CAPTAIN BEEFHEART & THE MAGIC BAND.

It's been a long, slow, grueling week - always is right before Xmess, ain't it - and after a long Friday at work getting drunk on the clock and then coming home for an hour or two, then going back out for a nice dinner & cocktails at three different bars, I return to find out one of my musical mentors has passed on from from this mortal coil - this after spending the evening drinking w/ a friend whose brother died recently & I hadn't seen since that happened - R.I.P. WISP.

There will be a million posts on "The Good Captain" on many a blog worth its weight, and you either loved him or "just didn't get it", but for me as a young impressionable open-minded teen, his bag of tricks always mesmerized the fuck out of me - not an easy listen by any means - but to me he was sort of the "White James Brown" in many ways.

When I think of Death Valley I will always think him. Never mind - if you don't know by now, here's a shot at (your) redemption...

Rest In Peace, Don Van Vliet - and thank you for helping me along on my way to wherever the fuck it is that I'm headed - For reals.



Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band - Doc at the Radar Station

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DEATH.

One of my all-time favorite technical metal albums, Human is a landmark in the genre.

Chuck Schuldiner was an entity unto himself. Completely unique in style and tone, he always had great lineups for whatever flavor he was gonna throw at you next, and on top of it all, he was a normal fuckin' dude. One that had no heirs about him, no macho bullshit steez - just sick fuckin' licks that most folks still can't fathom...

Let your mind soak up this groundbreaking piece of work.



Death - Human

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(Sorry for the lack of updates recently.
It's been a rough one for me, the past two weeks.
I lost a good friend - a brother, basically - who succumbed to a brain tumor.
He battled & beat two bouts w/ brain cancer already in the last 10 years, but the third one took him out - 2 days before he would have been 34 years old).

THERE IS NO GOD.

Gladly, Black Sabbath has helped me keep my sanity, as well as cold beers w/ good friends, late nights of personal writing & reflection, a good woman, a loving son, & a loyal dog by my side. This record has been critical in my personal struggle for finding some closure on this fucked-up situation).

FUCK YOU, CANCER.

This post is dedicated to my tight homie, WISP. Godspeed to you, my brother. Thanks for the good times. R.I.P.

CORONER.

The Swiss thrash technicians known collectively as Coroner have always held a special place in my dented tin-can-of-a-heart w/ their take on the thrash/death realms - I can honestly say I enjoy each and every album they have ever made.
Maybe not every song, but as their sound changed over the years, I still enjoyed their noise immensely. Voivod falls into this category for me as well - not as consistently in the latter years, but both bands conjure the same feeling to me when I listen to them - you may get different results, of course.

R.I.P. is solid, "classic" mid-paced thrash. Not lots of tricks or over-the-top "evilness", just real meat-and-potatoes heaviness. Nice tones, great guitar playing, and some tasty interludes. Take a bite...



Coroner - R.I.P.

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HEY!

This is my first post trying out a newer file-hosting service called ADrive. Let me know what you all think, okay?
I'm growing tired of the Rapidshare changes, but I do tend to D/L a lot myself, so it is worth it to pay for their service each month, but ADrive seems like they could take on the big boys real quick-like.

I'm interested in hearing about your D/L experience - both good and bad - thanks.

JOE STRUMMER 1952 - 2002.

Thanks for a lifetime of inspiration, sir.

DR. HUNTER S. THOMPSON.

An excellent quality - and highly entertaining - live recording from back in the day from a man who will never be equaled in terms of writing and such.
The man left us with a wealth of peculiar, eceentric, and right-fucking-on insights on life, the status quo, counter-culture, politcs, America, drugs, war, the law, rock 'n roll, and literally left this weathered pebble of ours with a bang.

I doubt I have to explain any of this to you...

Not the typical L-R V post, but The Good Doctor was on to something far more real and over-the-top than most of what gets posted here, so he does in fact deserve high honors, per se' so let's welcome him into the fold, shall we?



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Dr. Hunter S. Thompson - University of Colorado Auditorium, Boulder, CO 11.01.1977 Pt. I



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Dr. Hunter S. Thompson - University of Colorado Auditorium, Boulder, CO 11.01.1977 Pt. II(Link will open in new window)



THIS POST IS DEDICATED TO MY BEST FRIEND, RANDY HELLA WHO PASSED LAST NIGHT AFTER 15 KICK-ASS HUMAN YEARS AT MY SIDE.

DUDE WAS WITH ME WHEN NO ONE ELSE WAS.
DUDE WAS WITH ME WHEN I WASN'T WITH MYSELF.
DUDE WAS MY SON'S BEST FRIEND.
DUDE I MISS YOU ALREADY.

FUCKIN' A.

Entombed - Boats.