retroBlog

can Journey withstand the hype? for the last few months the blogosphere has been a-buzz about Journey’s newly appointed frontman, Arnel Pineda. even here on retroblog, you can find a whole slew of posts about Pineda’s progress with Journey and the new album. with the kickoff of their summer tour looming in June and the release of their album Revelation just days away, the spotlight, the pressure and the attention are all on Pineda right now. so, is Pineda and the rest of Journey ready to deliver? well, after viewing their recent performance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, it appears Pineda still has some more work to do before hitting the road with the band. I wasn’t that impressed with their live rendition of “Separate Ways” on the show. It was a high profile U.S. TV debut for the new frontman and they should have been more prepared than this. Pineda sang flat in places and appeared to be uncomfortable leading the legendary rock band. the rest of the band members aren’t known to be flamboyant or animated on stage so all eyes would obviously fall on lead guitarist Neal Schon and Pineda. but when he’s not singing, Pineda appears very unsure of himself on stage. He really needs to work on his stage presence and his confidence level before the tour begins or the fans might just eat him alive. don’t get me wrong, I’m rooting for Journey. I don’t think they’ve gotten this much attention in a long while so hopefully things will pay off for them. but with an inexperienced lead singer in tow, there’s a chance that this might get ugly…

stay tuned..

Journey performing Separate Ways on Ellen:

—
(more…)

1 Comment »

I don’t know about you but I can barely make plans a week in advance so obviously purchasing tickets to concerts MONTHS in advance can be hit or miss on my end of things. life is in a constant state of change so thoroughly detailed plans can be disrupted at a moments notice. it can be difficult but that’s life for ya. so what can you do with concert tickets you can’t use? well, there’s a great Free Ticket Exchange website where people can auction off tickets with no high fees involved in the transactions. FreeTicketExchange.com is set up like an online social network so that fans of similar artists and tastes in music can find each other and interact with one another. with online profiles on the site, you’ll know exactly who you’re buying tickets from and by simply browsing through their transaction history, you can get a good sense of their reputation as a seller/buyer. with available tickets divided into categories like sports, concerts, theater and community, you can quickly and easily find a show of interest. so, go ahead and sign up, it’s free. once you’ve set up a profile and build a good network of folks with similar interests, buying/selling tickets on the site will be a snap.

No Comments »

what can I say that hasn’t already been said about the Weepies on the blogosphere? the darlings of music bloggers worldwide, The Weepies, released their latest album, Hideaway about a month ago. the CD has been playing practically non-stop in the car ever since the official release date. you know, I consider the album “easy-listening” ..and not in a derogatory way as in “Barry Manilow” or “Engelbert Humperdinck” but for it’s immediacy and melodic tunefulness. Deb Talan and Steve Tannen make it all seem easy the way they come up with catchy hooks and sweet sounding harmonies. and even though they seem effortless, the songs are actually well thought out with marvelously intricate arrangements that blend perfectly with one another. and I absolutely love the way some of the darker lyrics balance out the pleasant sounding melodies and harmonies in songs like “How You Survived the War” and “Wish I Could Forget”. the only thing negative I can say about the album is the production/mixing. all the instrumentation and vocals seem to be highly compressed and mixed to the foreground so that everything that’s going on the mix is right in your face. I suppose that’s the “modern” way of mixing these days but I would have liked a more “subtle” approach to the mix to compliment the gentleness of the songs. with everything being compressed this way, we’ve lost any sort of “dynamics” in the songs. but fortunately, the writing and the performances captured here transcends the claustrophobic mix.

The Weepies: The Making of Hideaway

—
Hideaway tracklist:

1 Orbiting (Talan, Tannen) 2:55
2 Hideaway (Talan, Tannen) 2:46
3 Wish I Could Forget (Talan, Tannen) 2:56
4 All Good Things (Moore, Talan, Tannen) 2:55
5 Little Bird (Talan, Tannen) 3:33
6 Antarctica (Talan, Tannen) 3:14
7 How You Survived the War (Talan, Tannen) 3:35
8 Not Dead Yet (Talan, Tannen) 3:19
9 Old Coyote (Talan, Tannen) 3:38
10 Just Blue (Talan, Tannen) 4:04
11 Lighting Candles (Talan, Tannen) 3:07
12 Takes So Long (Talan, Tannen) 3:06
13 All This Beauty (Talan, Tannen) 3:19

No Comments »

well, it was bound to happen, I guess. Lifelock received some bad press this past week. It appears the service isn’t as foolproof as CEO Todd Davis had hoped. apparently Todd Davis’ identity was indeed stolen. it has been reported that various criminals used the advertised social security number to apply for driver’s licenses in Davis’ name. It seems that sort of crime is hard to detect since the application process doesn’t go through any of the three credit bureaus that lifelock monitors. It’s a bit frightening to hear that a whopping 36 percent of registered complaints with the Federal Trade Commission is indeed related to identity theft (as reported by ConsumerAffairs.com). and as we can see from the reported incident last week, Lifelock isn’t the total solution in preventing identity theft but it’s still an effective service to use especially when you view it as an extra layer of security. You just need to keep in mind that nothing in this day and age is foolproof. we all need to take proactive measures to keep our personal information from falling into the wrong hands. Lifelock can indeed make things a bit easier by monitoring credit bureaus and such but that doesn’t mean that you can lie down on your job. it’s your identity and you need to do all that it takes to keep it as such. be sure to shred all your personal documents before they hit the trash, never carry around your social security card and last but not least, don’t ever give your bank account number to someone who claims in an email that you can get a piece of a huge inheritance somewhere overseas. when it sounds too good to be true, it probably is!!

