Paramore

 We went to see Paramore live this weekend.  They put on an amazing show - they were all very tight as a band, and the songs were incredible, and they had so much charisma on stage.

Hayley Williams is an amazing singer and frontwoman.  This was the last stop on their tour but her voice was none worse for the wear.  She belted out every song like it was their first tour.

Taylor York is a great guitarist and a fantastic showman.  It was so entertaining to watch him.  I also love his guitar playing - very inventive in the context of pop songs.  The guitar tones sounded very midrangy as we were listening to them sound checking, but in the mix, they sat perfectly.

Zac Farro was a super solid drummer and through the band's recordings, I've found him to be very inventive.  The drum sound at the venue was great, though overall the sound was kind of mediocre.  He also stepped out to sing a song by his band Halfnoise.

In preparation for the concert, I had listened to their entire setlist and loved the material.  I also read about the band's history, and about how Williams wanted this to be a band effort rather than a solo project, despite her being personally signed to a record label.  Listening to the songs and the efforts by the musicians, I can understand why.  They are all very inventive musicians, and I like how the later material is very bass driven.  In fact, it's not a surprise that songs like "Ain't It Fun", with the really cool bass line, were produced by Justin Meldel Johnson, a bass player himself.

I might be late to the game, but I'm now a big Paramore fan.

Fury - Ektomorf

I've heard some Ektomorf in the past and really like them.  The lead singer and guitarist is not shy to show his Max Cavalera influence, both visually (camo ESP guitars) and musically.

Being a huge Max fan, I appreciate this.  I've only gotten three tracks into this album so far, but I really like it.  Hopefully it will rise to the level that the new Harms Way has and be one of my favorite albums of 2018!

Promise Me, Dad - Joe Biden

A memoir of part of this time in office, "Promise Me, Dad" is a poignant and enlightening story revolving around the decline and loss of his son Beau to brain cancer.  I learned about Biden's involvement with foreign policy, specifically the Sunni, Shiites and Kurds in Iraq, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, and the foreign aid given to the Northern Triangle (Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador).  I learned about the experimental cancer treatments given to Beau, and about Beau's legacy as Attorney General of Delaware.

Maybe most importantly, I learned about the compassion and dedication of not just Biden, but his entire family, and also of Barack Obama as he helped Joe deal with the grief of losing his son.

Through his Vice Presidency, I didn't know a lot about what Biden had done, but this book shed some light on that.  He also talks about his decision not to run for President, but in hindsight, for the good of the country, I wish he had.

It was also a story of hope - hope that you can be okay, after a loss.  This was an important message to me.

This was a great book.

Boss HM-2

The Boss HM-2 is a distortion pedal that was made in Japan between 1983-1988.  Production was moved to Taiwan between 1989-1991, after which it was discontinued.

It has recently attained cult status because of it's use on seminal metal recordings in the 90s, particularly Entombed and At The Gates.  It's seem a recent resurgence due to bands like Nails and Harm's Way.

Liking bands from both of these eras, I bought one recently.  It is a great sounding pedal, in it's crappy way, if you know what I mean.  It's not meant to emulate fat refined Marshall tone.  It's meant to be brash and obnoxious.  I love this pedal!

Simon Prebble

Upon listening to the first hour of the audiobook "Remains of the Day", by Kazuo Ishiguro, the reader sounded strangely familiar.  It occurred to me that the narrator of the butler in "Remains" reminded me of Winston from the audiobook version of "1984", and I discovered that Simon Prebble narrated both of these books.

I never thought about how much I associate certain voices with certain stories, so much so that Prebble's voice seems like Winston's actual voice to me.  That makes it slightly challenging to listen to "Remains of the Day", except that the storyline seems completely different from 1984.

Still, it's weird, because 1984 is one of my favorite books, and Prebble's voiceover is a big part of that.  He is a very good reader though!

