BEHOLD! The inspiration and artwork of the Mad Metal Man, Harrison Kopp, knows no bounds.
In this incredible piece of art, Harrison has paid homage to Albany’s greatest band, BLOTTO, in Lego form! This is a first of its kind for the band.
In the artwork you can clearly see the five core members of the band, with their images paying tribute to the “Metal Head” music video (and the Combo Akimbo album in Bowtie Blotto’s case). Their backdrop is a reference to their Across & Down EP, with a crossword puzzle painstakingly made by Harrison. Even the audience members in the photo contain Easter eggs and references to Blotto songs, and maybe even the artist himself.
No AI was used in this image, and only minimal Photoshop was employed. The lighting itself is made in a very creative and cool way, with physical lights. Harrison breaks down all the details in the video below. Can you spot them all yourself?
As thanks for creating this art, Harrison has been honoured with the privilege of choosing his own Blotto name. Watch the video to see what name he chose!
You can’t keep everything forever. This is an unfortunate truth that is one we must all face. Eventually, you gotta throw things out.
Or, if you have a flair for the dramatic as I do, you gotta burn ’em.
I’m sure at one point in my life, I thought that these science notebooks would come in handy. Indeed, I can’t remember how electron shells work anymore, which I used to find easy, so maybe there was some value in those books. The real reason I hung onto them for so long was because I made so many doodles and sketches that I thought might be funny to keep. I took a quick look and scanned some of the memorable ones (some can be seen here) but there were so, so many. Were they all keepers? I didn’t want to tackle that task and so I stuffed the notebooks in a corner for five years.
These books are over 35 years old now, took up too much space for something that will never be read again, and a decision had to be made.
I remember a lot of kids in highschool saying, “Ooh I’m gonna burn my notebooks as soon as school is out!” I don’t know if they did that, but I decided to honour them by burning mine. I kept some pages. As I went through them, I pulled out pages with doodles and sketches and funny notes. Those might be shown in another video later on, but for now, let’s see what some 35 year old highschool notebooks had in them that was worth saving from the fires.
As you can see, heavy metal music was always the main thing in my life. There are guitars, there are band logos, lyrics, and a few passing grades too.
I guess the truth is, I always felt like school was something I had to do, in order to go home and listen to music at the end of the day. I did fine, I passed, but my mom always felt I could have focused more. I think these notebooks show she was right. The grades were good, not great, and my attention was clearly elsewhere at times.
With notes dating back to 1988 and ’89, perhaps some earlier, it wasn’t easy to let these go. I’ll never be able to use them to teach myself about electron shells. The best I could do was keep some pages and use the rest to have a cool fire.
As Jon Bon Jovi said, “it’s hard letting you go.” I hope the video is worth it.
Who doesn’t love musical mail? Check out some thoughtful gifts from Tim Durling and Marco D’Auria, plus a really cool surprise from Amazon.
Marco and Tim were apparently on the same wavelength when these two parcels are sent.
Sometimes Amazon’s listings are not accurate, and you have to take a chance. Fortunately their return policy makes things easy if you ordered the wrong thing. In this case, I ordered a CD that I need for an upcoming show. I found a Japanese import reasonably priced, but there was also a deluxe edition that I was told was really good. Check out what happens next. You won’t believe it!
The audio version of my Grandma’s eulogy differed slightly from what I wrote on the page. I am glad to have this record of how it happened, live.
For most of my life, I’ve only had one grandparent. Grandma Ladano was gone before I was born. Grandpa Ladano died in 1981. We lost Grandpa Winter in 1984. Since that time I only had one Grandma, and she was very special to all of us. Not just because she was the only one, as you will hear today.
My mom tells me that Grandma babysat me a lot as a kid. I don’t remember this very much, but I do remember that she was my favourite babysitter. I can remember that I would look forward to those nights that Grandma would take care of me. I also remember visiting her house a lot. She had board games there that we didn’t have, like Mousetrap and Clue. The idea was that they wanted us to have special games that we could only play at Grandma’s house, but we didn’t need special games to enjoy those visits. She let us watch the Flintstones and run around the yard. She and Grandpa took me to the Welland Canal to see the big ships going through the locks. It seemed like being there was never boring, even to a kid. It was always fun to visit Grandma’s house. My dad and I would pick carrots from her garden, much to her scolding. My sister and I never took her scolding very seriously. We heard she could be strict, but she never was with us.
