After Gorevette threw down, The Grande Nationals came out with a full Marshall stack bombardment and laid waste to the Magic Bag with their rock n roll barrage. Good times. The drive back to A2 was fine, but when we dropped of C&C, we somehow ended up inside their place where several rounds of a strange European liquor were consumed. Not by me of course, but needless to say some folks woke up Saturday not feeling so well. No pain, no gain right? At least you had fun right?
The rest of my weekend was pretty chilled out. Lots of house cleaning, stoner jamming, homework, and relaxing. Oh yeah, I did make the mistake of going grocery shopping on Sunday afternoon.
People suck.

Please take a second and go Vote for Mazinga!

Hey loyal readers,
Please take a moment out of your day and go vote for my band Mazinga over on the Motorcityrocks.com web site. They were gracious enough to include Mazinga in their best of 2008 poll for best punk group. If I can get all of you who read this to go and vote for Mazinga I think we could take it.
Here is your link.
http://www.motorcityrocks.com/2008/12/vote-for-2008s-best.htm

It only takes a minute, plus you can vote for tons of other cool local groups like the Muggs and Hard Lessons.
THANKS!

And if you have time, go check this out. Big Tony update! He's been recovering well from his recent health problems. He's been at home resting and he quit smoking! During his down time he's been working on this awesome Mazinga discography. Enjoy.

2+2 is on my mind

Hey blog reading folks,
Check out the brand new recording of the Bob Seger System's classic 2 + 2 = ? over on the Powertrane myspace page. We'll soon release it on vinyl as a 7" single. Our good friend Kevin Sharp recorded it at his Metro Recording Studio for his upcoming Detroit rock documentary and accompanying music compilation. While we're waiting for all that to be released, we've been sending the track around for review. Here is what our friend David Fricke at Rolling Stone Magazine had to say:

"2 + 2 = Rock!
Sung with a Michigan-rock vengeance from the point of view of a soldier up to his helmet in a firefight, the Bob Seger System's 1968 grenade "2 + 2 = ?" – basically a searing fuzztone riff and hellish-chant chorus – now sounds like great out-of-Iraq & roll. It's also way too elusive on vinyl and CD, so Scott Morgan, one of Seger's killer peers in the Sixties and Seventies, has cut the song with his band Powertrane for imminent release. While you wait to buy, play it loud at myspace.com/scottmorgandetroit"

Thanks Dave. We gave it our best shot. You can find this review in the print version of the magazine with Britney Spears on the cover.

On a side note, Powertrane / Mazinga drummer Alex King is making his debut with the brand new Detroit rock sensation Gorevette tonight at the Magic Bag in Detroit. Besides Alex, the group also features Nikki Corvette and Amy Gore from the Gore Gore Girls, hence the band name. They are performing along with Silverghost, the Dial Tones, and the Grande Nationals who are celebrating a record release. You should go check it out.
Stay tuned for more info on the upcoming Powertrane 2+2 vinyl release as well as a bunch of upcoming shows later this month.

OH SHIT! New Lost Promo!

I can't wait till next month!

This place looks scary.

My friend Jeremy said someone should make a movie here. I can't believe the place is just sitting out there though I'm sure once the photos get around the place will be picked clean. I'm listening to these dudes and these folks today. They are both pretty rockin'. I saw this the other day and it freaked me out. I'm going to see this tomorrow night. Should be fun. Tonight I'm going to do my best impression of these guys.

Tiki Tuesday.

It happened last night and boy did I blow it. I didn't flyer for it. I didn't spam the internets for it. The Tiki band fell apart. I don't own a mixer anymore so I couldn't use my turntable and instead I had to fall back on just my i-pod. Aurora didn't show up to do the belly dancing. I didn't bring the giant tiki heads. To top it all off, I didn't make any money. Regardless of all that I still managed to have a good time and a nice handful of friends showed up and we got to hang out. Plus I finally met Will the guy who books the Elbow Room and plays in all those bands everyone likes. He was really nice. My musical brother from another mother, Elliot from UTODP also came out. So did Don ,who I was actually able to convince to come jam with Elliot, Jess and I on Thursday night in the Man Cave. Full on stoner trip blues rock time. It's going to be a blast.

