retroblog.net

Like most Netflix subscribers, I’ve been complaining and whining about the upcoming price hike. I can’t really afford to pay the new monthly fee for the DVD + streaming option so I’ll probably settle for just streaming only. With the absence of newly released titles on streaming, I’ll have to dig deep to find interesting titles to watch each month. and unfortunately, the search function on Netflix is a bit cumbersome but as the saying goes… it is what it is.

Anyway, I thought I’d list some concerts and music documentaries available via Netflix streaming that might be of interest for some…

Yes: 9012 Live – Academy Award winner Steven Soderbergh directs this musical tribute to Yes, filmed before he made the Hollywood A-list with hits such as Erin Brockovich and Ocean’s Eleven. Bonus features include live performances of “Cinema,” “Leave It,” “Hold On,” “I’ve Seen All Good People,” “Changes,” “Owner of a Lonely Heart” and City of Love”; all-access band interviews; and the rarely seen Soderbergh mockumentary “Access All Areas!”

Todd Rundgren: Live in Japan – Rock’s original Renaissance man, Todd Rundgren — who’s also a producer, writer, founder of the band Utopia and general music maverick — rocks the house in this live show. Recorded at the Tokyo Sun Plaza Hall and featuring a remastered soundtrack, this dynamic performance includes the songs “Real Man,” “Unloved Children,” “Parallel Lines,” “Can’t Stop Running,” “Compassion,” “Secret Society,” “Love of the Common Man” and more.

The Van Halen Story: The Early Years – With flamboyant David Lee Roth as its front man and Eddie Van Halen as its guitar icon, Van Halen was one of the most visible hard-rock bands of the 1970s and ’80s. This retrospective documentary takes viewers back to the group’s beginnings, charting its rise from backyard beer-bash performances to stadium shows through footage of the boys and interviews with Van Halen, Roth, friends, fans and musical colleagues. J.J. Jackson narrates

Eric Clapton: Crossroads Guitar Festival 2010 – Six-string impresario Eric Clapton cherry-picks a panoply of guitar rock heroes — from B.B. King to ZZ Top — for this blues-drenched all-day festival held at Chicago’s Toyota Park to benefit the Crossroads Centre in Antigua. Over the course of 11 jam-heavy hours, such greats as Robert Cray, Sheryl Crow, Vince Gill and Jeff Beck range across the stylistic map, with Bill Murray hosting the proceedings and Clapton a masterful presence throughout

Todd Rundgren: Live in San Francisco – Rock’s original Renaissance man brings his vast array of musical styles to the stage in this raucous live concert at Maritime Hall in San Francisco. Rundgren performed his greatest hits and a wealth of new songs, including “I Hate My Frickin ISP,” “Black and White,” “Number 1 Lowest Common Denominator,” “Open My Eyes,” “Bang the Drum All Day” and many more.

Daryl Hall & John Oates: Our Kind of Soul Live – Popular 1980s soulsters Daryl Hall and John Oates return to their musical roots in this live concert that celebrates the classic tunes that influenced the duo’s artistic direction. The pair perform faithful renditions and fresh updates on songs such as “I Can Dream About You,” “Don’t Turn Your Back on Me,” “Fading Away,” “Neither One of Us,” “After the Dance,” “Standing in the Shadows of Love,” “Rock Steady” and more.

The Story of Anvil – Formed by two 14-year-olds in the 1970s, heavy metal band Anvil influenced the great acts that followed, such as Anthrax and Metallica. This documentary joins Anvil’s now middle-aged founders as they recover from a disastrous tour of Europe. Hoping to end their youthful dreams and careers on a high note, Robb Reiner, Steve “Lips” Kudlow and the band set out to record their 13th album, “This Is Thirteen.”

Rock & Roll Hall of Fame: the 25th Anniversary Concerts – Celebrate the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 25th anniversary with this star-studded concert, which features rousing performances from such rock luminaries as Metallica, Simon & Garfunkel, Jeff Beck and Bruce Springsteen. Recorded live at Madison Square Garden in New York, the event includes unique duets that pair Stevie Wonder with John Legend, Aretha Franklin with Annie Lennox, and U2 with Mick Jagger.

Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog – When he’s not busy breaking the law or trying to get close to his secret crush, Penny (Felicia Day), supervillain wannabe Dr. Horrible (Neil Patrick Harris) boasts about his exploits via his Internet video blog and dreams of defeating his nemesis, Captain Hammer (Nathan Fillion). Conceived during the 2008 Hollywood writers’ strike, Joss Whedon’s quirky musical comedy originally debuted as an online miniseries.