Most of my memories are from adulthood. I suppose adulthood started with the end of highschool and moving on to University. I attended Wilfrid Laurier, which was just a short drive from her place. On Thursdays during my first year, I had a full slate of classes. I had history and psychology in the afternoons, with a short break before evening Anthropology, which was a favourite of mine. It was too long a trip to drive all the way home for dinner and back again for class, so instead I had dinner at Grandma’s house. She would make my favourite: pork chops in mushroom soup. That was a special meal that only she made. It was like a treat. She’d offer me something for dessert and then I’d be running back to school again. For her, our visits were always too short.
In 1997, we took a special trip with Grandma and Aunt Marie, out west to see Aunt Lynda and Cousin Geoff in Calgary. This was a special trip for me. Work didn’t want me to take a week off in the fall, but I insisted. I really wanted to go. That trip was everything I wanted it to be. Grandma was a little slower moving, and I used to make sure everybody stopped and waited for her to catch up at the airport. If I saw her lagging behind, I would stop and shout, “Wait for the grandma!” That was an excellent trip. We made daily trips out shopping and just relaxing reading books. We went to the mountains. Some of my happiest memories are visiting the mountains out west, but that trip was special because Grandma and I really took care of each other that time.
I think one of the best ways we spent time together was driving to the cottage. I would pick her up at her place, load the car with her planters and bags, and we’d make the two hour trip together. I’d pick the music; something she’d like. O Brother Where Art Thou was a favourite of hers. She liked “You Are My Sunshine”. Whatever we picked, we’d talk the whole way there. She would point out all the flowers along the way, which I couldn’t stop to look at because I was driving! I always found that funny, because Grandma didn’t drive and didn’t realize I had my eyes on the road. Those were some special trips, just the two of us.
Grandma always supported Dr. Kathryn’s music, even as it got more experimental. “Kathryn, will you ever play some of the songs that I like?” she would ask. Kathryn wasn’t into playing anything that wasn’t original and eclectic, but Grandma kept going to her shows anyway. Few people really understand that kind of music, but Grandma went with the loyalty that only a grandparent has.
At the age of 96, Grandma endured a global pandemic. The isolation really bothered her, but we did porch visits every other weekend with her. When Uncle Don died, it really affected her. Suddenly she was living alone. She won two battles with Covid, which is unbelievable. It really felt like Grandma was bulletproof, given all the hardship she endured. First Uncle Don, then his cat. This is enough loss for most people to just pack it in.
She was touch as nails. Covid couldn’t take her down. Several close calls happened, and she bounced back every time.
In 2024, she had what I will call her final wish. Grandma loved food. A good meal of meat and potatoes was all she wanted. She always told us how much she craved a good old fashioned home cooked feast. She got it that on Christmas Day 2024. It was a struggle to move her from her home to ours, up the stairs to the dining room. There was one moment frozen in time when I thought we’d have to back out and take her home, so difficult were the stairs. But she made it, and had her one last family dinner with us. It was a very special moment. She declined for seven months after. That trip fulfilled her final wish, but I believe it also took the last of her strength from her. Also, I think she had a hard realization that she couldn’t come and go anymore. That there was no way she could do that again. That she’d never see the cottage again, or have another big family dinner. But I don’t think she regretted it. It was a very special night. She still made it to 101 years old.
All of us went to see her for her birthday that day. She enjoyed her lunch and coffee, and had a nice rest afterwards. She was thinking of her sister, Aunt Marie. Towards the end, it was difficult to see her decline, but her birthday was the last time I saw her. Even though she had so many close calls, it was still a shock to me when she finally went on July 30 2025. I’m glad she made it to 101. I really wanted that to happen because it is such a huge milestone. They make birthday cards for 100, but not 101. She defied all the odds.
She was always special, in life and in death. Always full of surprises, right to the very end. She had the spirit of a fighter and a well of feistiness that most of us will never find.
I miss our phone calls, and I miss seeking her advice. I used to say that Grandma was the only one in the family who understood me. Now that’s gone. My confidant is gone. The one person who always knew what I was going through. The memory remains, and I will always be grateful for my special grandmother that lived to 101 years old. Goodbye Grandma. They always say this when someone is gone, but there truly will never be another one like Dolly Winter.
Maiden were back in a big way. Though the video game began life with Blaze Bayley on lead vocals, when it was finally released, Bruce Dickinson and Adrian Smith were both back in the band! The ironic thing about this was that neither of them were depicted in the game, though Blaze was!
