Steven Tyler Living A Little Too Close To The Edge?

This is NOT a funny story by a long shot, I don't want to make it sound that way by the punny title. (For you Aerosmith fans out there, I think you see what I'm getting at. Living On The Edge, anyone?)

On August 5th, Steven Tyler fell off the stage while performing on Sturgis, South Dakota and according to the NY Times article posted at the bottom,"sustained a broken shoulder and received stitches to the head," forcing them to cancel the rest of their summer tour. It makes you wonder what Tyler did to anger the rock gods or whether it's something that's just bound to happen when you've been rocking shows for almost 40 years. (I'm leaning toward the latter.)

Watching the video below makes me cringe a little, not only from the fall itself, but the reaction of the crowd, who you can tell knows something is up. (You can hear an obvious, "Hell no!" near the end.)

That's the scary thing about show biz, not only does stuff like this happen every once and a while, but it's usually bound to get caught on tape in the process.

Read the full details in the article here >>>

Music Weekend To Remember

It's been a while since I've had Internet and it feels good. Better late than never I guess. We're finally settled into our new apartment, well, sort of. There's still boxes here and there and we don't have a home for a bunch of stuff but it'll get there.

We officially moved last weekend after being in limbo and living in three different places over the past couple of weeks. Of course, moving weekend not only happened to fall on one of the most scorching days of the summer, but also on one of the busiest and best music weekends I've had in quite a while.

I've mentioned before that going to more shows, along with doing more writing, is a top priority in my music world. Last weekend was a good kick in the butt. After a long day of moving, my girlfriend (KJ) and I, went to downtown Lawrence to check out one of the great places that makes up the music scene here in town, The Replay Lounge.

Also, as I've mentioned before just about everyone that I work with is in a band or was at some point and we finally got a chance to see one of those bands in action. Two of my co workers make up half of a band called The Gleaners. After quite a long wait (we got there a bit too early for an 11:00 show.), the show rocked. The acoustics were better than I had expected for the little club that consisted of a bar and wall of pinball machines, you could hear every piece of the band like you should, and my ears weren't even ringing by the time the 40 minute show was done like they always used to back in my band's days. I look forward to hitting some more shows down there soon, and hopefully getting to see The Gleaners again at some point too. Check them out at their Myspace, it's good stuff.

To top off the weekend, the following afternoon, KJ and I drove to Kansas City, Kansas to visit the brand spanking new Best Buy and watch a small acoustic performance by the band Rev Theory. They are currently on tour as part of the second stage with Motley Crue and Crue Fest, but since the Sprint Center in KCMO isn't big enough or have the capability for that stage, they set up an intimate acoustic show to compensate.

They set up in front of the Musical Intsruments department, something I didn't realize that Best Buy was in to. The whole section looked pretty intense with the guitars hung to the ceiling and it made a good back drop for the short show. After wading through the Monster Energy drink girls (short shorts anyone?), the crowd of about 100 or so ended up on the floor as Rev Theory rocked out 5 acoustic versions of their hit songs which included Hell Yeah, Light It Up, Wanted Man, Far From Over, and their next single to be, Broken Bones.

From our view point with our backs against $30 Blue-Ray copies of Trading Places starring Dan Akroyd and Eddie Murphy, it was definitely worth the trek, exhausted from the late night and the hectic moving in. We were tempted to stay for the autograph session and the signed guitar raffle, but the line was pretty daunting and we didn't have the patience or the energy. (Even with an endless supply of energy drinks in the place.) Instead I gave one last glance toward the Monster Energy girls (how could I not, come on) and drove home to the mess that is our new apartment, even a week later.

But it's good to have a new home, it's good to have the Internet, and I can't wait to get to a good comfort level where I feel like I can play my guitar without bugging the neighbors. (I always have that feeling when I move in to a new place where I don't feel 100% comfortable playing, it just takes some time getting used to.)

I've been thinking more and more about getting with someone to do some jamming on the acoustic guitars, it would be good to get a new pair of ears on the songs I've been milking for the past 2 years. With more music weekends like I just had I'll definitely be feeling the motivation!

Rock on!

"Burn Burn" Burning Up The Car Stereo

It's good to hear Raine's voice again in great new tunage. Burn Burn, Our Lady Peace's new album isn't really what I expected, but expectations tend to ruin perfectly good albums, so I didn't let them. Burn Burn is a great extension of OLP's repertoire with a great songwriting and performance. No matter what I thought the music would sound like, I expected no less from my favorite band.

