Best of 2008 (Hey, everyone else is doing it!)

Remember when we were kids and we'd think of some far-flung year of thew new milennium and imagine all the Jetsons-esque technological wonders that were gonna transform our world into a utopia?

Well, here we are in the year two-thousand-and-freakin'-nine and not so much. Although, I must admit that I'm perpetually amazed that I carry around a phone the size of a deck of cards that also houses most of my CD collection. I also dig playing ROCK BAND with a pair of chicks who live three time zones away from me. C'mon, that's cool stuff.

It's been awhile. I planned on writing sooner but I got the insanely addictive LEFT 4 DEAD for Christmas and I've spent way too much time the past week trying to survive the zombie apocalypse and yelling fruitlessly at the impared teammates Xbox Live usually hooks me up with. I manage quite capably to fight off the hordes of the undead without setting myself and my partners on fire; Is it too much to ask that others mind where they're chucking that Molly?

Anyhow, I thought I'd jump back in by taking my turn at proclaiming my favorite crap from last year. I'm not big on trying to establish a pecking order, so I'm just calling a handful of favorites and am gonna try to limit myself to five of each for the sake of brevity.

MOVIES: IRON MAN; SUCH HAWKS, SUCH HOUNDS; THE DARK KNIGHT; THE WRECKING CREW; WALL-E; FROST/NIXON

Lemme just get it outta the way now and say that I have yet to see everyone's recent darlings, THE WRESTLER and SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, so there's no need to ask why I'm not slobbering over them. And even if I had, I'd reserve the right to not include them on my list if so moved, so there. Should also be noted that 2k8 was the year I was introduced to the perverse beauty that is John Rad's DANGEROUS MEN, Diablo Cody hugged me, I met Frank Darabont, I finally saw THE LAST DRAGON on the big screen and I caught THE WARRIORS THREE FREAKIN' TIMES. Niiiice!

Should also, also be noted that I'd have to say my favorite cinematic moment of the year was seeing THE MOVIE ORGY. Consider myself very, very lucky to have been in the audience for that one.

ALBUMS: Consolers of the Lonely - The Raconteurs; Live At Roadburn - Earthless; Gods of the Earth - The Sword; Graveyard - Graveyard; The Darkness Won't Hide You - Night Horse; Float - Flogging Molly; Appeal To Reason - Rise Against; Stop, Drop and Roll!!! - Foxboro Hot Tubs

SONGS: "Carolina Drama" and "Many Shades of Black" - The Raconteurs, "Fire Lances of the Ancient Hyperzephyrians" - The Sword, "Wild International" - One Day As A Lion, "Re-Education (Through Labor)" - Rise Against

VIDEO GAME: ROCK BAND 2 (But LEFT 4 DEAD really is all kinds of awesome)

I should also mention that it was a really, really good year for concerts: Earthless (Three freakin' times!), The Sword (Also, twice), Graveyard (Twice), Night Horse (Three times; Woulda been 4 but I was sick and missed their record-release party), Nebula/Totimoshi/Chingalera @ The Viper Room, The Racounteurs (Big, huge thanks to Cat) and the newly-reformed STP (Twice. Thanks, Kish. Still can't believe you didn't go!)

Two thousand and eight will also go down as the year I discovered Garage Pizza on Sunset Blvd. in Silverlake. Seriously, it's worth going out of your way for.

Pics of the New Year's Eve STP show will come soon. As will a bunch of photos off of the old camera that was replaced by a new, buffer one for Christmas. In fact, we'll be featuring more pics and fewer words around here from now on. It'll leave me more zombie-killing time.

Peace Through Rock & Roll

I guess it goes without saying that I pre-ordered Guitar Hero World Tour, but through some scheduling snafus I really didn't get any time with my new game until yesterday when I played the hell outta it.

Cliff Notes Review: Loads of fun; Great additions like drum and vocal tracks, create-a-rocker/guitar, loads of cameos, an Amoeba Records stage and an improved battle system that's more in the spirit of the game. Instead of beating them with tricks like snapped strings or amp overloads, you just gotta keep up with them in an intense jam session without getting booed off stage. This last touch goes with a much-needed step down in difficulty from the insanely hard Guitar Hero 3, which was often too brutal and competitive to be fun.

That said, I do prefer Rock Band, largely because of the setlist. Between the songs I've saved on the hard drive from the first game, the ones I've downloaded and those included in the second edition, it's a badass playlist that has a lot of tunes I absolutely love. There are some nice ones on GH4, but it lacks the "I gotta have that one" factor that the previous music games had. Definitely the weakest rundown to date.

Nonetheless, something very cool happened the other day as I finally got acquainted with both the game and the wonderful world of playing online.