Black Panther

We saw "Black Panther" this weekend.  It was a really good movie!  First and foremost, it was an exciting, epic movie in the modern Disney style, replete with Star Wars styled dogfight scenes, excellent sword play, and one-on-one fighting.

On another level, it was a socially aware movie that suggested that the solution to race related problems is not the arming of oppressed people - rather, it suggested positive dialog and sharing.  Maybe a little idealistic, but I thought it was an interesting suggestion.

It lacked some of the wacky humor of recent Marvel movies, but I like the contrasts of each recent Marvel Studios movie.

It Was Me All Along - Andie Mitchell

In "It Was Me All Along", Andie Mitchell talks about her eating disorders, and her life experiences that contributed to them.  It's a story of transformation, filled with a lot of stories that I think are relate able to anyone who has had any kind of troubled relationship with food.  There was a lot that of female specific issues but overall, I think this is a non-gender specific book.

I like this passage, towards the end:

"In grieving the end of our relationship, I'd gained 15 pounds.  And slowly, as I felt the balance restored, I accepted them as part of me.  Maybe I'd lose them, maybe I wouldn't.  Either way, I had to be kind to myself.  What I discovered in that year, and perhaps in all of my life, was that I am always growing, always learning.  And whenever I think I've figured it all out, I've really only just begun."


I really enjoyed this - maybe one of the better books I've read so far this year.

Dave Lombardo, again

There was a passage of this interview that really resonated with me.

"I don't like guys like that either.  I walk into a room and people don't know who I am and then I see their attitudes, and when they find out who I am they drop their guard.  'Oh, Dave, how are you?'  but before that, they had all this ego.  It's like, I don't deal with people like that.  My dad always said 'Never think you're better than anyone else' you know, and I've held that throughout my life.  I'm first a human being like everybody else.  I just have a different job.  And just because I have this job it doesn't put me in a power to treat people different or to use people.  I don't like people like that so I refuse to be one of them."

I love this statement and identify with it.  I've never felt that my job as an engineer puts me above the secretaries, or the janitor, or anyone else.  And I've never felt in any of my bands that my ability as a guitar player or leader of a group makes anyone else's opinions or preferences diminish.

For Lombardo to have this kind of humility, gives me something to aspire to.  He's one of my favorite drummers, but he's definitely a very cool human being too.

I think it's so cool that he has a shirt designed specifically for him, and I bought one of his limited edition shirts!  I want to support him in any way I can.

A beautiful bento box

I went looking for a bento box this past weekend, but couldn't find anything that I thought was really nice and had a lot of utility.  Everything at the store was plastic, and seemed to be sized for children.

Fast forward to Tuesday, and I found a beautiful okurimono (gift) left on my desk by a friend who visited Japan last year.

This bento box is perfect - two separate compartments for rice on the bottom and okazu on the top.  A beautiful gift from a good friend.

Modern Pain

While searching for Self Deconstruction albums, I found this album with the same name by a band called Modern Pain.  It's freaking awesome!

Japanese grindcore

I am blown away by Japanese all-girl grindcore!  There are two bands that are so good.

Flagitious Idiosyncrasy in the Dilapidation - what a strange name!  But they are just shredding.

Self Deconstruction is also amazing.

They don't have releases on Apple, so I'll have to find their music elsewhere.  From their videos though, they are crazy good!  Much better than, ahem, Babymetal.

Death Note

I have never read a Manga comic in my life, and know very little about what Manga even is.  My first ever Manga book is Death Note.  It's pretty interesting and fun and easy to read.

Death Note is about a kid named Light who discovers a book left in the human realm by Ryuk, who is a Shinigami (God of Death).  The book has the power to kill people, if you write their name in it and visualize the person.  Light uses the book to start murdering criminals, and becomes hunted by a mysterious crime fighter.

The only thing that's kind of funny is that the e-book flips right to left, the panels on each page read right to left, the word bubbles read right to left....  but the text in the word bubbles read left to right!

