Grab a Stack of Rock / LeBrain Train

Extend-a-mix! Thanks Tim Durling for helping with the new Grab A Stack of Rock intro video

Even since the LeBrain Train days, I loved a good intro video to a live show.  Not too many YouTube shows do intro videos these days, but it has always been something I liked.  Even back in the Train days, I wanted an intro video with every guest we ever had appearing in it.  That carries over to Grab A Stack of Rock.  The only problem is, the intro video was 1:14 minutes long, and it was getting harder and harder to cram everyone in.  I had to sacrifice a lot of Harrison’s Lego art in order to fit everyone.

The other problem with the intro video were the lyrics.  There was one line that was relevant when the show started, but not anymore.  I figured the only thing I would be able to do was hire a band (I had one in mind) to re-record the entire song from scratch.

Fortunately, audio wizard and author Tim Durling had a quicker, easier, and cheaper solution. He made some minor edits to the original track and voila!

This new version of the song is extended by nine seconds, an absolute eternity in some ways, and enough to pack in a lot more Lego art and show cameos.  The new version includes the latest guest to appear on our show, Mr. Matt Phillips.

With this new show intro, we’ll be able to keep adding guests for the next year.  Thank you so much Tim for doing this.  As Johnny Walters used to say, “the cheque is in the mail!”

Please enjoy and let me know your feedback!

 

Grab A Stack of Rock talks to Tim Durling about his new Kansas book Let It Be Your Guide: The Kansas Album Review

Huge thank you to Jex Russell and Tim Durling for spending Friday afternoon with us chatting about Kansas!  Tim’s third book, Let It Be Your Guide: The Kansas Album Review, is out now Like his previous two books, you can get this one now on your local Amazon.

Kansas are progressive rock legends, but did they ever get the respect they deserved?  They are still making music today, and good music too.  This book, and this interview, reflect a love of Kansas that perhaps isn’t seen enough in media (mainstream and social) these days.  Tim hopes to change that.  His appreciation for the music is sincere.  As for Jex and I, we could only sit back and learn.

We had one surprise lined up for Tim, a Grab A Stack of Rock first.  In a surprise appearance, TVC bandmate and book cover artist Matt Phillips explains what went into the artwork, and other important details about publishing a book like this.  Indeed, there are photos of articles from Tim’s personal collection inside, all laid out beautifully with great care.  Thank you Matt for sending in this great video.  If you want to know about some of the Easter eggs on the book art, watch this video.

Congratulations Tim on this third book, and please support him by picking up a copy on Amazon.  Jex and I will be back from the cottage soon for another Grab A Stack of Rock.  Thanks everybody for your viewer questions and comments!

SHOW NOTES

“A FAN’S EAR-VIEW OF WHAT MAKES KANSAS’ MUSIC SO SPECIAL” – Jeff Wagner

Tim, what took you so long to write a third book?  Y&T was 7 months ago.

Tell us your point of entry into Kansas.  (I do not remember ever seeing Kansas on MuchMusic)

One might argue that you were born to write this book, given your channel “Tim’s Vinyl Confessions”.

During a debate of greatest “Song 1 Side 1” in history among the lead characters in the movie High Fidelity, Jack Black’s character criticizes one of John Cusack’s character’s proposals as “too obvious, like ‘Point of Know Return'”.

Let’s assume you’re talking to Kansas megafans watching this show, who have every album already. Why should they buy this book?

The band is known for clever wordplay in titles, such as “Point of Know Return” and “Leftoverture”. Did you sneak any clever wordplay into this book that you can tell us about?

Let Tim Be Your Guide: Grab A Stack of Rock talks to Tim Durling about his new Kansas book!

GRAB A STACK OF ROCK With Mike and the Mad Metal Man
Episode 64: Let It Be Your Guide: The Kansas Album Review with Tim Durling

Masquerading as a man without a reason, Tim Durling is a wayward son no more!  Now with his third book on the shelves, it’s time to talk to Tim about his latest tome:  Let It Be Your Guide: The Kansas Album Review.  Like his previous two books, you can get this one now on your local Amazon.

Cohost Jex Russell and I will be chatting with Tim this afternoon about all the usual stuff:  the genesis of the idea, recruiting the coterie of “Wheatheads” (including Jex and I, among other members of the community) and the brilliant cover artwork by Matt Phillips.  We also have a very special surprise for Tim, plus lots of physical product to show.  This time, I’ve got an 8-track!

Today’s show will be a free-flowing chat, and it will be live, so you too will be able to ask Tim your Kansas questions!  Let Tim be your guide.

From Amazon:

THE MUSIC IS ALL FOR YOU.

LET IT BE YOUR GUIDE: The Kansas Album Review is an in-depth look at America’s premier progressive rock band, and celebrates 50 YEARS OF KANSAS!