You randomly get placed in a band and have nothing to go on in these anonymous gaming encounters except a screen name and character. Early on during the experience I found myself in a band with Dr Ice Berg and DiabolikLord. I'm not one for chit-chat, so I keep the headset that allows you to talk with your fellow gamers turned off. But upon being placed in this new band I was greeted with a strange "R0CKET King...Allllllooooooo, R0CKET Kiiiing?" coming from my speakers.

My silence was interrupted by the *other* bandmate, who began speaking German of all things. Then the first responded in kind. Soon, I was privy to a conversation that was likely taking place halfway around the world. I couldn't understand much...Actually I couldn't understand a damn thing that was said except when they mentioned a song title.

"Ich bin ein 'Love Removal Machine'"

"Ich möchte spielen 'Hot For Teacher'"

The funniest bit came when one of the dudes said something to the effect of, "Was wenn wir spielten 'The Joker' (Mimicing song's signature guitar effect) Weeeeeeet-wooooooo"

So as we ripped through a few songs, this gave me a vision of a better tomorrow, one in which a generation who have learned understanding and cooperation with people different than they are through years of joining forces via Xbox Live to hammer out Bullet For My Valentine songs stop blowing each other up over their nationalistic, religious or cultural differences.

Peace through rock & roll...Just like Rufus said it would be.

Remember that Axl Rose guy?

Well apparently it really is go time for Chinese Democracy for reals as Axl and company continue to try to pull a massive viral tease by blitzing the 'net with a ton of promo videos only to pull them all just as quickly. This is following a couple years worth of "unauthorized leaks" of both songs and press releases that would promise drop dates which never materialized.

Why does it feel any different this time? Well, they rolled out an exclusive deal with Best Buy and iTunes. Axl may have been stringing what few fans he has left and his label along for 14 years now, but I don't believe for a second that he can get over on a pair of retail giants. If they're offering presales, then I'm a believer.

Now, if only I could be bothered to care. Sorry, but Axl has long chewed through every ounce of good will I ever had for him despite the fact that he's responsible for both my all-time favorite album and song.

I don't hold many grudges, so I'll swoop on a copy if I like what I hear. But Axl's gotta earn his way back into my good graces, much like Metallica did recently after they too spent a decade and a half killing their legacy.

GET'IM A BODY BAAAAG!

A few facts you may not know about the driving force behind the single greatest cinematic montage...EVER!

I'm on a mission from God...

Been awhile, I know, but I've been easily distracted (i.e. Trying to complete Rock Band 2) lately, so I haven't downloaded the seemingly endless backlog of photos off of my camera let alone sat down to pontificate about said photos.

But, I have a rare quiet moment here at work right now, so I'm abusing my access to the Internet to relay a couple antecdotes, the first being a story born from my last rare quiet moment at work.

Free time is a dangerous things in the hands of my coworkers and I. Mayhem always ensues if we don't have deathly ill or broken patients to tend to. People get taped to their seats, gurneys or swivel chairs are raced down the hallways, Wile-E.-Coyote-esque weaponry is built out of medical supplies or, in the most innocuous cases, strange, strange conversations are held.

The most recent had to do with "it"s. "It Girls" and "It Guys"; Whatever you may be into. People shared their all-times, with varying degrees of weirdness. I don't have many celebrity crushes. Most actresses don't do it for me, and even fewer models do. There are a few hot musicians, but if she sucks then that pretty much kills my buzz. And considering that the vast majority of new music sucks, well, you can figure it out.

It came to be my turn, and though I hadn't thought about it in awhile, there really is one clear-cut all-time "It Girl": Miki Berenyi.



Only hardcore Doom-Generation music geeks remember Miki or Lush, the band she fronted in those heady Bill Clinton days. They didn't get as much pub as fellow Britpoppers Blur or especially Oasis, the latter of which was pretty much the biggest band in the world for awhile. However, Lush had a phenomenal sound, in large part thanks to Miki's vocals.


The Britpop label doesn't do Lush justice. Their sound was more dream pop: The hazy, etherial alternative stuff that served as the forerunner to trip hop. The Smashing Pumpkins often veered into dream pop territory. ("Today"; "Tonight, Tonight" or "1979", for example.) The Sundays and Mazzy Star were also very similar, with sounds built on jangly guitars and etherial female vocals.

But Lush did dream pop better than anyone; Even the insanely brilliant Billy Corgan. Their sound was more aggressive without getting heavy. The guitars were fuzzy, but they churned out beautiful, sunny melodies that framed Miki's dreamy, shimmering voice.

I imagine that it also didn't hurt that Miki was hotter than doughnut grease.

I first discovered Lush the same place I discovered most new music in the '90s: MTV's 120 Minutes. I know I'm dating myself by mentioning a time when MTV actually featured music.