Music list 2018

Albums I'm looking forward to:

1. Eyes Set To Kill - Eyes Set To Kill (2/16)
2. Posthuman - Harms Way (2/9)
3. Firepower - Judas Priest (3/9)

My favorite albums of the year so far:

"Old" stuff to check out:

Xibalba
Pig Destroyer


New releases to check out:

Thunderbolt - Saxon (classic metal)
Rocknroll Machine - Turbonegro (punk rock and roll)
Down Below - Tribulation (Gothic black metal)
Catharsis - Machine Head (Slipknot)
Order of Torment - Genocide Pact (vintage death metal)
Into Beyond - LIVLOS (thrashy death)
The Awakening - Wrath Sins (sorta Mastodon-ish/nu-metalish)
Puncuring the Grotesque - Autopsy (old school death metal)
We Exist Even Dead - Eventide (djent)
Fury - Ektomorf (3/16)
Beasts of Burgundy - Squirrel Nut Zippers (3/23)
Rotation - Marc Rizzo (3/30)
To Drink From The Night Itself - At The Gates (5/18)

Sting-Ray Afternoons - Steve Rushin

Steve Rushin is just about the exact same age as me, and I think this book appeals to readers in close proximity to our age.  Growing up in the 70s, there are lots of things that only people that grew up in our era will understand and identify with.

However, familiarity and nostalgia can only go so far.  Steve Rushin's biography is relatively uninteresting, so no matter how much times he references the theme from Good Times, or Farah Fawcett posters, I was pretty bored and just felt like getting this book over with.

Hardcore and thrash

There are a lot of relatively newer bands out that I really like.  Maybe because they capture the essence of stuff that I've been into for awhile - stuff like Arise-era Sepultura, Pennywise, and Nails.

Terror put out a really great EP called "The Walls Will Fall" in 2017.  It's thrashy and hardcore and reminds me a bit of Hatebreed.

Harm's Way has a new album coming out called Posthuman, that sounds like Max Cavalera meets Nails.

Incendiary sounds like Zak DeLaRocha singing over hardcore.  Their "Thousand Mile Stare" is awesome!

And I've been raving about Power Trip's 2017 album "Nightmare Logic".  It's one of my favorite albums of the 2010s.

The Death of Expertise - Tom Nichols

This title of this book is, as the author initially states, pretentious and self important.  But it makes a lot of sense to me.  The basic concept of the book is that Americans are arrogantly proud of their ignorance.  Nichols says that we have gone from an intelligent society, to an ignorant society, to a arrogantly incorrect society.  I believe this book was heavily influenced by the 2016 U.S. Presidential elections.

I haven't done any fact checking (ha - the moral of this book), but if he says that people don't regard expert advise because of the college system and the media, it makes some sense to me.

I see ignorance proliferate even in my workplace, with people that have college and advanced degrees.  It's disheartening to know that even intelligent informed opinions elude some of the most educated people.

I think what Nichols fails to examine is the lack of emotional or interpersonal or intrapersonal intelligence, as described by Daniel Goleman or Howard Gardner.  I believe that this is a factor that makes certain people arrogantly incorrect.

Regardless, I think this is a good book that attempts to explain why American society is uninformed and doesn't care, and a wake-up call to Americans to think more critically.  Unfortunately, I'm sure most of the readers of the book are the choir being preached to.

God Is Not Great - Christopher Hitchens

I could not get through the first half hour of this audiobook.

The content is fine, and I've read a couple of pro-atheism books (Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins).

The problem is the author is the reader of the audiobook.  His volume fluctuations are so severe that I have to turn it up super loud to understand his soft passages, which make his loud proclamations jarring.

I have this on paperback, so I'll read that instead.

Too much exercise

Lately, I've been thinking about exercise - specifically running vs. walking.  I thought about a workmate who used to be a marathon runner, who, later in life, had severe debilitation and gained a lot of weight.  I thought of another person who has been active for all of his life, and now has injuries that require surgery.