Just like the next Tiki Tuesday on Jan. 6th.

I'm really going to try to step it up for 2009. I need to either get the old percussion guy Brandon back or find a new master percussion dude, which isn't easy. Scarboni had some good ideas too for decorating. So did Andy. I think if I just get off my butt and promote it a little better then it'll go off just fine.

A turkey of a long weekend.

I didn't do jack shit over the long turkey weekend. Well that isn't completely true. It seemed as if it was 4:20 for four days straight. I organized and cleaned up around the house. I discovered that I have way to many awesome posters and no where to display them. I also unpacked some old toys n' things that haven't seen the light of day since we moved. I hung some more star ships from the basement rafters in the Man Cave. I played guitar for a while. I bought a cool green Boss phaser pedal and I also hooked up my old DOD Stereo Chorus, pedal. It was fun. I enjoy making tripped out noises with the guitar.
Despite what my doctor told me to do, I ate a lot of really unhealthy food like crazy insane chocolate pie, taco bell, tons of pizza, and grilled steak. I didn't eat any turkey. I didn't hang out with any of my family. Theresa and I stayed home and grilled up steaks for turkey day.

On Friday Theresa went out to see Counter Cosby play at the Screamin' Eagle club. I stayed home and watched some Macross Robotech and Samurai Jack with Jess. Saturday I was going to go downtown and try to sell Mazinga CDs to the local retailers, but I was having way to much fun pretending to be a shut in and decided to say fuck it.

We watched the film "Wanted" last night and boy did it suck. Speaking of watching movies, Scott Morgan has never seen any of the Star Wars films. He was over on Saturday night while New Hope was playing in the back ground on Spike TV, and he took notice of the Death Star trench run scene. Afterward I was finally able to convince him to borrow my old special edition videos. He does have a DVD player but has never bothered to hook it up. Wish I could say it was because he was to busy writing new songs, but that just isn't the case. I hope he enjoys the movies.

Team Bang got together on early Friday night to discuss the plan for the New Years Bling Bang. The Friendly Foes and Kiddo will be the musical guests that will kick off the evening and kick out 2008. Should be a rocking good time. I'm glad we aren't building any crazy set pieces this time. We've actually run out of room in our current 10x10 storage space and we're looking to upgrade to 10x20. I can't believe we've built so much Bang stuff that we're running out of space.
Whoever reads this blog should go to the Bang for New Years eve. You won't find a better party anywhere in Michigan.

Howdy folks,

Looks like there's a new sheriff in town. My good friend Jef started up a record label called Arbco Records. It's pretty cool. So far he's released the FAS/Monsters or Mayhem split 7 inch and Counter Cosby/Texas Prison Rodeo split. The plan is to have Arbco release the next Mazinga full length on sweet 12" vinyl next spring 09. We kind of need to write and reocord it first, but we're working on it. Jef is also silk screening up a storm. He's been cranking out record covers, awesome posters, and he even did Mazinga shirts for us. Jeremy helped out by letting us borrow his flash dryer. Big thanks to Jef for doing cool stuff instead of bitching about how nothing cool is going on in Ann Arbor.

Pray for Big Tony.

Regardless of what religion you subscribe to, we all need to send out positive energy for Big Tony, graphic artist, Mazinga bass player and good friend of mine. He was diagnosed with Emphysema yesterday. Tony has always been a heavy cigarette smoker. It's finally caught up with him. He needs to quit smoking now or he's going to die. For real. I'm going to visit him tomorrow at the hospital.

Big three killed my baby.