The flaming Ferrari-red hair, the British accent, the ambiguously ethnic features: Every alterna-geek was immediately in love with Miki, Especially in Europe where Lush made more of a splash. Sadly, they only lasted a few years and a couple albums before internal tension and a band member's suicide derailed the group. But Lush's music still holds up a decade later ("De-Luxe" is a track on Rock Band 2...Just sayin') and Miki has never relented her position as my all-time "It Girl."

Naturally, no one involved in the conversation that prompted the wave of Miki nostalgia had ever even heard of Miki or Lush. Everyone just kinda looked vacant and quickly moved to the next person.

On an unrelated note, I recently was given the role of determining the Greatest Song Ever. Don't argue, because this thing has come down from up on high. It'd be blasphemous to say God spoke to me, but I just kinda know this is what he wants me to do.

It changes frequently, as I just hear something, usually a song that's well travelled, and suddenly have an epiphany that this is the Greatest Song Ever. It's happened a few times over the past few months.

First it was "Don't Stop Believing" by Journey. Then it was Twisted Sister's hair-metal anthem "I Wanna Rock." Things got a little prog the last couple months as "Carry On Wayward Son" had a go, as did Foreplay/Long Time."

But there was another changing of the guard a couple days ago during yet another boredom-fueled conversation...



"Purple Rain" is clearly the Greatest Song Ever.

Rock Band 2 observations

* Big, huge, superepic props to Harmonix for curing my "Brick Wall Syndrome." (BWS)

Lemme explain: Inevitably on one of these games I'll run into a song I simply have absolutely no hope whatsoever of playing. On GUITAR HERO 2, it was "Carry Me Home" by Living End.

GH3 stopped me dead with Slayer's "Raining Blood" (I'd last about 13 seconds) and "One" by Metallica. (The latter really pissed me off b/c it's one of the most brilliant songs ever recorded and I'd always get about 5 minutes into it before the furious change would thwart me. At least Slayer saved me the time by kicking my ass really early.)

The original ROCK BAND had a whoppin' three on the final setlist: "Flirtin' With Disaster" by Molly Hatchet, "Green Grass and High Tides" by The Outlaws and the timeless "Highway Star" by Deep Purple.

All of the aforementioned songs became known as brick walls. My progress was immediately halted and I had no recourse save ramping the difficulty down to Hard and starting the whole freakin' game over again. Along with a bruised ego, it also made for some boring freakin' gameplay as the Hard setting is too easy. On top of having fewer notes to hammer out, they scroll down way more slowly than on the Expert setting; Way too slow, in fact. So slow that I would miss notes by getting impatient and belting them out in anticipation of when they'd finally arrive at the bottom of the screen.

Harmonix came up with the genius solution of allowing you to choose the difficulty of each song you play as you play them instead of picking a setting at the beginning and being locked into it. I'll never be able to play prog-metal icon Dream Theatre's "Panic Attack", which is arguably the hardest freakin' song ever included in one of the games. At least as hard as "Through the Fire and Flames" by Dragonforce on GH3. But no worries, I can take things down to a more manageable Hard, beat the song, then continue doing my thing on Expert without losing my progress. Nice.

They also solved the second problem associated with BWS by adding a Hyperspeed Mode, which, on Hard, makes the notes scroll a little faster than they would on Expert. I love you, Harmonix programmers.

* Five most fun songs to play (In no particular order)
"Everlong" by Foo Fighters

"Anyway You Want It" by Journey (Most of it anyhow. The second solo is insane.)

"Hungry Like The Wolf" by Duran Duran (Yeah, I'm as surprised as you are.)

"Alex Chilton" by The Replacements (Trust me: You know this song even if the title doesn't look familiar.)

"You Oughta Know" by Alanis Morrisette (Would've never thought this would be included in a game like this, and definitely would've never thought it would be so fun to play.)

* Axl Rose has graced us with one of the songs off of the Chinese Democracy album that he's been working on for 10 FREAKIN' YEARS NOW. Think I'm kidding? Everyone in G'N'R quit in 1994, Rose replaced them and began recording this thing in early '98. We're actually going on 11 freakin' years now, and, while we're doing the math, this would be Guns' first original studio album since the Use Your Illusion double albums dropped...In 1991. Yes, "November Rain" is older than some college kids.

ANYWAY, with no actual release date in sight for the album, "Shackler's Revenge" has debuted on the game and if this is what this album is gonna sound like then he can take another 11 freakin' years working on it. Hard to describe, but it sounds like Axl Rose doing his best impersonation of Trent Reznor circa-'94. Starting to think that the sheer, Godly brilliance of Appetite For Destruction was an abberation considering all the vastly inferior music these guys have recorded in various bands during the 20 years since.

* Why are Tenacious D songs so insanely hard to play on these games? It's Jack Black's joke band, for cryin' out loud.

* I really want my $75 figurine.

OK, gotta get back to work. "Carry On Wayward Son" ain't gonna beat itself.