I think I need to make sure I keep my muscles healthy so that I can continue to exercise.  One of my doctors told me not to run.

In the Blue Zones books, Dan Buettner says that the longest living people aren't marathon runners.  Rather, they are regular people who walk a lot every day.

Federal guidelines suggest 150 weekly minutes of moderate activity or 75 minutes of vigorous intensity activity for health benefits, in at least 10 minute intervals.  The guidelines suggest additional benefits by getting double those numbers.

Currently, I try to walk a half hour on weekdays and 4 hours on weekends.  This amounts to 390 minutes of moderate activity.

I came across an article that states that 450 or more minutes weekly can have negative health impacts.

I think after I hit my weight loss goal, I may eventually taper down my weekend walking.

Heath-wise, I'm starting to believe that moderation is the best way to approach certain things - definitely exercise, while slightly more tilted approaches are best for others - particularly eating.  I like to eat mostly vegetables, with occasional fish, and rare meat.

Slayer final world tour

I'm going to California to see Slayer!!  Woo hoo!!!  I also get to see Behemoth, who is one of my favorite bands ever!!!

I love the finish on this Luxxtone

So perfectly reliced.....

Vola Blaze X

The yellow-orange-red gradient is a little 80s, but I still like this guitar.  Made in Japan too, and I am a huge fan of Japanese guitars!!

Transcendence - Devin Townsend Project

Because I listen to obscure music, it's hard to find new artists to listen to.

There are a few ways that I seek out new music to listen to:

1. Browsing "what's new" in iTunes
2. Online music lists
3. Stuff that's endorsed by musicians I like
4. Artist gear endorsements

It's weird, because "artist gear endorsements" implies that the artists are popular enough that they are influential, and thus, popular.

Devin Townsend must be pretty popular, because he has a lot of gear endorsements.  He has a signature guitar coming out from Framus, he has signature Fishman pickups, and he is listed as one of the top endorsers of Fractal Audio's AxeFX.

I saw a rig rundown of Townsend's rig on Premier Guitar, so I decided to check out his stuff.  I had only heard Townsend on Steve Vai's "Sex & Religion", but I wasn't a big fan of that album so I never gave his stuff a second listen.

Now that I listen to his stuff, specifically "Transcendence", it's pretty cool, in a nerdy prog-rock kinda way.  It reminds me of a cross between Tool, Dream Theater and Pink Floyd, all very influential prog bands in their own right.  I like Townsend's voice, which is funny because I didn't care for his voice on Sex & Religion.  I guess it works in the context of his own music.

The music is pretty epic.  I'm not sure if I am in love with it, but like any prog, maybe it'll take time to grow on me.

Japan 1941: Countdown to Infamy - Eri Hotta

This was a great book that described Japan's entry into World War 2.  The narrative revolved mainly around Prime Minister Konoye and the cabinet's conflicted opinions about entering into war with the United States and Russia.  I really enjoyed this book, despite being long.  I now better understand Japan's expansionist position and how they led the population to believe in a lot of different and many untrue things.

Elise Trouw

I had never heard of this musician until this morning.  Man, she's a great musician and she has the looping thing down.  She has a great voice too, and in some of her videos, she shows off her drumming, which is arguably her best attribute as a musician.  Still, none of that would matter if her music was mediocre, but her covers are amazing.  I'm going to check out her original music next.

Boh Runga

Boh Runga, lead singer of Stellar, is another of my favorite female vocalists.  Like Alexia Rodriguez, not only is she a talented singer, but she's a guitarist and a really great songwriter.

Whether with Stellar or her solo material, I have never heard a song that she's done that I didn't like.  It's like she hits songwriting gold every time she writes something.  It's really too bad that her career didn't take off outside of New Zealand.  I really think she deserves the highest accolades.