Queen: Making of a Night at the Opera – With the release of “A Night at the Opera” in 1975, Queen catapulted into the rock ‘n’ roll mainstream and broke new ground with the wildly inventive single “Bohemian Rhapsody.” This installment of the Classic Albums series examines the creative process behind the landmark recording, featuring interviews with late singer Freddie Mercury, guitarist Brian May, drummer Roger Taylor and the album’s original producer, Roy Thomas Baker.

and of course, a movie that never gets old no matter how many times you’ve seen it…
This is Spinal Tap – Rob Reiner’s cult satire about a fictional heavy metal group named Spinal Tap spoofs nearly every facet of rock ‘n’ roll — from vacuous modern songwriting and half-baked album promos to pyrotechnic concerts. Michael McKean, Christopher Guest and Harry Shearer portray the washed-up, aging British rockers whose tresses and egos outstrip their talent, with Reiner appearing as the filmmaker who’s chronicling the band’s calamitous comeback tour.
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Some good news for those using the Standard Plan on Page Plus Wireless. The Standard Plan is what is otherwise known as the “pay as you go” plan. They’re reducing rates on text messaging as well as the cost of data per megabyte. They used to charge 8 cents per SMS message but NOW it’s 5 cents per message. As for data, what was once $1.20 per megabyte, it’s now 99 cents per megabyte. The data is still at a “premium” on the pay as you go plan but you have to realize that the “Standard Plan” is not really for a “data heavy” user anyway.

I’m personally using the $25 Standard plan on Page Plus so this is great news for me. I’m not a heavy cell user by any means so with my minimal use of text and picture messaging, I get by with spending $25 every four months. yes, you heard me right. I stretch my $25 plan for a whole four months! Now that’s what I call savings!

For those that aren’t familiar, Page Plus is a prepaid wireless provider utilizing the Verizon Network. But unlike some other prepaid companies, Page Plus allows their customers to bring their own devices. This means that you’re not limited to the phones that Page Plus provides. You can activate a wide variety of Verizon and Alltel postpaid phones. With that said, there are some models that are blacklisted so be sure you do some research to verify that your particular model phone works on PP before joining.

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of uSell for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

As consumers, we are constantly bombarded by an endless stream of “must-have” electronic gadgets. And as we replace our existing devices, our closets and desk drawers inevitably become filled with last year’s models. In this day and age of being green and eco-conscious, we all need to find ways to get our old gear into the hands that want them. But setting up auctions on ebay for all of our stuff takes up too much of our time and listing our wares on craigslist is just inviting trouble into our homes.

An easier and hassle-free way of selling off our old gear is to use uSell. USell is a network of reputable buyers that specialize in purchasing, refurbishing and reselling cell phones and other electronics. And since these buyers have the ability to refurbish electronics, they’ll even buy phones and portable gadgets that no longer work. Just click through the uSell site to specify your device and then answer a few questions to describe the state your device is in. uSell will then find the highest offers from buyers interested in the device. Yup, it’s pretty much that simple to get Cash for Your Cell Phones and Electronics.

The best thing about this whole process is the 100% Max Cash guarantee which ensures that you get the best price for your gadget or uSell will pay you the difference. I’m sure you have some ol’ cell phones lying around that you need to get rid of. Why not recycle them through uSell?

Unable to find a buyer to bail them out, Borders will be closing all of their stores nationwide. This is pretty sad but inevitable I guess with the rise of the web, ebooks and Amazon. I’m just wondering how long Barnes & Noble has left since I’m sure they’re hurting as well.

Here’s the official email sent to all Borders customers:

Dear Borders Rewards Member,
As I’m sure you’ve heard by now, Borders will be closing its doors after more than 40 years of igniting the love of reading in generations of customers. I am sorry to have to share this news with you as I feel you have been here right along with us as we fought valiantly to save the company. I want to personally thank you for your loyalty and support, whether you were one of the nearly 1.8 million customers who signed up for the Borders Rewards Plus program, shopped in our stores or on Borders.com, or simply took the time to e-mail or call the company to express your support.
You might be asking yourself, what happened? How could it be that there won’t be a Borders moving forward? In a nutshell, following continued negotiations and the best efforts from all parties, no bidders presented a formal proposal to keep our company operating as a going concern. Therefore, under the terms of our debtor-in-possession financing agreement, we presented to the court for approval the proposal for firms to purchase our stores’ assets and administer the liquidation process.
We had worked very hard toward a different outcome. The fact is that Borders has been facing headwinds for quite some time, including a rapidly changing book industry, the eReader revolution, and a turbulent economy. We put up a great fight, but regrettably, in the end, we weren’t able to overcome these external forces.
Going out of business sales begin in stores Friday, July 22. I encourage you to take advantage of this one-time opportunity to find exceptional discounts on your favorite books and other great merchandise. Gift cards will be honored during the liquidation sales, and Borders Rewards Plus members will continue to enjoy their Borders Rewards Plus discounts through August 5. Further, all Borders Bucks will be honored until they expire on July 31.
For decades, Borders stores have been destinations within communities—places where people have sought knowledge, entertainment and enlightenment and connected with others who share their passions. I feel privileged to have had the opportunity to lead Borders and play a role in the true and noble cause of expanding access to books and promoting the joy of reading. As a company, we cannot thank you enough for giving us the opportunity to serve you and the millions of other customers who have shopped our stores over the years. My sincerest hope is that we remain in the hearts of readers for years to come.