Dreams and Plastic Guitars

Make no mistake about it, Rock Band 2 is the single greatest thing ever, replacing the previous single greatest thing ever: Rock Band 1. The folks at Harmonix deserve a Nobel Prize for this one.

The changes from the already great original installment to the mindblowingly epic sequel would seem pretty minor if you saw them on paper, but it's these tweaks in the gameplay that are responsible for the game's instant legendary status.

The single-player mode is now the same as the multi, which includes a series of challenges instead of just a collection of increasingly difficult setlists. Each city has individual songs that have to be beat as well as setlists you make, mystery setlists and, in a really nice touch for music geeks, city-specific setlists. Los Angeles has a setlist of So.Cal. bands. (Linkin Park, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Silversun Pickups, Offspring and Rage Against the Machine, off the top of my head.) San Fran has a classic-rock setlist in honor of the Haight-Ashbury scene and Montreal has, you guessed it, songs by Canadians.

The game's flaws are only minor. One of the improvements is the ability to design your bandmates, so you aren't stuck with strange-looking computer-generated choices that don't jive with your character or each other. The drawback, however, is that it doesn't automatically change vocalists when you come across a song sung by someone of a different gender than the last. Very, very strange to hear Hayley Williams' voice coming out of a dude.

Some of the 80-odd songs included in the game are questionable choices. "So What'cha Want" by the Beastie Boys and Beck's "E-Pro" are two of the worst possible choices they could've made. Not only does the bassline and guitar track on each of these songs only consist of a strange intermittant riff, but the drum beats are identical. Not similar, identical. Beck heavily sampled "So What'cha Want" for this particular song, including a straight rip of the drum track. One song for the price of two.

Most of the songs, however, are brilliant choices; A great mix of genres and eras. One of the things I've discovered from owning a few of these games now is that some of the worst, cheesiest songs make for the best gameplay. I'm violently allergic to most music made in the mid-to-late '80s, but damn if "Livin' on a Prayer" ain't more fun than a room full of monkeys on crank.

In a stroke of genius, Harmonix is looking to further cash in on talentless frustrated never-will-bes like me by offering 6" figures of your custom character via their website in the near future. Having always dreamt of being both a rock star and having my own action figure, you can imagine how hard I geeked when I saw the images down below...



Yeah, there's $75 down the drain.

God Gave Rock & Roll To You

A day without rock and roll is far worse than a day without sunshine. I went to school in San Francisco for two years during which the sun only came out about seven times. Asking me to go an entire day without big, fat beats and fuzzed out guitars, however, is expecting the impossible.

It was a very, very sunny day last weekend when The Echoplex hosted nine stoner-rock bands, including Earthless, that real-live bunch from San Diego that is pretty much the single greatest band on the planet.

My dear friend Daisy (aka Day-Z) was my hook-up for this event, which was an added bonus since we don't get to hang out nearly enough these days. She had something to do that afternoon, so I was flying solo for the first couple bands until she joined me.

Day-Z's tardiness turned out to be a blessing for her. For starters, the doors didn't open until after 4 even though the tix said the event would begin at 3. If you haven't been to Echo Park recently, consider yourself lucky. To call it a crappy neighborhood would be giving the area far too much credit.

Things got started (just before 5) with a band who stumbled through an uninspired but mercifully short set in front of the handful of us who were punctual. It wasn't a bad band, per se, but there was nothing to really distinguish them or motivate me to give any of their music a listen.

Things picked up quickly, though, when Night Horse strafed the place. This five-piece set from Los Angeles was a revelation, featuring a snarling, hyperkenetic front-man; a tight, relentless rhythm section and a riff-tastic sound centered around a pair of lead guitarists that had a very-late '70s Detroit feel to it. (The same kinda stuff that The Racounteurs draw from for inspiration.)

A little post-concert homework revealed their debut EP is going to drop in the coming weeks and they nailed down at least one surefire sale with their scorching set. Now we were in business.

One of Night Horse's guitarists pulled double duty as he stuck around to front the next band on the bill, The Ancestors. This was by far the ticket's heaviest band, with a downtempo sound built on a seriously detuned guitar and a bass amp so loud that you could feel it in your chest cavity.

I'm not much of a doom metal fan, but The Ancestors were joined at the end of their set by a blonde girl who laid down a pretty lyricless vocal that offered a nice counterpoint to the band's sludgy sound. It reminded me of a heavy "Great Gig In The Sky" and was definitely the highlight of the set.

Day-Z arrived in time to see San Francisco's Assemble Head In Sunburst Sound, who had been touring with my beloved Earthless the last couple months, offer one of the bill's most interesting sets. We were intruiged the moment I saw them set up a theremin, which, for the uninitiated, is one of the first electric instruments and is best known for giving the Beach Boys' "Good Vibrations" the eerie haunted-house sound that accompanies the chorus. Sweet!