Led by the songwriting and multi-instrumental genius of Kerry Livgren, the pristine pipes of Steve Walsh, and the cutting violin of Robby Steinhardt, Kansas emerged from their Topeka home base with their 1974 debut album, to take on the world… and win! Initially met with confusion from music buyers, Kansas eventually captured the hearts of listeners far and wide. Kansas has proven that a band writing—and playing—music their way can succeed, and flourish:

  • 7 Billboard Top 40 singles
  • 7 Billboard Hot 100 hits
  • 5 Gold albums
  • A 4X Platinum album
  • A 4,000,000-selling album
  • A 3,000,000-selling greatest hits
  • A Platinum live album

After 50 years, Kansas continues to produce vital, new music, and brings their songs to audiences night after night.

Let It Be Your Guide gathers together a coterie of “Wheatheads” to wax thoughtfully on the deepcatalogue this band possesses. Each of the band’s 15 studio albums are explored thoroughly, with space also given to their many live albums, and compilations.

BOOK FEATURES:

  • An interview with Kansas cover artist Denise De la Cerda, who painted the artwork for The Prelude Implicit (2016), The Absence of Presence (2020) and the Kansas’ 50th Anniversary Poster!
  • Foreword by Jeff Wagner, who was the Product Manager at InsideOut music when they signed Kansas in 2014!
  • Insightful contributions from no less than 30 Kansas Super Fans!
  • Over 250 pages and many B&W photos from Tim Durling’s personal collection, including 8-tracks, records, cassettes, CDs, tickets and more!

Join us for the talk, and support Tim by buying the book at the Amazon link above!

Friday July 5 at 4:00 P.M. E.S.T. / 5:00 P.M. Atlantic.   Enjoy on YouTube or on Facebook!

 

 

BONUS:  Tim’s Guide to the Kansas Compilations!

My Music Corner: Temporary Replacement Singers

This week, I was honoured to be on John Clauser’s My Music Corner one more time, to discuss Temporary Replacement Singers in the 1990s.  We tackled four singers and four bands.  My choice:  “Corabi Crue”, aka “Motley ’94”, perhaps the most underrated of them all.  We talked the genesis, highlights, lowlights, and how it all ended.  I’ll let John tell the story from here:

Anthrax‬ ‪Iron Maiden‬, Motley Crue, and Judas Priest ‬ all went through a period from the 90s into the 2000s where either the original singer (or more known singer) left the band, and they were temporarily replaced. What became of the music made during the era for each band?

On this, I moderate a discussion between Mike Ladano, Peter Jones, Jake Not From State Farm, and my co-captain John The Music Nut as we look into each band.

 

Tim Durling’s Guide to Kansas Compilations – Grab A Stack of Rock with Mike & Jex

GRAB A STACK OF ROCK With Mike, Jex & Tim

Special Edition Episode: Tim Durling’s Guide to Kansas Compilations

Folks, we have a great live episode of Grab A Stack of Rock coming up this Friday.  Yes, today’s mini-episode is essentially a teaser to another episode, but it’s is also a great standalone in its own right.  Thank you Tim Durling for sharing some of your collection with us today.

For this instalment, Tim Durling, author of the new book Let It Be Your Guide – The Kansas Album Review (buy in the link), guides us through the essential Kansas compilations if you are new to the band.  Starting with the original 1984 best-of and its variants, we go through the decades to the present day.  Compilations vary in size and scope.  From single discs, to doubles and even a triple, Tim has a Kansas recommendation for every appetite.  Perhaps you’re just looking for the classic era up to 1984.  Or, maybe you need representation for the Steve Morse years of the late 1980s for your Kansas listening.  If you’re really going for it, you may as well pick one that covers the whole career.

Check out what Tim has on offer to get your Kansas collection started.  And, of course, check out Friday’s show when we go into the book in detail!

Friday July 5 at 4:00 PM EST / 5:00 PM Atlantic

Teaser

Grab A Stack of Rock – Special Vinyl Unboxing with James Kalyn of the KMA!

Jen and I were B-Side Ourselves to find that James Kalyn had sent me some surprise vinyl when I was feeling down and low.  It so happened James was available on Friday night for an unboxing.  So that’s what we did!  What did he send?  Here are some clues:

  • 180 gram coloured splatter vinyl
  • Reissue of a 1992 EP
  • Pretty good covers EP by a major band of the era
  • 1/5 Canadian content

Any guesses?  Watch the video!