It's weird - her sound is very pop, yet she's not very popular.  Maybe my taste in music runs along the fringes of what people like.

Alexia Rodriguez

Alexia Rodriguez, from Eyes Set To Kill, is one of my favorite female vocalists.

I'm not sure why she's not at the top of more "best vocalist" charts.  She's an amazing singer with a lot of depth and an insane range.  She's also a great songwriter.

My favorite song that she does in "Infected" off of the Masks album.

She also has a great pop album called Underground Sounds, under the name Lexia.

Why We Sleep - Matthew Walker

This was a really good book.

Matthew Walker talks about the importance of sleep.  He says that lack of sleep is attributed to a number of problems, from cancer, heart disease, dementia, depression, and other ailments.  He backs up these claims with studies.  He also doesn't claim causality where the research does not indicate it.

Walker says that whereas he previously thought that sleep was one of the three pillars of health, along with diet and exercise, he now puts sleep on a tier above diet and exercise.  I believe what he says.

This was an important read for me, and it emphasizes to me how much I need to work hard on sleep.

I plan to read this book over to reinforce what I've learned.

Peavey

 Recent promo photos of Soulfly and Behemoth are skewing my amp hunt short list.....

A new amplifier

I really love my ENGL Savage 120 amplifier, but it doesn't run perfectly.  I have an AxeFX Ultra processor that is pretty reliable, but I don't like scrolling through the pages to program it.  I can get through gigs reliably with my gear, but it's nice to have something that is newer and won't give me problems.

I sold some guitars and have some money to buy a new amp, so I'm on the hunt.

My criteria for an amp are:

• Reliability - I've had so much problems with amps in the past - my Mesa Mark IIIc had a popping sound when switching channels, my Bogner had problems with the effects loop, and my ENGL Savage doesn't play through the 2nd channel, and the second master volume doesn't work.  So I need an amp that will be reliable.
• Tone - I love the gut punching sound of the ENGL Savage - it is by far my favorite tone I've ever heard.  I also like a lot of low end.  I like a good, super saturated tone for death and thrash metal, but also a good plexi tone for blues and classic rock.  I also love a good, warm clean sound.
• Multiple channels - I want three channels and preferably four.
• Quiet - It's nice to have a good, quiet design, and built-in noise gates are awesome.

I think with those criteria in mind, I don't care what brand the amp is, or where it's made, or if it's PC board construction or hand-wired.

The first amp I tried out was the EVH 5150III Stealth.  I liked it, but didn't absolutely love it.  The clean sound was just okay, and the drive tones didn't have the midrange punch I'm looking for, no matter how I EQ'd it.  I could probably get it with an equalizer in the loop, but wouldn't want to for the price, even though my dealer would have given me a good deal at around $2000.  I'll have to pass on this amp.

An amp that's high on my list is the Peavey 6505+.  I've played through one once, a long time ago, but I don't think there are any for sale around here so I'd have to order it.  On the plus side, it has a killer distortion tone and it's cheap, but the drawbacks are only two channels, and a reportedly so-so clean channel.  This amp is endorsed by some of my favorite guitarists - Max Cavalera and Nergal, so that's a great endorsement.  I think I'll pass on this, and maybe pick one up later as a third (fourth?) amp.

The Peavey Invective 120 is really intriguing.  It's designed by Misha Mansoor from Periphery and is supposed to take the best of the 5150 / 5150 II tone, add a great clean channel, and some added features.  I'm really excited about this amp, but as it's just released, I want them to make sure it's solid before I buy one.  It's definitely on my short list, and it's on the lower price range of what I want to spend too.

A dealer that I spoke to is highly recommending the ENGL Steve Morse amplifier.  This is another one that I am very excited about as the tones are supposed to be amazing.  It's a departure from the Savage design, but I think I can make it work.  This is on my short list as well.

The ENGL Invader gets a lot of really high recommendations too, and I've seen that Bumblefoot plays one.  It seems very versatile with four channels, but it's a little expensive.  This may be a contender.