I really dug Assemble Head's sound, but am having a hard time trying to find ways to describe it. Theirs is a very ecelectic mix that encapsulates the sum of rock from the late-'60s through the mid-'70s: Kinda blusey, kinda spacey with a bit of dirty guitar to give it some teeth. It was such a great set that I immediately hit the merch table to pick up their CD, which I've really dug in the days since.



It's also worth noting that they had a cute hippy chick playing bass and keys, which is always a huge plus for a band. Halfway through the bill and two bands have been CD-purchase-worthy. Business was definitely picking up.

The good times continued with Graveyard, who were just plain brilliant! Incredible musicians and great songwriters who laid down very complex tracks with a lot of tempo changes and titanic drum breaks.

Most of the bill draws heavily from Black Sabbath for inspiration; It's kind of a given that retro-metal bands will look to the guys who invented the sound. But there's a lot more psychadelic blues reminiscent of Cream and Zeppelin in Graveyard than most of the bill.

It was the bill's third CD-purchase worthy offering, and Day-Z was particularly impressed with this Swedish band. And here we thought our friends to the far north were only good for boxy, reliable cars; cheap furniture and, of course ABBA.

I'll consider Graveyard as reparations for all of the above. All is now forgiven, Sweden.



That's bassist Mike Eginton.



Dude on the drum kit is Mario Rubalcaba.



And this is Isaiah Mitchell. Collectively they go by the name Earthless. Immediately contact the police if you see any of them because they killed a few hundred metalheads that night with an incindiary set that left a huge crater where the concert venue previously stood.

Think I'm gushing a little too much over Earthless? Then you've never heard them before. I've never heard a band that was so unrestrained and otherworldly without veering away from rock and roll into experimental noise. Earthless most definitely rocks. Rubalcaba and Eginton are the backbone; a tight unit that effortlessly seques from pushing the riff that forms the loosest of song structure for their jams while occasionally changing things up with a double-or-triple time outburst and some devestating seven-megaton beats.

Mitchell is nothing short of mind blowing, weaving an effects-laden guitar tapestry that melts the face of all who dare not avert their gaze. Like the rythm section, Mitchell switches gears many time during the set. Etherial sitar-like lullabies give way to massive, Earth-shattering riffs that explode into crushing tsunamis of wah-wah and feedback. Mitchell colors in the spaces between the riffs with inspired, seemingly endless, head-popping solos the likes of which I've never heard before.

I discovered Earthless at The Silent Movie Theatre a couple months back where they performed following a screening of the stoner-rock doc SUCH HAWKS, SUCH HOUNDS. I proceeded to fall in love with their glorious sound from their first note up until the LAPD shut 'em down about 40 heavenly minutes later. I scooped up the two records they've released over the past three years, and they are nothing like anything I've heard before: Old-school psychadelic metal with a jazz sensibility from three insanely brilliant musicians.

Now after seeing them perform a proper set without fear of Johnny Law killing our buzz, love has given way to infatuation. I'm not the only one, either. Seemingly every musician on the undercard lined the sides of the stage to watch them do their thing. Day-Z also developed a bad case of Isaiah Mitchell. I had the pleasure of meeting the master at the merch table after I'd recovered from their set ("Don't look him directly in the eye and be sure to call him 'sir'" I warned Day-Z) where he sold me a shirt ("You should ask him to sleep in it and then give it to me" Day-Z suggested) and gave me a head's up on a live disc recorded during a European festival that's going to drop next month. Nice!

As a postscript, Day-Z was a little bent a few minutes later when she saw the cute hippy chick from Assemble Head cozy up to Mitchell at the merch table. She had some less-than-kind words for hippychick, but I offered that the pairing could have children that would end poverty, cure all disease and benevolently rule the utopia they'd create.

Co-headliner Witch wrapped things up, and they were a great outfit. Unfortunately, for them, it was now midnight and I was getting pretty rocked out and hungry by this point. Also, Graveyard and Earthless are tough, tough acts to follow. But, I dug Witch's heavy, riffy sound enough to buy their CD and give them a listen when they have my undivided attention.

What a beautful, loud day it was, the remnants of which I got to enjoy for the next 36 hours, which is when the
constant ringing in my ears finally abated. Permanent hearing damage has never been so much fun.

Eric Vs. "Big" Jim Martin

Yet another in a series of public cries for help as I cannot for the life of me get five stars on "Epic" by Faith No More in Rock Band. The four-and-three-quarters-star glass ceiling is proving to be unbreakable.

This continues a painful trend when it comes to me and my obsession with music video games: The more I love a song, the worse I play it.

This trend now spans several games. It started with "Sweet Child o'Mine" on Guitar Hero II. The song's signature riff always gave me fits.

It continued with "Knights of Cydonia" on GH III, which I never could get a handle on. My inability to play neither the long strumming sections at the beginning or the sci-fi interlude before the song's furious finish often sent my blood pressure through the roof.

