I've had a bad week of drama (not here, another forum) and was unsure I would even feel like writing the update this week. In the end I got it done but there's no room for a snazzy intro, so let's just get to the meat of the matter.
Our walking rock encycopaedia, Unknown Soldier, has told
The Batlord apparently that he should branch out, so he's surprising us all this week and in
http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...lks-about.htmlhe's giving Heavy Metal a go! Okay, eighties compilation metal albums “Metal Massacre”, a period he says he knows little about. But still. Branching out? More like staying at home in the tree! Hey he's The Batlord: metal is in his blood! What do you expect? Check out his reviews of the three compilation albums and see what he has to say about the (ahem) golden age of Heavy Metal.
Hey! What is this? Rip Trollheart off month? Oh yeah, it is. Well according to Powerstars anyway, of whom more later. But now the Poseur is getting in on the act! Yes,
Briks is heading down to
http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...seur-cave.html to rip off me and blame him. Or something. Anyway, he has a list of (ahem) classic albums he's never heard, so he'll be shooting the first one our way soon. Ah, genius has many fathers but originality is an orphan. Um. Yeah.
Butthead is back! Back from Banland, and hopefully he'll behave himself this time (cough) fat chance! (cough) and stay with us. Over at
http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...therapy-s.html he's enthusing over his Journey Awards (well deserved), promising to behave and be “the face of MB rehabiltiation” (no, I didn't cough. Must be you) and talking about why Sunny Day Real Estate are not so great. Oh, he also advises The World Is A Beautiful Place And I Am No Longer Afraid To Die to shorten their name. I concur. Also, if you suddenly found the world was a beautiful place wouldn't you want to continue living in it? Ah, what do I know? All I can say is, it's good to have the frenetic avatar back again! Let's hope he stays.
http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ening-log.html is always going to be an interesting place, and this week he's listening to, among others, Caravan Palace, Bruno Mars and Alpine, the latter of which I need to move up in my queue. To about ninety, but closer to the top. Yeah, even I, with my boring mainstream taste, am being affected by the Goofle phenomenon.
Back hard at it for 2014 is
Ki, who this week has more Christian Progressive Rock with Audiovisions, is talking about Opeth live, looking over his Christmas presents, listing reasons why 2013 was a good year for music and then reasons why it wasn't. He's also reviewing Myrath's “Desert call”, which he loves but which I was not blown away by. Already working on nominations for the 2014 award for hardest worker, our Ki!
His lady, then, is listening to The Sweet, ABBA and Sparks (who knew?) while cueing up an apparently “epic list” soon in her
http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ic-memory.html
The latest to take the step of running two journals,
Neapolitan has a tribute to the late Phil Everly in
http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...i-journal.html but
http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ut-albums.html has yet to get going properly. A lot of interest though. Should be good, should not be rushed.
Powerstars is deep into “Trollheart rip-off month” and in
http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...sicalness.html he's tackling his first (and probably last) Psychic Album Review. Mind you, in the end he did a whole lot better than I did on my first effort! I haven't forgotten that journal, by the way: I will be returning to it in the near future. Sorry about that.
Screen13 has some random Ghost Mall music in the shape of albums from Cat Stevens and The Nice. Check them out at
http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...all-music.html
Taxman's journal is coming along, with another dip into his favourite albums of the nineties in
http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...iet-grave.html; this time he's looking at Blur's “Parklife”.
Bringing us to me, who has been less than his usual prolific self. And that's an understatement! Currently still writing material for
http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...-emporium.html, so for the moment all I have there is the second episode of “Mayday”, while all I can offer you in
http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...d-journal.html is a review of Marillion's darkest album, “Brave”. Take heart though: I'll be getting back to normal soon, I hope.
1980 was a great year for metal with the rise of the NWOBHM, and
Unknown Soldier is diving headfirst into this frenetic time of change and rebirth, with albums by Van Halen, White Spirit, Witchfynde and Samson, all in the usual place at
http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...y-history.html . Ooh! Maiden gotta be coming up real soon! Looking forward to that one!
Another thing I'm finding I'm regularly looking forward to now, like most of Music Banter I guess, is
http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...who-thing.html where his particular brand of humour really sells these episodes --- as terrible. He has another Peter Davidson one up this week. Go look at it. Now!
And so we're at the end of another update. I was going to do Post of the Week but considering we've just about exited 2013 and can still feel the breeze coming in the door as it closes, I thought this might be a decent time to try picking a Post of the Year. And although there were good and great ones, I really had no hesitation in picking this. It's short, it's to the point, it's poignant, it's brilliantly and cleverly written, and it doesn't even have a whiff of self-congratulation about it. Though it probably should. Ladies and Gentlebeings, I give you...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Junkyard Donner
The Feeling Seller ... As Brought To You By Bell Orchestre
So I've been trying to get myself to do more creative writing. It's a hobby I had and employed at a much greater frequency in my teenage years, and something I've really been missing and needing to do again. In order to surmount the incredible amount of writer's block I experience, I've been giving myself prompts. Today I decided to revisit and album I adored a few years ago and see what feelings it brought up and whether or not they could be translated into a story of some kind. This is what I ended up with.
I do suggest playing the following song while reading, as my words are inspired by the music:
(Trollheart's note: sorry but videos aren't included in any extracts I publish. Steph's journal though is only a mouseclick away, where you can get the full experience she intended.)
The Feeling Seller[/CENTER]
The Feeling Seller stood at the intersection of Murphy and Lynch, twirling a thick cardboard sign he had designed himself that read “HAPPINESS® BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND.” In the window of his modest shop in front of which he stood rested against the fingerprint smudged glass a Help If Wanted sign. He was a successful man for a man in his trade, and the Feeling Seller’s integrity was a feature in itself that brought in loyal customers again and again. His patrons often requested Integrity® from the Feeling Seller, but were consistently sent away with a prescription of Temporary Disappointment® to be taken with a light dose of Pride® and a hot meal. In his integrity, the Feeling Seller was careful not to over-medicate: he took every case seriously and attached a great deal of import to his work.
There were people in the Feeling business of course, with less integrity than the Feeling Seller. These were people aptly referred to as Feeling Dealers. Feeling Dealers were only in it for the money, and would commonly, dangerously, prescribe their customers large doses of Positive Feelings without taking care to balance out Joy® or Contentment®, for instance, with Humility® or Melancholy®. Those customers tended to lack, on a general level, any Empathy® and would more often than not end up back at the Feeling Seller’s small shop where their Feelings, if repairable, would be returned to their respective default settings after being given careful amounts of Introspection® and Optimism®. The Feeling Seller knew the harm of giving a person too much of a good thing, and subscribed to the notion that less, especially when in regard to feelings, was more. |
There's nothing more I can say. Why does this lady not write more? Why do more people not read it? Why why why?
Till next week at the same time(ish)
Toodles!