 

 

Rock Daydream Nation: Deep Purple – Desert Island Steve Morse Albums

This is a show I was made for! Spoiler alert: Regular readers already know my favourite Steve Morse era Deep Purple album.  I was already trying to kickstart a Purple collection when he joined the band in 1995.  His addition made me a completist – had to get every album.  And, within a few years of his joining, I achieved and maintained that.  Morse’s additional made me a superfan.  I just love when a band has a significant lineup change that actually works.  Deep Purple was transformed into something a little different, but just as good.  Just new flavours in the soup.  A new freedom to experiment and stretch out.  It wouldn’t have worked if the band couldn’t write new songs with the new axeman, but their chemistry flourished over seven studio original studio albums.

Now that Steve is gone from the band, and they are carrying on with another new ingredient in Simon McBride, it is a perfect time to look back upon the Morse era.  Joining myself and Peter Kerr on Rock Daydream Nation is “Music Swami” Pete Jones.  Together, we passionately discuss three favourite albums, and the key tracks that you need to check out for yourself.  We don’t just shower praise, but we break down and analyze.

Here’s what Mr. Kerr has to say:

Rock Daydream Nation is joined by Peter Jones (The Contrarians) and Mike Ladano (Grab a Stack of Rock) to choose their desert island Deep Purple album featuring Steve Morse….Are any of these albums better than Deep Purple Ritchie Blackmore?
Check out the show!

Crime of the Century! Angie Moon explains her new Classic Rock / True Crime book

Mama, just killed a man!  Learn all about musicians who killed, artists with mob connections, murders and money laundering, oh my!  Angie Moon has written the book:  Crime of the Century – Classic Rock and True Crime.  In this one-hour interview, Angie informed Jex Russell and I on so many topics!

  • Jack Ruby & the Band
  • DEVO’s connection with true crime
  • Dennis Wilson & Charles Manson
  • The excellent cover art of her book
  • Publishing a book from scratch
  • Social media and promotion
  • The diversity of classic rock
  • The Kinks
  • The White Album
  • And so much more!
  • Thank you Angie and thank you Jex for the education on Grab A Stack of Rock!

You can get your copy now on your local Amazon, or directly from the author.

 

 

Show notes:

Your dad was once a police officer, and later on in life you realized there were no books about true crime and classic rock.  Does that about sum up what started you on this journey?

I like the way the book is formatted.  You have a chapter about a band/crime, and you introduce both the band and the criminal in a way that you don’t need any background knowledge at all.

Jack Ruby and the Hawks (the Band) – sounds like Jack had a reputation and an aura to him?  No surprise the shows they played at his club were poorly attended?

What is it about the Kinks that you love so much?  Can you sum it up?  What do you imagine that party at John Wayne Gacy’s place was like?

I enjoyed your overview of the White Album.  I realize this might be the most difficult question of the interview, but where do you rank that Beatles album in their catalogue?

I didn’t know about Charles Manson’s childhood, and that his alcoholic mother was destitute and spent time in prison.  That had to have an impact on the person he became.  I also had no idea he was studying Scientology.

Reading about how Manson and his girls duped Dennis into staying at his rented mansion, fleecing him for $100,000 worth of generosity, just made me feel sad for Dennis.  He was not a man without his demons.

Are there any classic rock crimes or bands that you just decided to steer clear of for this book?

I did not know that Paul McCartney bought the rights to Buddy Holly’s back catalogue!

It’s the Crime of the Century! Grab A Stack of Rock with Jex and special guest, author Angie Moon!

GRAB A STACK OF ROCK With Mike and the Mad Metal Man
Episode 63: Crime of the Century with Angie Moon

Please welcome Angie Moon to the show!  Angie has long been a member of the WordPress community, and is now out with her first book:  Crime of the Century!  It’s all about the connections between classic rock and true crime, and could be the first book of its kind.

This afternoon, co-host Jex Russell and I will talk with Angie about the book, and these fascinating cases of crime intertwined with figures from classic rock history.  The Kinks, the Beach Boys, Debbie Harry, Jimmy Page, Frank Zappa and DEVO are all covered in the book, with an additional section on “musicians who killed”!  It’s a fascinating read.  You’re bound to learn something you didn’t know before on today’s show.

You can get your copy now on your local Amazon, or directly from the author.

Please join us this afternoon for the Crime of the Century!

 

 

Friday June 21 at 3:00 P.M. E.S.T. / 4:00 P.M. Atlantic.   Enjoy on YouTube or on Facebook!

 

Contrarians Chat: NICKNAMED ALBUM COVERS! (Wednesday Live Stream)

Grant Arthur, Jamie Laszlo, Peter Kerr, Tim Durling and myself all gathered together to discuss this fun topic last night:  Albums with common “nickname” titles!  For example:  The Beatles (the White Album), Metallica (the Black Album), and Weezer (lotsa coloured albums)!  There are plenty on our lists, and I’m especially proud of one of my coloured picks.

This was my first ever panel discussion with the Contrarians, and about three years overdue.  Thank you Grant for inviting me!

There will be no episode of Grab A Stack of Rock this weekend, but we’ll be back next week!