A 3 CD set, Ed Hunter was the first release with Bruce and Adrian back in the band. A “greatest hits” album and a video game all in one, Ed Hunter was a must-buy for Maiden diehards, especially in the United States where it contained a bonus track: “Wrathchild 1999 (New Vocal Version with Bruce Dickinson)”. Standard versions contained 20 tracks split over one-and-a-half discs, with the tracks selected by the fans in an online poll. We break it down track by track, and compare to the previous “hits” album, Best of the Beast, while also discussing the new track which was also available on a promotional CD single with band art.
As for the game? The last disc-and-a-half of space featured the game and installation software. Harrison got his copy working! He got out a vintage computer and some video capture software, and recorded himself playing and winning the game! We provide a highlights reel from Harrison’s video, to give you a feel for the gameplay and graphics. (Epilepsy warnings will appear when appropriate.)
This release also featured a tour. A big one! Harrison breaks down the setlist, and what tracks from that tour were released in live versions.
Maiden were back…and so is 50 Years of Iron Maiden!
Friday September 5 at 7:00 P.M. E.S.T. Enjoy on YouTube.
Minor revelations continue to hit me in my 53rd year around the sun. As I toil away over a hot keyboard, hammering words into the ether while Dennis DeYoung asks me “What you doin’ tonight?”, I realize something.
One reason I love summer so much is that I love working outdoors. I always have.
Of course, I use the word “working” in the creative sense. I don’t mean hard labor outdoors! Come on.
In my current actual job, I would work outdoors if I have the chance. The one time I did work remotely from the cottage, it was too cold and wet to work outdoors. Given the chance though, I will.
And given the chance, I write outdoors. I film outdoors. I animate outdoors. This all began when I was a kid.
We had the best front stoop. Oh, really it was nothing special. It was just a concrete front stoop surrounded by driveway and grass. But on that front stoop came the best childhood times.
Board games. Creating drawings. Inventing stories. Playing music. Eventually, hearing Maiden Japan by Iron Maiden for the first time. Making videos. Playing guitar. So much went down on that front stoop. Only meters away, on the front lawn, often unfolded great battles with GI Joe vs. Cobra. Just more stories being invented. It could have turned into a photostory if we had the digital technology then that we have now.
The backyard featured many more creative inventions. More drawings, more games being invented and more stories being written. Sometimes, even homework was completed back there.
During winter, I would go into hibernation and try to have the same adventures in the cramped indoors. It was never the same.
I just had a memory. In the summer of 1984, the hot new GI Joe figure to own was Zartan, the master of disguise. Not only did he come with a slew of accessories and a small vehicle, he also changed colour in the sunlight, Normally a light Caucasian skin tone, Zartan would turn a deep blue when exposed to sun. Summer represented a short warm window when you could play with your GI Joe characters, and get full use of your Zartan figure. This could not be duplicated indoors. You had to use your Zartans in the summer! Our front yard featured as Zartan’s home swamps for several consecutive summers. (Especially a few years later when his brother and sister, Zandar and Zarana, were introduced into the toyline with similar colour changing features.)
Bob Schipper showed me how to make little garages for our Hotwheels cars. We’d use twigs to build these little structures, and cover them with grass. This eventually led to hut and trench building for our GI Joe figures. Any base or headquarters set that Hasbro sold were not as useful to us as a handful of twigs and grass. (Twigs with a “Y” shaped section were especially useful for building huts.) We could dig trenches and have our figures man them with their weapons. Any character with a bipod or tripod, such as Rock and Roll or Roadblock, worked even better in the trenches.
The only real drawback to playing outdoors was losing the small action figure accessories. Another memory strikes. Even younger, playing Star Wars in the front yard, probably 1978. I lost my Sand Person’s gaffi stick somewhere in the dirt near this big birch tree in the center of our yard. It was gone. I imagined it would be shredded by my dad’s lawnmower and had to move on. I utilized a wooden matchstick for the Sandman’s gaffi stick thenceforth. Winter came. A thick sheet of snow and ice concealed the dirt underwhich the gaffi stick had disappeared. Spring came, and in a funny twist, my mom found Sandman’s gaffi stick in the front flowergarden dirt. I was ecstatic! But this only lasted a short time, as I promptly lost it again, this time permanently.
Another summer, I made a fleet of vehicles using virtually every single brick in my Lego collection. It started with this one cool tank and grew from there. It is miraculous that no Lego bricks were permanently lost or shredded on the front lawn, as that is where their battles unfurled.
Sure, we played catch, threw a football, kicked a soccerball and thumped on a volleyball too. Those aren’t the things I’m drawn to remember. Throwing a baseball seemed more like the same thing every time. Meanwhile, my creative adventures, either with pen & paper or action figures, were always memorable.