I've played through the original Friedman BE-100 and it was killer, but lacked something.  The new BE-50 is supposed to sound better, and has three channels.  I've met Dave Friedman and he's a nice guy, that knows his amps.  This is a contender, but is expensive.  On the plus side, I can try this at my dealer and he will hook me up with a good price.

Last on my list to check out is the Mesa TC-50.  I've heard clips of this online and it sounds great.  My local dealer may have one for me to check out, which is always a big plus for me.

Simple Joy

My daughter recently asked if we could eat more vegan.  I was really happy about this because I've converted to a mostly vegan (and partially pescatarian) way of eating.

We had a really nice day out yesterday, and stopped at a vegan restaurant for lunch called Simple Joy.

We ordered several dishes and shared, and they were really good!!

We had "shrimp" nests for an appetizer, which are vegan shrimp that had the texture of real shrimp, wrapped with noodles and deep fried.

We also had a "burger" that had a vegan patty in a toasted bun.  This was really good!!

And finally, we had "chicken" puttanesca pasta, but we dug into that so quickly that I didn't get a good picture.

I'm so happy she wants to eat vegan.  It's nice to be able to treat ourselves to something decadent, and still be meat free.

Vegan pho

I was inspired by Loving Hut to make a vegan pho.  Because pho is as much about texture as taste, and because the taste of pho revolves around the spices in the broth (cinnamon, cloves, star anise, peppercorns, ginger, onion), having vegan pho is just as satisfying as having pho go or pho ba.

In lieu of meat, I added fried tofu, mushrooms and Chinese peas.  I also used mushroom seasoning for the broth.  I love this mushroom seasoning - it's all natural, and I use it in everything that needs salt and umami.

From Cradle To Stage - Virginia Hanlon Grohl

I really admire Dave Grohl - he's a brilliant songwriter, a rocking singer, a very artistic movie producer, and an incredible entertainer.  I've heard stories about how he was raised, so I was excited to read this book, written by his mother.

In this book, Virginia Grohl interviewed and told the stories of several rock stars from their mothers' perspectives.  Many of the stories were boring, or about artists that I'm not into.  However, I enjoyed reading about Rush's bass player, Geddy Lee, and how his mother was able to survive the holocaust and relocate to Canada.  I also enjoyed reading about Amy Winehouse and how she was difficult from the start, which spoke volumes about her eventual death from alcohol poisoning.  However, most of the stories weren't as interesting as those two, so I'd give this book a 6 of 10.

Delores O'Riordan

Delores O'Riordan was the lead singer of the Cranberries.  She was found dead this weekend at the age of 46.

There are two different decades where I thought music exploded with creativity and innovation.  The 60s was a decade that established the roots of all music today.  But the 90s took all music and threw it into a blender, and some great things came out of it.

The seeds of "alternative" music started in the mid 80s.  I started my freshman year of college at U.H. and soon after joined a band.  Whereas in high school I was playing a lot of the metal that was mainstream and popular (Ratt, Motley Crue, etc.), my second college band found me playing R.E.M., The Cult, The Clash, INXS, The Church, etc. (oddly, the metal / shred image that people associated with me was still there, as the band insisted on doing a Joe Satriani song, presumably to keep my interest).

In those early alternative / college songs, I saw that there was less an emphasis on being mainstream as a lot of so-called metal bands had begun to have a uniform look / style, in the generic bullshit bands like Warrant and Firehouse.  There was no "rock" in those bands, whereas there was just something more raw in a song like "Radio Free Europe" or "Waitress In The Sky" (The Replacements "Tim" was a life-changing album for me).

The early 90s saw that explode into the mainstream when Nirvana broke and relegated the corporate glam metal bands' CDs to the budget bins, where they should have gone from the start (side note:  apologies to Extreme, who was led by one of my favorite guitarists of all time, Nuno Bettencourt).