And now "Epic," which would definitely be on a very short list of my all-time favorite songs. I can play most of it pretty well, but I can't handle the solo which ends with an insane series of hammer-ons and pull-offs that my clumsy fingers can't even begin to comprehend.

I take this matter a bit too seriously, as I eventually come to blame the guitarists who originally played these songs for my lack of skill and come to despise them. That said, FNM guitarist Jim Martin is my latest arch-nemesis.

Trust me, you're familiar with the dude even if you aren't the rock-&-roll-aphile that I am. Remember the video for "Epic", with the fish flopping on the ground? Or how about the opening minutes of BILL & TED'S BOGUS JOURNEY that are set in the utopia created by the universal love of Wyld Stallyns? Then I'm sure you remember this guy...



If any of you ever see Martin, tell him I hate him.

Ultra Beatdown

As I've said before, if you don't like DragonForce then you are a waste of DNA and shut up.

I've been patiently waiting like a good, little metalhead for their new album to drop and, thankfully, the standard bearers for the "extreme power metal" movement haven't let me down.

Beatdown doesn't stray far from the formula that propelled DF's breakthrough 2006 album Inhuman Rampage. The band is very unapologetic for sticking to their guns, and, in all honesty, don't have much room for growth short of changing genres.

Like most DF fanboys, I'm here for the relentless twin-guitar assault of Sam Totman and Herman Li, but I was pleasantly surprised to find a lot of prog-rock in this 8-track shred-a-thon. Totman & Li share a bit more of the stage with keyboardist Vadim Pruzhanov, whose furious work on the synthesizer offers an nice occasional breather from the band's signature six-string shock and awe campaign.

Fortunately, though, the band holds true to its word, never straying far from their winning formula and gleefully amplifying everything the we in the mullet set dig about metal down to the superepic Dungeons-and-Dragons inspired album covers, lyrics and song titles. (Allow me to be the first to nominate "Heartbreak Armageddon" as the greatest tag ever.) And, of course, the guitars still run wild and reign surpreme.

There's much to love here, and DragonForce deserves much credit for both handling their newfound albeit modest success and for giving us fanboys everything we love about the band without simply retreading "Through the Fire and Flames" a half-dozen times on the new disc.

CURRENTLY LISTENING: Figure it out, genius...

No, seriously...

..."Foreplay/Long Time" really is the greatest song ever. I don't know why it took me three decades to figure that out.

The greatest song ever recorded EVER...

...is "Foreplay/Long Time" by Boston.

Just puttin' that out there.

Eric's War Journal

THE DATE: JULY 23, 2008
THE PLACE: Hollywood
THE MISSION: See "Spaced" on the big screen and hear the wacky Brits behind one of the most brilliant shows ever talk about it.
How hard can it be?

0915: After a tidy three-hours of sleep following the second-to-last installment of Diablo's run at the New Bev, which itself followed a shift that was preceeded by ninety minutes of sleep, I wake up and attempt to cover up the fact that caffeine has been a substitute for good ol' fashioned American rest these past couple weeks. I plan on getting to the ArcLight when it opens in 45 minutes to find out when and where they'll allow the geeks to queue it up. Since the show is free and first-come, first-served, hordes will arrive and many will go home without knowing the joys of "Spaced."

1000: Recon officially begins. I wait for the rabble of viewers there to see THE DARK KNIGHT to get their tickets before I ask the concierge where they plan on lining up the geeks. She looks at me quizzically before excusing herself and returning with a manager.

I apologize for wasting the manager's time and pose her the same question. She looks at me just as quizzically as the first girl I spoke to. I then point to the large digital board that dominates the ArcLight lobby with the theatre's showtimes and point to, "SPECIAL - BBC DVD THEATRE 10."

She seems to be noticing this for the first time, so I then explain to her that her theatre will be hosting a free screening for a bunch of rabid geeks that will likely start pouring into the lobby in a couple hours. Damn if she knows where they're all going to go, however, so she apologizes for her lack of help and excuses herself.

I have a bad feeling about this...

1027: With nothing to do and nowhere in particular to do it, I take refuge at Swingers for eggs, vegetarian sausage and a fat stack of banana pancakes. I check with my secretary and find a message from Jason asking what's going on with the screening. I explain the theatre is clue-deficient, but assure him not to worry that I will handle recon and score us a great place in whatever line emerges in the next couple hours.

1122: I hit Amoeba Records to score the new EP from Zack De La Rocha's new band and The Sword's second album. I also find a Dead Meadow CD cheap in the used bin. Maybe my luck's turning.

I run into New Bev Midnight regulars Jackie and Eric and explain my screwball mission to them and bring them up to speed on its less-than-stellar start. They can't lie about my chances, but I have their sympathy.