Many thanks,
Mike Edwards
CEO of Borders

You’ve probably already seen a diverse range of opinions concerning Yes’ brand new studio album, Fly From Here. As far as I can recall, Yes has always had a polarized fan base. But now without Jon Anderson in the band, the naysayers are out in full force. As for me, I’m still not totally convinced that Benoit David has the chops and/or talent to completely fill Anderson’s shoes BUT bringing in Geoff Downes and Trevor Horn to record the new album was a GENIUS move. I was pleasantly surprised by Fly From Here. It’s probably the strongest batch of songs I’ve heard from the band since 1994′s Talk.

First off, with Horn at the helm, the recording sounds impeccable. No complaints about the way it sounds. Another nice touch is the return of the “epic” twenty-minute track (although it’s more like a song suite). “Fly From Here” is well done but I have to say that the transition into “Bumpy Ride” is a bit odd.

Surprisingly, the standout track for me is “The man You Always Wanted Me to Be”. It’s not proggy at all and is more 70′s “yacht-rock” to tell you the truth. But the Chris Squire-led track features a great melodic hook that just won’t leave my brain! someone please help!

I like the direction the band took with this, dialing down the prog and focusing more on memorable melodies. The only track that I’ve found myself skipping is “Life On a Film Set”. For some reason, the song doesn’t do anything for me. But other than that, the album as a whole is very listenable and very enjoyable. It’s definitely worth checking out especially for those that enjoyed Drama, 90125, and Big Generator.

retroGrade: B+

Fly From Here tracklist:
1 Fly from Here – Overture 1:53
2 Fly from Here – Pt I – We Can Fly 6:00
3 Fly from Here – Pt II – Sad Night at the Airfield 6:41
4 Fly from Here – Pt III – Madman at the Screens 5:16
5 Fly from Here – Pt IV – Bumpy Ride 2:15
6 Fly from Here – Pt V – We Can Fly (Reprise) 1:44
7 The Man You Always Wanted Me to Be 5:07
8 Life on a Film Set 5:01
9 Hour of Need 3:07
10 Solitaire 3:30
11 Into the Storm 6:54

Produced by Trevor Horn
Engineered and mixed by Tim Weidner
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In this day and age of instant gratification, instant streaming, instant messaging, etc., where anything and everything is available at an INSTANT, Paul McCartney fans are having to exercise a lot of patience. The reissue campaign for McCartney’s back catalog will span over the course of several years with select titles being released a few at a time. MPL/Concord Music Group kicked things off successfully last year with the deluxe reissue of Band on the Run. And now after months and months of waiting come the next batch of remastered reissues: McCartney (1970) and McCartney II (1980).

I totally understand the need to stagger the releases since it maximizes the exposure of each set but from a fan’s point of view, the waiting sucks. If the reissue campaign continues at this pace, it’ll be well into the latter half of this decade before we get the complete set. that’s a LONG time. Who knows if CDs will even still be around a few years down the road?

But enough of me whining. The big positive in all this is that the remasters (so far at least) sound GREAT. There’s no brickwalling, no harshness/shrillness in sound and the “no-noised” dullness of the previous remastered collection has been corrected. kudos to the Abbey Road remastering team for doing Macca fans a “solid” in this regard.

I got the two-disc “special editions” of McCartney and McCartney II. I know, I know, I should have splurged for the “super deluxe” versions to get the hard bound books and DVDs but unfortunately, I’ve got a tight budget. But anyway, the albums have never sounded better. I’m not going to comment on the content of the original albums since most fans already know these albums by heart. I’ll just run through some of the bonus content.

Frankly, the bonus disc on McCartney I is a bit skimpy. The rumor is that the “good stuff” is being saved for a rarities box set which may (or may not) get released at the end of this long reissue campaign. But it is still great to finally hear “Suicide” in full which we’ve always heard a snippet of at the end of “Glasses”. The three tracks from the Wings 1979 Glasgow show is a surprise. I was hoping Concord would release the full Glasgow show as part of the “Back to the Egg” package but I guess not. “Don’t Cry Baby” is simply the instrumental mix of “Oo You”. And “Woman Kind” is a bit of a throwaway.

The bonus disc on McCartney II is a lot more interesting. “Blue Sway” features orchestration by Richard Niles which was added/overdubbed back in 1986. Pretty neat but the track sticks out a bit because it’s not a “one-man band” like the rest of the material. The live “Coming Up” version is slightly different that the one we’ve all heard as a single. This version includes the extra “making music endlessly” verse and the ending is a bit weaker which indicates a lil’ overdubbing/sweetening was done on the original single. The rest are the leftover tracks that would have comprised the 2-LP version of McCartney II. Yeah, I think it was a wise decision to go with the single LP but still a fun listen. I really appreciate the fact that McCartney was obviously experimenting during these sessions with no intention of making a hit single.

RetroGrade: remastered sound A+, bonus audio content for McCartney C, McCartney II B.
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Thanks again to all those that participated in Doctor Faith CD giveaway.

all the entries were compiled into a spreadsheet and numbered sequentially. I then used random.org to generate three random numbers.

and here are the winners –

The grand prize winner (Doctor Faith CD autographed by Christopher Cross) is Todd N.

the two runners up (regular unsigned Doctor Faith CDs) are: Victoria K. and Sara S.

Congratulations!

The winners should have received an email from me by now so check your inbox!!

Keep an eye out for more giveaways coming up soon…