I wasn’t just “playing”. Stories were being told. Established characters were used, true to their fictional biographies and specialties. Tangents were played out that originated in existing media. Original ideas and settings were placed into the mix and a story was enacted, often with a free direction but with certain plot setpieces pre-planned. Perhaps I would want to incorporate a new toy or character, and so I would gear the story to their introduction or feature role. There was so much more going on than just playing with toys.
I sit here now, as the Styx album concludes, and typing some final thoughts into my laptop. I do this as a cool late summer breeze provides a perfect comfort, and the greens and blues that surround me feel soft and calm. I’m just geared this way. Put me outdoors and let me create.
I would have met Searle over 45 years ago now. Our cottage was built on this land in 1980, and we have a photo of Searle straining to look at a load of wood siding and windows, being delivered here, dated July 1980. Indeed, it was his curiosity that brought him here. A project as big as building a cottage draws onlookers, and he was only a couple properties over.
We were the same age and both of us from Kitchener. In fact, his other step-brother Paul taught science at a highschool in my neighborhood. Paul Marrow would become my favourite science teacher in grade 10. He even appears in a music video I made in the 11th grade.
Since Searle and I were the same age, it stood to reason that we had in common the only thing that mattered in 1980: Star Wars. He and I were playmates during that eternal, infernal stretch of time during which Han Solo was frozen in carbonite at the end of the Empire Strikes Back. Any games that we played with our figures had to work around that time frame if we wanted to incorporate Solo into the story. As it happened, Kenner’s Empire Solo figure, in the snowsuit with the working gun holster was one of my favourite figures of the entire line. Still is! Of course we wanted to use Solo in our games.
“It’s weird how Han Solo got frozen, but it was hot,” I mused to Searle one afternoon while playing Star Wars in his cottage’s yard.
“Yeah,” he responded. “There was smoke but he got frozen.”
“I should freeze my Han Solo in ice,” I suddenly thought. “I’ll put him in a glass and freeze him.”
From that point on in my young life, my mom was never surprised to find a glass with water and an action figure in her freezer. Part of being a mom to a Star Wars kid.
The last time I saw Searle was in the early 1990s. He was big, and bald, and very tough looking. He stopped by the cottage to say hello. By then, I remember he was into the music of Phil Collins. And that was it. Never saw him again.
Until August 31, 2025. Forty-five years after the fact, a big bald man and a smaller companion walked right past me down the road. He was unmistakable, but he didn’t look or stop. He probably assumed there was no way the same guy still lived here. He walked up the way to his parents’ cottage, and stopped to linger a while. Then he moved on down the road and away again, like a ghost.
The ghosts of summers past still live on, and with them the memories. I should try to freeze my new $2 Darth Vader figure in the ice.
7″ of satanic panic? Absolutely, for here is a Papa Emeritus IV “Ultimates” figure from Super 7. These limited edition deluxe action figures offer supreme poseability, lots of accessories, and supreme packaging. But is it worth the $70 that Amazon was asking for this evil doll?
Let’s take a close look at the figure, his accessories and packaging.
Photos and packaging can be seen in above video
The box is a cathedral-like window, which looks great as a backdrop for your figure. Papa can be displayed in his cloaks and mitre, or more simply in a shiny blue suit. He has options for interchangeable heads, and a selection of pop-off hands for either guise. The plain Papa has hands in plain black gloves while the more decorative Papa has hands with skeleton-like designs on them. He has two soft-goods pieces of clothing to dress him up: A vest-like undercloak, and a poseable wire-blacked cloak. Both are intricately decorated. Take care to keep both in excellent condition.
While it is easy to swap out Papa’s parts and clothing for any display option, this is the point at which the figure loses some character. Fully cloaked, his articulation is limited. You can’t lift his arms very high, which makes the “devil horn” hand kind of pointless. He has a hand that can hold his microphone, but it works best with the two-piece mic stand so Papa doesn’t have to lift it. Without the cloak, he can pose much better, simulating his dance moves from the video for “Rats”. His shiny shoes look perfect for this.
Unfortunately, Papa needs at least one head with an open mouth. Otherwise he never looks like he’s singing, which makes the microphone somewhat useless.
Super 7 got a lot right on this figure. The articulation is good enough on the base figure. The paint and details are spectacular, which is important for a premium figure. Not enough attention was paid when it comes to his accessories. Extra hands with varying finger positions are a standard feature now, but keeps like a cheat to include all of them in an accessory count. You can only use two at a time, after all. Instead of so many hands, an alternate “singing head” and perhaps Papa’s staff would be more useful. I’m also quite fond of miniature albums coming with action figures, but Super 7 didn’t ask for my opinion.
