The Good Old Days

I saw this on Facebook and it made me smile. The good old days for sure. A great snapshot in time of Def Leppard. Some of the comments on this post are great - people reliving memories of the early days of the band.

Rock Bands Cover Hanukkah

Just for fun and for the Jewish readers, some rock takes on Hanukkah songs. Bands are always covering Christmas tunes but Hanukkah gets some love too. Here are three songs I have never heard before today (yes, I've heard "The Dreidel Song" but not this cover). Kind of interesting and educational, too. A happy festival of lights to all who celebrate.

Sister Hazel - The Dreidel Song

They Might Be Giants - Feast of Lights

Barenaked Ladies - Hanukkah, Oh Hanukkah

Tesla's Brian Wheat Promotes New Book

Brian Wheat, bass player for Tesla, has a new book out today. It is called Son of a Milkman: My Crazy Life with Tesla.

I had the book on my radar and was planning on reading eventually, but now I want to read pretty urgently. Why? Because of an interview Wheat did to promote the book where he opens up about his eating disorder. Men have trouble with weight just like women, but it is not talked about as much, especially among the celebrity set it seems. Just like women, men also develop eating disorders to stay slim. I had no idea Wheat was a bulimic in the late 80s. Telling his story will likely help others fighting the same battle.

The book is available now in hardcover and on Kindle and other e-reader platforms. Music journalist Chris Epting helped Wheat write the book. Chris and I worked together back during the Noisecreep days.

For The KISS Fans...

Tommy Thayer is holding a contest on his Instagram and giving away a stage-worn guitar strap. I know some of you are big KISS fans so I wanted to pass along this Tweet I just saw scroll by my feed:

As a holiday gift I’m giving away one of my stage-used guitar straps on Instagram. Head to my Instagram page @tommy_thayer_official to enter! pic.twitter.com/KjyyV8KZ5b

— Tommy Thayer (@tommy_thayer) December 14, 2020

Saxon Announce 'Inspirations'

From my inbox:

British Heavy Metal legends Saxon will deliver a full-roar-fun-down set of covers with their latest album Inspirations, which drops a brand new 11 track release featuring some of the superb classic rock songs that influenced Biff Byford & the band.

 

Set for release on March 19^th 2021, via Silver Lining Music, Inspirations gets things rolling with the release of Saxon’s crunching take on The Rolling Stones’ "Paint It Black."  Biff Byford comments: “Loved this band since I first saw them and heard them.  I liked the Beatles, but the Stones appealed to my rebel side; their iconic look… so many great songs, such a great attitude in the music!”

 

The release of "Paint It Black" is also accompanied by a behind-the-scenes video which was filmed during the band’s recording session earlier in the year.  

 

Inspirations was recorded at Brockfield Hall near York in the UK, which was built in 1804 and holds the largest collection of paintings by Yorkshire’s impressionist artists – the Staithes Group. For Byford, recording Inspirations all together within such a rich historical environment was a major ingredient of the project. “The warmth and feel of Inspirations had so much to do with being together in this magnificent place and doing it ‘old-school’ style,” Byford explains. “This is how many bands back in the day -including some of the ones covered here- made such great albums, so it just felt really good to be able to do this somewhere like Brockfield Hall.” The results speak for themselves.

Track Listing:

1. Paint It Black
2. Immigrant Song
3. Paperback Writer
4. Evil Woman
5. Stone Free
6. Bomber
7. Speed King
8. The Rocker
9. Hold The Line
10. Problem Child
11. See My Friends

Time For Workout Playlist Swaps

It's time to talk workout playlists again. I need some new music for my running workouts. I recently bought a Tempo (I used credit card points so it was "free!") for weightlifting and it has music built in, so I am good there, but I need something really aggressive for running. Plus now I'm pretty solidly in treadmill territory and that means the need for songs that are a little uplifting too. I prefer to run in the sun and I hate the winter, but it is what it is I guess.

My basic go-to playlist is below. If you've got a playlist to share, please give me the link. I would love it.

Sammy Hagar & The Circle Announce New Album

Sammy Hagar & The Circle will release Lockdown 2020 in January. The album will be a collection of their "lockdown session" recordings.

Track listing:

1. Funky Feng Shui
2. Won't Get Fooled Again (THE WHO)
3. Good Enough (VAN HALEN)
4. Three Little Birds (Bob Marley)
5. Whole Lotta Rosie (AC/DC)
6. For What It's Worth (Buffalo Springfield)
7. Keep A-Knockin' (Little Richard)
8. Right Now (VAN HALEN)
9. Don't Tell Me What Love Can Do (VAN HALEN)
10. Sympathy For The Human (SAMMY HAGAR & THE WABOS)
11. Heroes (David Bowie) 

Listen to "Heroes" below. Proceeds of this track will go to food banks in America.  

Announcing the release of a Sammy & The Circle Lockdown Sessions album, "Lockdown 2020," on January 8, 2021! Featuring 11 tracks recorded virtually during the band's lockdown sessions which began during the COVID-19 stay-at-home orders.

Visit https://t.co/lghelmGHxu for more!

— Sammy Hagar (@sammyhagar) December 11, 2020