Last Tuesday (July 21st), I couldn't wait to run out and pick up the new record. Though it's a good way to start spending way too much money, it's nice having Tuesday's off considering Tuesday is the most common CD and DVD release day.

After sleeping in a little too late (I tend to do that on my day off, but hey, that's what it's for) I decided to hit up Best Buy. Their new albums are usually $9.99, which is hard to beat anywhere else around here. I was actually looking to find the deluxe edition which contained a handful of bonus tracks but not only did they not have that, they didn't even have a copy of the regular album on the shelve. I said, "Screw it," probably out loud too, under my breath of course, and left for Target.

You're probably thinking, why didn't you just ask them for a copy? Well, I was in a bit of a vindictive mood that morning and I wanted them to miss out on a sale for not having something on the shelf that just came out and should be on the shelf. Pretty simple. I hate it when I get in moods like that but it felt kinda nice heading over to Target, which is right across the street, and picking up a copy.

After handing over an hour's worth of pay to the cashier at Target, I headed straight to my car and carried out my patented roll-down-the-window-and-rock-the-new-disc ritual that I've talked about before. (This is back in April when I snagged the new Hinder album.) As I left the parking lot and dialed up the volume to fight against the wind blasting me in the face, Raine's voice was nothing short of angelic to my OLP-new-tunage deprived ears. (It's been 4 years since we had a new OLP album.)

I drove around for quite a while, but in the concern for my emptying gas tank I decided to park and continue to listen. I was immediately hooked to the songs "Dreamland" and "Never Get Over You". So I played 2, then 7, then 2, then 7, quite a few times before finally listening to the album at least 7 or 8 times over the following few days.

Though the album wasn't the rock that I was looking for from their first album Naveed, the songs carry that chill yet catchy and soothing OLP sound that I've always loved. We even get to hear a bit of Raine's trademark falsetto that's been set aside for the past couple albums in the final tune "Paper Moon".

So that's enough of turning a simple album buying story into a novel. I need to get back to packing, we're moving out of our apartment tomorrow and there is plenty of packing to do. One thing is for sure, Burn Burn will be playing in the background as I pack everything away for another exciting yet frustrating move.

Check out Burn Burn or just Our Lady Peace in general, you won't be disappointed. Rock on!

Those Are Some Sick "Sick Puppies"

New music! I love new music! We're less than a week from the release of the new Our Lady Peace album but to pass the time I'm getting smacked in the face by the new album from Australian hard rockers Sick Puppies called "Tri-Polar".

In my opinion, the album is sick, and of course I mean sick in the most affectionate uses of the word. It's one of the albums that I just bought, knowing it was going to be good and it's always a great feeling when the feeling is justified. I thoroughly enjoyed their first album, "Dressed Up As Life" and had the confidence that this one would be even better.

The first single,You're Going Down, is most definitely a heavier first impression than their first hit All The Same. The rest of the album doesn't fizzle out either. With songs like War, So What I Lied, and my current fave, I Hate You, you get a swift kick in the gut both lyrically and musically. You get that great combo of crunching guitar, gritty vocals and that signature bass twang that is made just that much better knowing a hot rocker chick is slamming it out.

With a couple of chiller songs to give you the roller coaster that a good album will undoubtedly put you on, "Tri-Polar" is going to be in my cd player for quite a while, right behind OLP's "Burn Burn" which comes out in 3 days.

Everyone else is coming out with killer music that's getting me all excited, where's mine? Good question. In the meantime, if you're looking for some good rock, check out the new Sick Puppies disc, "Tri-Polar". Rock on!

New OLP Single "All You Did Was Save My Life"

My blog has been all about sharing lately, more specifically new music and videos. I'll continue the trend today. I've been anxious for the new OLP album to hit the shelves and I've been listening to the new single like it's my job. Check out the new single, "All You Did Was Save My Life," below along with clips from all the other tunes on their soon to be released album Burn Burn.




Our Lady Peace has been such a huge influence in my songwriting and in my love for music for so long, it's hard not to get excited about new stuff.

3 or 4 years ago, on a live t.v./radio performance my old band Now Transmission did for a college station in Maine, someone compared my voice to Raine's (the lead singer of OLP) without even knowing my obsession with their music and I almost melted right there in front of the camera. It's not every day you get compared to your idol...that was a good day.

What that little story has to do with anything, I don't know, it's just good to remember.

Rock on!

Will Our Lady Peace's New Disc Drop Already!?

As you can tell from my listening habits, OLP is undoubtedly my favorite band and I'm about ready for their new album Burn Burn. (A lot of those plays have been OLP recently, including right now!) I don't want my month of July to fly by but it's about time for the 21st to come.