I thought the 90s were so incredible, and I would listen to Radio Free Hawaii daily, hearing everything from grunge, to ska and punk, to rap metal and thrash, and female led bands like the Indians and the Cranberries that paved the way for artists like Jewel, Sarah McLachlin and Alanis Morissette.

The Cranberries were an essential band of that era.  They wrote some amazing songs like Linger, Dreams and Zombie.

In 2017, they released "Something Else", which had acoustic versions of their songs.  I love the instrumentation, which supports the songs in a different yet fitting way.

Delores's voice was sweet, and you could hear a hint of her Irish accent in her singing.  That gave the songs an exotic feel to me.  She was such a talented singer with a unique voice and gift for writing beautiful melodies.  I'll be listening to the Cranberries today.

Music as a marker for a time in your life

I'm sure most people experience this....  that music is a marker for a time in your life, and certain songs will remind you of good times, or people.

Right now, I'm associating a lot of music with good times with my kids....  so much music, particularly Panic at the Disco! and My Chemical Romance, reminds me of long car rides with my beautiful daughter, who is also one of my best friends.

My son plays lots of works on piano, and there is just about nothing better than being at home, doing something like cooking dinner, and being unintentionally serenaded by my son rehearsing either his original music, or songs like Yiruma's "River Flows In You".

In the future, I know I will listen to these songs, and be reminded of a beautiful time in my life.

As I mentioned below, I recently discovered that Stellar* is playing a few shows, and I went back and listened to them.  The singer, Boh Runga, has a sister named Bic Runga, and I went back and listened to her music.

When my son was maybe three or four, I used to take him driving so he would fall asleep.  I would play him Bic Runga's "Drive" and the lull of the car ride and the soft music would put him to sleep.  Hearing those songs remind me of those peaceful moments.

One song on that album, "Sway" reminds me of the American Pie movies and soundtracks, and when I listen to those, I'm reminded of my friend Shirley.

Shirley and I were very close.  She was one of my best friends, and I treasured our platonic relationship.  She passed away from cancer a few years ago.  Today was the first time I revisited a lot of the songs on the American Pie soundtrack, and they remind me of good times with Shirley.

Memories are difficult to process, especially when you lose someone the way I lost Shirley to cancer, but the music that remains reinforces and maybe even emphasizes the positive and good times that we shared.

Stellar*

Back in 2000 while visiting New Zealand, I scouted the record stores (remember when those things existed?) looking for the popular local bands.  I discovered Stellar* (the asterisk is part of their name), and fell in love with them.

The put out three brilliant albums, all of which have incredible songs from start to finish.

I think they broke up after their third album, or took a hiatus, at which time the singer, Boh Runga, moved to L.A.  She put out an equally brilliant solo album that captured the Stellar* sound, but lacked some of the signature Stellar* instrumentation.

I was really excited to see that Stellar* reformed and will be playing some shows in Auckland and Wellington.

I wish I had the money to fly to New Zealand to see these shows!!

Ronz World

I'm blown away by this guitar painter.  He is amazingly creative and talented.  I would love to have this guy paint one of my guitars.

Sleep as a powerful learning tool

I've been listening to the audiobook "Why We Sleep" and it reinforces a YouTube video that I posted about last September, that says that your brain reinforces important things that you've learned while suppressing "extraneous noise".

I think I'll try studying my katakana at night from now on.  Maybe I'll even do my Japanese language lessons at night.

Power Trip's recommendations

This is cool - I saw a list of bands that Power Trip recommends, and since I love the latest Power Trip album, I gotta check these bands out:

Iron Reagan (I already love this band)
Mammoth Grinder
Impalers
Genocide Pact
Red Death
Gatecreeper
Midnight
Iron Age
Protester
Turnstile

Too many things that I haven't yet discovered

Man, there's too much music that I haven't yet discovered.  I found these bands, all fronted by female lead singers, that I intend to check out.