Posts by BMJ:
Song of the Day: “Last Night” by Anchored
May 17th, 2012
This could be the next big thing in rock music. This band, from Texas, is Anchored. They have recently added Michael Thomas, who played guitar for Faster Pussycat and Adler’s Appetite, to the fold. They currently have the number three video on the VEVO charts entitled “Throwin’ Down”, which features Snoop Dogg as a guest rapper on the aforementioned track.
Their album, entitled “Listen To This” has really grown on me. I would describe Anchored as band that mixes Vivian Campbell-era Def Leppard meets Hinder. They have toured with the likes of Volbeat, Cold, Anew Revolution, and Adler’s Appetite. This is my personal favorite song off of “Listen To This”, entitled “Last Night”. “Last Night” reminds me of a time when that special someone comes in to the person’s life and has that memorable conversation and the person thinks about what could’ve been if they would’ve said the right thing. It’s a song that everyone can relate to. Enjoy “Last Night” by Anchored. Please pick up “Listen To This” at Cdbaby, I-Tunes, or Amazon.
Song of the Day: “Don’t Believe In Love” by John Milstead
May 13th, 2012
Out of Tupelo, Mississippi comes a singer-songwriter named John Milstead. This Sunday, May 20th, he will be sharing the stage with the likes of Maroon 5, Rehab, and Nelly at the Gulfport Music Festival in Gulfport, Mississippi. If you’re in the area, check this artist out. John taught himself the art of music. Check out his album entitled “Sides of the Soul” at Amazon, I-Tunes, or Cdbaby. Also, “like” his page on Facebook at www.facebook.com/JohnMilstead . Here is his single entitled “Don’t Believe In Love”. This is for fans of Marc Broussard and Van Morrison.
As a bonus for Song of the Day, here’s his masterful cover of “Walking in Memphis”, originally done by Marc Cohn. My readers, this is one of my all-time favorite songs.
Song of the Day: “The Edge” by Park Lane
March 19th, 2012
This past summer, me and a lady that I was dating at the time took a friend and his wife to see Fuel at The Wheelhouse in Cedar Falls, Iowa. The initial buzz amongst us was that Fuel was getting back together with a new guitarist, with Brett Scallions reunited with the band, and the original bassist from Shinedown. We went there stoked to see Fuel in such an intimate venue that doubled as a nightclub. However, we left there seeing one of the most mindblowing performances we had ever seen in our lives. The mindblowing performance wasn’t from Fuel, but from the Bay Area band known as Park Lane.
Park Lane is comprised of Carley Coma(ex-Candiria frontman) on vocals, Mike Keller on guitars, Grayson Hurd on guitars, Cameron Stucky on drums, and Clayton Wages on the bass. Their performance left the hair on the back of my neck stand and goosebumps ensued. I love the feeling of chills tingling down my spine as a song is crafted into a wonderful masterpiece to my ears. Please pick up “Letters From The Fire” on I-Tunes or wherever you can find music these days. Now, prepare to get chills up and down your spine from this song entitled “The Edge”, which is a wonderful story of someone trying to find a positive way out from the depths of personal despair.
Song of the Day: “Overture 1928″ by Dream Theater
March 6th, 2012
Why this instrumental is only 3 and a half minutes long is beyond me. In my humble opinion, that’s a sign of a wonderful instrumental or song. This is how you do a progressive-rock instrumental. This is the personification of the keyboards, bass, guitars, and drums coinciding and intermingling to create an instrumental that tells a wonderful story, lets the listener go to an even deeper realm of their imagination, to create a wonderful concoction entitled “Overture 1928″. Enjoy, and turn it up to 11!
Act of Valor Film Review
March 4th, 2012
Those that know me on a personal level know that movies aren’t really my cup of tea. I find a lot of Hollywood movies to be unoriginal with plot development and creativity in storyline development. I much prefer going to a concert, musical, or play as opposed to go to a movie. In essence, due to my short attention span, and due to myself having difficulty just sitting down and watching a movie, I have the tendency to get bored quite easily with a particular movie. This past Friday, after work, I was invited by a friend to go see “Act of Valor” which primarily consists of active Navy Seal members as the cast of this particular movie.