There is this crazy scary story today on the yahoo intertubes. I sort of wish now that Theresa and I hadn't bought a house. We couldn't move if we wanted to. If the Big Three totally crash then it'll look like the apocalypse around here. I'm scared. For real. No joking. Here is a preview of what you can expect on Michigan roads soon.


On a brighter note...
Some sort of comment high jinks went down over at the ETC blog over the Metro Times 50 coolest music people in town list. No, I had nothing to do with it. I don't even know a 1/4 of the folks on that list but I wish I did so I could get some hook ups for my bands. The people I do know from that list have always been cool towards me.
Happy Thursday.

Save your fork, there's Pie!

Howdy folks,
The Mazinga cd release show was fun. It was packed. People got crazy. We sold cds and it was good. I missed the after party cause I was tired, but I heard it was rocking' till about 4-5am. The opening groups Invader and JWPP were both high energy rock groups and they were really good. Nice to see actual rocking bands in an area so over run by the Bitchfork generation. Really though, nothing against indie-rock bands, I never liked most indie-rock/college rock music going all the way back to the 80's. It's just not my thing. I enjoy loud fast guitars and bands that go out and explode on stage. I always try to give new music a chance. I work for AMG so I hear tons of new music on a daily basis. I can't stand 95% of modern indie-rock or most of what is covered by spin or pitchfork or the blogs. If you think that makes me uncultured or close minded then so be it.

"Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing." R.E.H.

I love it when the current music scene rips on the old music scene about being an exclusive insiders club, when actually the current scene is just as exclusive, if not more then the last one and the next one will be as well. It is what it is.
Mazinga has always been on the outside looking in, when we've bothered to look at all. We've never been excepted by any scene to our knowledge and I think that may be a good thing. We were never retro enough for the garage rockers. We aren't punk enough for the punkers, and we're to rock n roll for the hipster indie set. All of us (except the drummer) are over weight. None of us are very fashionable at all. We're all over 30. We don't have beards. Guess we're fucked.
Oh well, move along...move along...

Mazinga is playing at the RAW house this Friday night. It's an ALL AGES DIY show space/house in Ann Arbor, MI. We're playing with FAS, Dead Ringers, and Serpent Men; doors @ 6pm; $3. See you there.

PEOPLE OF THE INTERNETS!

Your lives are boring and lame. Do you find yourself going to see the same handful of bands every weekend that the blogs tell you to see, at the same venues with the same people, same drinks, same clothes, same conversations, SAME EVERYTHING! Break the cycle of monotony. Be an individual! Take a chance and do something different for a change.

GO TO THE MAZINGA CD RELEASE PARTY THIS FRIDAY NIGHT!

Your attendance at the MAZINGA CD release party this Friday night will prove without a doubt that you are a true trend setter. Your decision to attended the celebration will show others that you are someone who is willing to risk the scorn of your fellow hipsters in order to discover new musical sensations and new groups of friendly, inspiring, interesting people. This amazing once in a lifetime event takes place in fabulous downtown Ypsilanti, at the world renown Elbow Room on Friday Nov. 14th. Should you chose to make this Rock N’ Roll extravaganza your Friday night destination, here a few things Team Mazinga can promise you. You will be entertained. You will have fun. We’ll get you wasted. Loud Guitars Rule. We will Rock you. You will also discover that there are more cool bands out there besides the ones those blogers chose tell inform about. In the end you must decide for yourself, but Chose wisely…Will you follow a pack of sycophants to whatever the new trend is or will you set out on your own path toward Rock N Roll Salvation?Only Team Mazinga can give you the true Rock N Roll satisfaction that you crave and deserve!Except no substitutes!

Michigan + life = sucks right now.