If you can get one of these with free shipping or on sale, go for it. Imperfect figures get imperfect scores.
GRAB A STACK OF ROCK With Mike and the Mad Metal Man
Episode 114: Australian Takeover with Harrison Kopp, Ashley Geisler and Peter Kerr
This special episode was originally scheduled a month ago, but the sad and unexpected departure of Ozzy Osbourne put that show on hold. Tonight, the Australian Contingent reunite to show and discuss new music and new purchases, on Grab A Stack of Rock.
This will be Harrison’s first full hosting experience without Jex Russell. Mike will not be there tonight, as he still needs some time off. He does, however, have a cool guest video to show tonight, of a Super 7 “Ultimates” figure of a certain ghoulish frontman from a charismatic rock band. This is Mike’s very first Super 7 Ultimates figure and it will be your first look at its unboxing and accessories.
Joining the Mad Metal Man will be Ash Geisler from Ash’s Concerts and Videos. Ash has been saving up some new arrivals for this show, and we cannot wait to see what he has in store. He usually has some obscure Australian releases. And, of course, Peter Kerr from Rock Daydream Nation will be on hand with some musical surprises to share. Who knows what this trio of Southern Hemisphere Musical Maniacs will have in store!?
It all goes down, LIVE, tonight! Don’t miss it!
Friday August 29 at 7:00 PM EST, 8:00 PM Atlantic. Enjoy on YouTube or Facebook.
Out of the gates, Thomas Polychuck’s new instrumental solo album impresses. With former Dream Theater keyboard player Derek Sherinian on almost every track, the direction is instrumental progressive rock. Derek has plenty of room to shine, frequently playing off with the guitar and providing loads of those vintage Dream Theater hooks.
The opener “Genèse” commences the album very much like the familiar bands we love so much, with big guitars. It then goes on its own fun tangents. This fascinating track has guitar melodies and a really cool interlude with flute sounds. Anyone who enjoys instrumental guitar rock will dig this track. Sherinian adds loads of texture on keys.
Simon Phillips gets things going on “The Cyclone” with a cool tribal sounding drum intro. Then Polychuck and Sherinian get jamming on a funky little groove, incorporating jazz, shredding, and rock riffing. You can hear things reminiscent of Richie Kotzen’s solo work in the notes. Derek and Thomas sound like they’re having a blast soloing with each other. It sounds very live, however they achieved it.
Polychuck goes full jazz on “Dieze11”, a lovely piece with soft guitar and piano. The soft drums are a nice change of pace, and the busy bassline has room to breathe. The main feature is the guitar, which lingers nowhere for very long, before darting off in another direction. The result is that it feels like the guitar is telling a little story.
Back to the shred, “1316” breaks off at a speedy pace, like a metal rocket fuelled by guitar. Derek continues to complement the music with keyboard textures that explore different sounds and voices. Though the guitars are cranked up, you can still hear jazz note choices in the solos. Then, suddenly it breaks into a Rush-like groove from the mid-80s.
“Construct” gets even heavier, but fortunately Polychuck has the wisdom to lay down a more melodic guitar line overtop the heavy chords. Between the guitar and keyboards, there are a lot of tasty bits here to grab on to. “They Carry On” is another jazz number with upright bass by Maciek. Picture a smoky jazz club at night. Not too loud, and totally authentic. Polychuck allows the bass to have its moment. It is followed by the awesome “Reality”, an anthemic guitar number with some very nice melodic elements.
The unexpected ballad “Sign From Beyond the Veil” is the most beautiful track on the album. With subtle organ by Chris Madden, Polychuck’s guitar sings softly of hopeful feelings. A very uplifting track, with a vibe like classic Joe Satriani. Soft though it may be, there are a lot of interesting guitar sounds going on.
The final track is a driver called “Retold Story” featuring Brian Tichy on drums. The drums kick on this one, and Polychuck goes once again for a storytelling guitar style. He goes from fast to slow, mood to mood, never staying too long in one place, but always offering interesting sounds and licks.
Having heard Polychuck’s earlier music, with influences across the board from pop to dance to metal, and now here with hardcore progressive rock and authentic jazz, one wonders where he can go next? Classical, country, blues? The sky is the limit for this talented musician. This album would be cherished by lovers of musicianship, and those moments when progressive rock meets jazz. An unexpected treat to finish 2024 with a flourish.
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