I was also intrigued by the various reviews I’ve read and I figured, it’s something original, therefore, I’m going to give it a shot. In essence, the plot of this movie is a group of Navy Seals attempting to stop a Jihadi-terrorism plot that occurs in the Mexicali area of Baja California and the northwest part of Mexico. This group of Navy Seals leave everything behind in an effort to prevent this catastrophic terrorist plot that would collapse the world economy and I quote “make 9/11 look like a walk in the park”.
Regular movie critics will complain about the acting in this movie. Keep in mind, my readers, these active Navy Seal members are not professional actors, they are Navy Seals. However, due to the intensity in certain scenes that had actual live-action fire rounds going off, what these brave men have probably went through brought a real sense of authenticity to the various scenes. Because of this authenticity in the imagery, it caused the average movie attendee to be on the edge of their seat and attempt to develop a sense of understanding of what the men and women in the military do everyday. There are mulitple missions and exercises in this film, and the first-person shots from behind the assault weapons are original and uncanny. The attendee will definitely appreciate the funeral scene, the reading of the quote from a pilot killed during World War II, and especially reading the quote from Shawnee Chief Tecumseh.
What these Navy Seals brought is a breath of fresh-air to the dry movie spell in Hollywood lately. The scene where the two Seals walk off after talking about their latest mission is a scene that is especially memorable. It’s that complete confidence and self-control, that swagger if you will, that they are the best in the world at what they do. It’s a feeling that they have ice water in their veins in the heat of the battle, and the attendee can sense that. This is a movie that captures the imagination of what the members of the United States military goes through on a daily basis, it’s stories of triumph, paying the ultimate sacrifice, and courage. All politics aside, definitely take a night off and go see this movie.
Dreamkiller’s New Music Video “Ragnarok”
February 29th, 2012
Greensboro, North Carolina band DREAMKILLER has just released their latest video entitled “Ragnarok”. “Ragnarok” is off of their concept album entitled “Sleepless Dreams”.
This particular track showcases DREAMKILLER at their finest. They draw in a theatrical and a rock-musical influence into their music. They keep their lyrical contenct as positive as possible for the listener, in which they sing about rising up and overcoming the obstacles of life. I see this band doing very well for themselves in the future as they have won awards and been nominated in the Carolina Music Awards and the Los Angeles Music Awards, and they can boast of an appearance on the Vans Warped Tour.
In conclusion, their musicianship is sleek and the guitars are driven by pure, raw power. Christy Johnson has a very strong voice and her voice boasts of an impressive range. Check out this mindblowing jam below. Please “like” DREAMKILLER here.
Song of the Day: “Unsung” by Helmet
February 22nd, 2012
This is one of the small-handful of songs that got me into rock and punk music. This band didn’t care about the latest trends or the status quo. They cared about their passion for making good music and their take-no-prisoners attitude when it came to their music. This is one of the most influential songs you will ever hear come out of the 1990s. The outro to this song still gives me goosebumps to this day. Here is “Unsung” by Helmet!
Whitney Houston Found Dead in Beverly Hills Hotel Room
February 11th, 2012
Tonight, CNN, Associated Press and her publicist have all confirmed that R & B sensation Whitney Houston has passed away at the age of 48 in her hotel room in Beverly Hills, California. Her boyfriend Ray J confirmed her death as well.
Whitney Houston was discovered in a church gospel choir in New Jersey at the age of 11. She comes from a musical family as her mother is Cissy Houston and her cousin is Dionne Warwick. She is the only woman in pop history to have two separate albums in consecutive years on the year-end Billboard top album pop charts. She’s also won over 400 individual awards between her music and her acting career.
She is known for having seven consecutive number one hits and the number one most selling single by a female in music history with her cover of “I Will Always Love You”, originally sung by country music legend Dolly Parton. She also has the number one most selling gospel album in gospel music history with the soundtrack to “The Preacher’s Wife” and was aptly referred to as “The Voice”. Her cause of death is yet to be determined.
Song of the Day: “Strong Enough” by Joan Red
February 11th, 2012
I will never forget the moment that I found out that Anthony Basurto, vocalist for Joan Red, passed away. This band had so much potential and I remember interviewing the bass player, Brandon Vatter, for this site, and remember hearing how genuine Anthony was. This is one beautiful song, and I am so humbled to play a small role in the industry, where I get to talk about the bands that I love and the music that I love. The Monk’s House raises a glass for Anthony and for those that were affected by his loss last year.