Michigan sucks these days. My wife is looking for work in a state with the highest unemployment rate in the nation. A bunch of my friends have either moved away or are talking about moving away. We can't move away because we own a home and would lose all of our money if tried to sell it. The company I work for laid off 8 people yesterday with potentially more layoffs to come down the pipe in a few months. Not much to look forward to at this point. Fall is coming. Lame-ass U of M Students are returning to A2 to make our lives hell. It's already getting colder outside. I keep looking for new and exciting things to occupy my mind but I'm having a hard time finding them. I'm getting old and fat and my hair is turning gray. Also I can't seem to stay up past 2am anymore even on the weekends. Worst part, I'm always broke. I'll try to post something positive tomorrow. There has been some cool band developments going on. But we all know that doesn't really mean jack shit in the long run. I just want to know, Where the gold at?

Motor City Comic Con

Don't miss the Motor City Comic Con this weekend! May 16-18. My plan is to interview Chirs Clarmont. If you have any questions you would like me to ask him please let me know.

Zombies

Do you enjoy Zombie stories? Ever heard of a comic book called the Walking Dead? It may be the best zombie story I've ever read, although World War Z is right up there. The current issue, number 48 messed me up pretty bad.
Anyone who digs zombies should be reading this comic.

GORGAR the Demon pinball machine!

When I was a young lad my parents used to go bowling once a week and they would bring me along. I remember not enjoying it very much until I discovered this game in the bowling alley bar. GORGAR the pinball machine. After that, it was my duty to try to defeat Gorgar and save the hot chick on the alter from his demonic possession. Now I found this game on the interweb and man do I want one! The artwork used ot haunt me but I still had to face Gorgar everytime we went to the bowling alley. Iwas totally into D&D at the time so this game was perfect for me. The worst part was that Gorgar actually spoke and taunted you into playing against him. Demon bastard.

Old School Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Figures!

I have to admit that I'm excited and looking forward to these action figures. I hope they don't cost to much. Here is a link for more pics of these guys from the UK Toy Fair thanks to the folks over at Action-Figure.com .

New Indiana Jones Pic = awesome!

GI Joe script review.

Thanks to Wheeler here is a link to a GI Joe script review. I think it sounds awesome!

GI Joe Movie News

So they are finally making a GI Joe Movie, and Larry Hamma is involved. Thank god!
Here is an interview with the GI Joe movie producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura. He keeps referencing the Transformers movie in respects to how they are approaching the GI Joe film and I don't like it. I didn't really like the Transformers movie, and I'm am worried that the Joe film will receive the same treatment. One of the things I do like is the casting of Ray Park as Snake Eyes! Now if they don't screw up his character it'll be sweet. I would love nothing more then to see the first issue of GI Joe done as a live action movie. I'm am pissed that I haven't heard them talk about the characters of Stalker, Clutch, or Rock "N Roll who were a few of the core members of the original team. Instead we have Ripcord, a later Joe from when the Joe story started to suck. AND... No Road Block. Instead another later period Joe named Heavy Duty. Lame. Today this guy was named as the actor who be playing Destro. God I hope they get this right. I guess only time will tell if this film turns out good or not. At the end of the day I have to have some faith since Hamma is on board. Please Larry, don't let the Hollywood fuckheads ass rape my childhood memories anymore.
On a more sour note, Devil's Due lost the G.I. Joe Comic Book License. I call bullshit on that. The group over at Devil Due brought GI Joe back from the dead and made it cool again. They even hired Larry Hamma to come and write from them. The hacks at Hasbro decided not to renew their contract and now it's either going to Marvel or IDW. Word over at IESB.net is that IDW will score the title since they already have the Transformers. At least IDW kept it real when they crafted their stories. I can't stand the designs of the robots in the movie.

MOTOR CITY COMIC CON! May 16th -18th!

I know it's only the end of January, but I can't wait for the MOTOR CITY COMIC CON!
http://www.motorcityconventions.com/motor_city_comic_con/index.html
It is one of the high lights of my year. I hope this year I can party like a rockstar with the geek monthly crew at the hotel. I'm excited to see Bernie Wrightson. I want to pick up a copy of Cycle Of The Werewolf for him to sign. I freakin' loved that book when I was a kid but somebody stole it from me back in the day. Plus we get the new Jones movie that same month!