1152: As I head over to Starbucks for more caffeine and to convert my new music into ones and zeroes on my laptop, I see a couple geeks -- a goth girl and a chick with bubble-gum pink hair -- standing alongside the cooking school that's across the plaza from the theatre. Could this be the genesis of the queue?

1200: I'm still really impressed with how good that new Sbux coffee is.

1309: Hot Topic and Bubble Gum have been joined by three other girls with geekish leanings. I confirm that this is, in fact, the queue and I and my crew will be 6th in line. Now it's time to sit and wait...

...a lot...

1319: I'm finished with my first listen of One Day as a Lion and it is BADASS! Kinda reminiscent of Evil Empire, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that.

1327: Silent Bob's long-lost twin brother loudly rolls in from the signing in Westwood that I passed up to ensure a good place in line. He announces to all of us that we missed something epic, which I'm sure we all appreciated hearing. Maybe it was the lack of sleep or my contempt of loudmouths (I don't like the competition), but I suddenly realize that there are a lot of manhole covers through which a dumpy guy who clearly doesn't have the time for personal hygiene could be thrown.

The line starts to build momentum over the next half-hour as my face is thoroughly melted by Gods of the Earth. The Sword owns! They are the lords of all they survey!

1415: A security guard emerges from the theatre and crosses the courtyard to ask me what the line's for.

Chew on that for a moment: A theatre employee is asking me why we're lined up at said theatre.

This thing is being run with military freakin' precision. The line's now pretty beefy.

1445: Jason; his new sidekick JD, who I've been seeing around the Bev a lot, and Cat, a friend of Jason's I've never met, arrive within minutes of each other.

Jason is stoked about our place in line. I'm stoked I can now use the men's room.

1524: Jason hits the Baja Fresh across the street for provisions. I normally loathe the place, but I'm so starved that the grilled vegetarian burrito is like heroin. I stop just short of gobbling the waxy paper it's wrapped in.



1639: As Jay and JD run for coffee, a couple bouncer-esque guys roll the Batpod out of its trailer and a full-blown geek feeding frenzy ensues. People begin battling for position, as if the 750-pound bike is suddenly going to disintegrate before they can snap a picture of it.



I wait for the scent of blood to clear the water before I casually stroll up and get my cheesecake shots.



The line, by the way, has now hit critical mass as it runs the entire length of the plaza...



...winds down Sunset Blvd....



...and rounds the corner across the street from Amoeba.



With the large number of seats that I'm sure that are being saved for friends of the production, a lot of geeks are going home sad today.

1710: Phil comes over to hand out fliers that pimp his upcoming shows and stops to chat with us at the head of the line. I tell him how very, very happy I am that he's screening OVER THE TOP, and he gives me that look he usually gives me when I say something like that.

1758: "ERRRIC!" I stop to see who's shouting my name to find Nicole, another regular on the Geek Circuit, standing around with a gaggle of friends by the front door. I quickly put two and two together and realize that she's not lined up like the rest of us losers because she's being hooked up with seats. She confirms this, fueling a sudden bout of jealousy the likes of which fills my chest cavity with an intense heat.

She explains that her friend, Harmony I believe was her name, runs Simon Pegg's website.

I ask Nicole to tell Harmony I hate her.

1810: Shortly after regulars Rob and Jen join us, the line behind us begins to stir as Edgar Wright, Simon and Jessica Hynes roll in high-fiving the geeks as they pass. I can't get pics of the guys, but I snap a shot of Jess as she enthusiastically chats with a few girls who she recoginzed from the signing earlier that day.



1845: WE'RE IN!!!! The hours spent standing around doing absolutely nothing now pay off as we score the best seats in the house: Dead center in the front row of the second section. Soon the place is completely packed.



Caffeine is replaced by geek-flavored adrenaline as I realize how lucky my handful of cinephiles and I are to even be at something like this. I had the same feeling during THE MOVIE ORGY and Nicky Katt's Monday Mug Melter at the Silent Movie Theatre. I've seen some very, very cool things that many geeks would give their middle nut for this past year.

Speaking of THE MOVIE ORGY, Joe Dante rolls in. So does John Landis. Heather Graham takes a seat in the front row. Diablo shows up with Julia and a couple other faces I recognize from the New Bev.



Kevin Smith gets things started by announcing he's baked, which elicits a huge roar of approval from the crowd. Once again, I'm the straightest geek in the place. Should be used to it by now.

Smith introduces the cast who say a couple brief words then roll the episodes: "Art", "Epiphanies" and "Gone." I haven't seen the show since they aired a handful of eps on BBC America a few years ago to conicide with the release of the painfully brilliant SHAUN OF THE DEAD. the show is just as hilarious as I had remembered, and looks great on the big screen.





Kevin comes back to kick off the Q & A, and not a moment too soon since he looks as if he was about to drop any second. I guess the Industry types can afford the really good stuff.