Song of the Day: “I’m Broke” by Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears
February 10th, 2012
There’s a side to me that loves blues, jazz, soul, and rhythm and blues. When I feel like relaxing, I enjoy turning on some old school Motown, or groups like Sly & The Family Stone, B.B. King, Jimi Hendrix when he does blues music, and other artists. Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears bring the soul and the funk back into music. They recently performed their underground hit entitled “Booty City” on the Bing Lounge, and the song of the day entitled “I’m Broke” boasts over 100,000 hits on YouTube. They properly blend in the brass section with the rhythm section like the perfect jumbalaya recipe. It’s a travesty that in today’s generation, we have to search for “good music”, whereas in previous generations, if it was good music that made you dance and sing along to it, it was easily accessible on the local radio station or at the jukebox at the local pub. Without further delay, here is “I’m Broke” by Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears.
BMJ’s Ten Grammy Picks
February 9th, 2012
The Grammy awards is upon us. It’ll be exciting to see the Foo Fighters and the Beach Boys reunite to perform on the Grammys. The Grammy awards have offered some legendary moments such as:
1. Jethro Tull beating out Metallica for “Best Metal Album”. That caused WWE wrestler Booker T to react in this fashion:
2. Elton John performing with Eminem during the Grammys, after gay rights activist groups condemned Eminem for freely using the word that rhymes with maggot.
3. Now, for my all time favorite Grammy moment. This needs no introduction.
Now, to cue Mike and Mike on ESPN, here are my ten “stone cold lead pipe locks” for the Grammys.
1. British songstress Adele is going to get the hat trick for winning the Album of the Year with her album entitled “21″, “Pop Song of the Year” with “Rolling In The Deep”, and “Record of the Year” for “Rolling In The Deep”. Here it is in case you have been living under a rock for the past year. She will also win a total of six Grammys.
2. Bon Iver will edge out Skrillex and Nicki Manaj and win “Best New Artist”.
3. Skrillex will get a Grammy for Best Dance/Electronica Album for “Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites”.
4. To keep the Grammys unpredictable, Duck Sauce will beat out Skrillex for quite possibly the most annoying song on the planet with their smash hit entitled “Barbara Streisand” for “Best Dance Recording”. Listen at your own risk. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
5. The Beach Boys will drive their “Little Deuce Coupe” with a lady named “Barbara Ann” and they will crash their “Little Deuce Coupe” and a lady named Rhonda will come to their rescue after hearing faint cries of “Help Me Rhonda” and Rhonda is a supermodel from California and they will dedicate “California Girls” to Rhonda during their performance.
6. The most non-Latin title album will win the Grammy for best Latin album, the title of the album is “Not So Commercial” by Los Amigos Invisibles, which I’m guessing means The Invisible Friends. The title of the album should be “El Not So Commercialio”.
7. Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam is going to win best folk album for “Ukulele Songs”. I wonder if Tiny Tim is a guest on his record.
8. I hope that “All About Bullies Big and Small” wins “Best Children’s Album”. The Papa Hugs Band will hug the entire audience as they accept defeat in the most humbling fashion possible and it’ll be all over The Today Show and their mindless drivel the next morning. As long as Paula Deen isn’t on there, we are good.
9. Patton Oswalt will beat out “Weird Al Yankovic” for best comedy album, simply because he’s Patton Oswalt and he can. Before he was a comedian, Patton Oswalt was the frontman of Accept. Check it out.
10. By default, the Foo Fighters will have the best performance because they are the Foo Fighters.
Hope you enjoy the Grammys on Sunday. On Monday, I will be telling America “I hate to say I told you so, but I told you so”. Thanks, I’ll be here all week, enjoy the salmon.
Song of the Day: “Between The Lines” by The Ghost Inside
February 7th, 2012
I saw The Ghost Inside open for As I Lay Dying this past December. Their performance gave me the absolute chills. They absolutely worked the crowd into a frenzy. This song is so meaningful to me. The Ghost Inside rock out hard, while keeping it positive the whole time. They write about overcoming obstacles and standing up for what you believe in. Rock out with me this morning my readers! This is for fans of hardcore music.