No Comments »

This song titled “Get On with It” is stuck in my head today. I love the urgency of the music and the writer’s sense of humor. plus it’s got that retro-80’s sound that I love so much. the song sounds like a mashup of Icehouse, the Cars and Utopia. check it out. It’s the song of the day.

These things always come to a head
over a glass of wine and a cigarette
And you look tipsy with your cheeks all red
I think the alcohol has gone to your head
I feel undressed in this beat up vest
I don’t know how to dance but I’ll try my best
Either you live your life or you sit witness
while a look alike comes and steals your bliss

These things always come to a head
over a glass of wine and a cigarette
You got a little dagger stuck inside my chest
I’m ’bout as ready now as I’ll ever get
- Get On with It by Val Emmich

Val Emmich on myspace
purchase Val Emmich’s new album Little Daggers on amazon.com

No Comments »

it’s always good to take the time and do the research before deciding on a web hosting provider. It’s not just about finding cheap web hosting. there are a lot more factors involved especially when you depend on your website to be up and running 24/7. you should look through forums, get customer feedback and compare different provider plans to verify the reliability of the host, the amount of bandwidth offered and how good their customer support is. yeah, there are a bunch of cheap providers but will they be there for you if you run into problems? do the research upfront before you end up in a webhosting nightmare. check out webhostingrating.com to read up on top rated providers as well as helpful tips and tutorials.

No Comments »

the new Weezer music video for their single Pork and Beans is out now. it’s an instant classic, plain and simple. you really can’t go wrong with casting a group of recognizable “Youtube celebs” for the video. too funny. love it!

Pork and Beans on Youtube

They say I need some Rogaine to put in my hair
Work it out at the gym to fit my underwear
Oakley makes the shades that transform a tool
You’d hate for the kids to think that you lost your cool

No I don’t care, I don’t care
I don’t care, I don’t care, I don’t care, I don’t care..
-Pork and Beans by Weezer

can’t wait for the new album to come out. the album drops June 3rd!

2 Comments »

it’s a bit disheartening to continually hear about our struggling economy, the rising fuel costs and the countless homes going into foreclosure. there doesn’t seem to be any sort of relief in sight. I’ve been finding myself relying more and more on credit cards to pay for stuff especially since I never have enough cash on me. I just have to make sure I don’t go down that slippery slope of overspending. getting overwhelmed by debt has becoming a lot more commonplace nowadays. thankfully there are sites like Advocate Credit Assistance (aca4help.com) that can help folks get a better handle of their finances and stop debt from getting out of control. we as a nation have become to dependent on credit cards and need to take steps to make sure we don’t dig ourselves in too deep of a financial hole. Advocate Credit Assistance offers credit counseling, debt crisis management and other resources to help those that need to get back on track. let’s just pray that the health of our economy will get back on track!!

No Comments »

the long sought after episodes of the short-lived Dana Carvey Show are now available on Hulu!! long time fans have been clamoring for a DVD release but this will probably have to do for now. originally airing on ABC in 1996, the risk-taking series never had a chance to find an audience and was canceled after seven episodes. an already taped eighth episode never aired but is now available for viewing online. Carvey had some great talent involved with the show including Steve Carell, Stephen Colbert, Robert Smigel and even writer Charlie Kaufman. there are a ton of memorable comedy sketches from the show including one of my all time favorites called “the Waiters who are nauseated by food” which features Steve Carell and Stephen Colbert:

you can check out the whole series including the never aired eighth episode on HULU.com
Note: the series is also available on Netflix via their Watch Now feature.
(more…)

1 Comment »

it’s not too late to catch the movie DeathNote in theaters. you can still be among the lucky movie goers to get to experience the manga-come to life film on the big screen. under special arrangement with over 200 movie theaters across the country, Death Note is being shown only on May 20th and May 21st at 7:30pm. talk about a limited engagement!! but that just makes this event all the more special, in my opinion. the plot centers around a supernatural notebook that will kill the person who’s name is written in it. an university student named Light Yagami happens upon the notebook and eventually decides to use it to rid society of evil doers. based on a popular japanese manga series, the film topped the japanese box office back in the summer of 2006. the film has now been re-dubbed for the U.S. audiences and is ready to delight fans of the manga series around the nation. be sure to check fathomevents.com for a screening near you. man, can you imagine finding something that gave you supernatural abilities? instead of having the ability to kill others like Light Yagami, I think the power to read and change other people’s minds would impact the world even more. not only can you then know what others are thinking but you then have the ability to alter their thoughts to your own benefit. that would be amazing. what supernatural ability would you want?

No Comments »