The three are effortlessly funny, and their banter following the screening makes me long for some sort-of reunion. All three agree there is no way they could recreate the magic of the show at this point in their lives, nixing a proper "Spaced" reunion, but offer that they'd love to continue working together in some other capacity.

They say their goodbyes and retired to a private party in the bar on the ArcLight balcony. My geekdreanaline wearing off and with work looming on the horizon, I too retire.

After all, I need all the rest I could muster...



RICKY is almost here!

Heroes Of Our Time

I don't mean to judge, but anyone who doesn't like DragonForce is a booger-eating moron.

I am I am I said I'm not myself but I'm not dead and I'm not for sale

Stone Temple Pilots tore up the Hollywood Bowl Tuesday night, and I still haven't fully recovered from having my face rocked.

Scott Weiland was in fine voice, the band was razor sharp and, most importantly, they very clearly enjoyed playing. Scott even commented on how thrilled he was to be able to play the Bowl.

They opened with "Big Empty" (Dean DeLeo is amazing on the slide guitar) and "Wicked Garden", played almost all of Core and their greatest (The Beatles-esque "Lady Picture Show" was particularly righteous live) before finishing with "Dead and Bloated" and "Trippin' on a Hole in a Paper Heart" (Maybe my single favorite song) as the encore.

STP has always been one of my favorite bands, and certainly one of the most important of the American alternative movement. But I now appreciate them on a whole other level, particularly their ability to switch gears effortlessly between the heavy tracks on Core; their haunting, bluesy melodies; and the '70s classic-rock influenced work toward the end of their original run. Scott is clearly a fragile human being; His very public meltdowns seem to happen in annual intervals. Here's hoping he keeps it together long enough for the anticipated fifth studio album and another tour because I would love to see 'em again.

The previous weekend, I was treated to one of the greatest weekends of my movie-going life. It was a reunion with a couple of old, dear friends and a very, very strange visit with a hermaphroditic mass-murdering villain who moonlights as a lounge singer that you may recognize from one of the biggest bands of the past 35 years.



The Aero Theatre continued its unbe-freakin'-lievable summer run with a pair of films from Savage Steve Holland, whos body of work is small but above reproach.

The iconic BETTER OFF DEAD... kicked things off, and the manic speedball of cinematic weirdness is just as hilarious as it was nearly a quarter-century ago. What I appreciated this time around, however, was its sweeter side. BOD has just enough sweetness to keep the wackiness from spiraling out of control, as seemingly every film does that tries to match its zaniness over the last 25 years.

It's sweeter side? Wow. I'm turning into such a wuss.



The double bill was broken up by the best Q & A I've had the privledge of attending. Holland himself is a ball of manic energy, but in a very engaging, amusing way. His presence isn't grating and overbearing like some other mega-intense filmmakers I can think of.



Holland brought with him frequent collaborator Curtis Armstrong and BOD actress Diane Franklin, who also appeared in a couple other Doom-Generation standards and is still freakin' adoreable.

All three had very fond memories of working on BOD. The actors said Holland is fun to work for and encourages ideas and improvisation, and Holland returned the praise by crediting Armstrong for creating several of his character Charles De Mar's stand-out moments.



The theatre was packed with thirty-somethings who grew up on Holland's work, but one superfan stole the show by bringing a box of BOD-related items to be signed including the air cleaner off his Camaro, a two-dollar bill and some very rare movie items.

ONE CRAZY SUMMER, which isn't the classic BOD is but is still a very good comedy with a few sidesplitting moments. ("Lemme tell you a story about a little fat boy...")

Although I'm normally very allergic to having my picture taken, I got caught up in the zeitgeist and had such a good time watching these two staples of my childhood and listening to the insanely likeable Holland that I mugged for a pic with him.



Saturday at midnight brought Phil's regular New Beverly Midnight, and this one was a monster.

I'd describe NEVER TOO YOUNG TO DIE to all of you but you'd swear I was making it up. Y'see, in the heady days of '86, Uncle Jesse from "Full House" starred in an action film with one of Prince's hoochies and Double-Oh Seven to battle Gene Simmons, who led a pack of leather-and-chains-clad leftovers from one of the '80s countless ROAD WARRIOR rip-offs and Freddy Krueger in an attempt to exort the government by threatening to poison the water supply.

Oh yeah, and Simmons was a hermaphrodite who had a lounge act, nearly made out with Stamos in a couple scenes and killed people with a razor-sharp spike on the end of his right middle finger.

See, told you...

Needless to say, it was AWESOME! I laughed long and hard, as did a very packed New Bev. Chicks dig Stamos, I guess.

It's worth mentioning that the crowd was particularly hot for a THE LAST DRAGON trailer that preceded the film and I'm now making it my life's mission to merciless harrass Phil until he shows it just to shut me up.