GRACE SCHEELE – landings (2023 EP – cassette side one, and download)
I’m a sucker for a pretty tape. This has to be the prettiest tape I’ve ever seen! Limited to 75 copies, I was very happy to participate in a Kickstarter from electroacoustic harpist Grace Scheele. It’s called landings and, well, I think Grace says it best on her bandcamp:
“landings” centres on the real and imagined experience of the Apollo 11 mission to the moon; wielding bowed harp, electronic fx, and sampling from speeches, newsreels, mission audio, and NASA’s own interviews with those present at the historic newscast. Ranging from the ethereally ambient to grinding, jarring industrial noise, the seven tracks across this debut EP represents an imagined journey into the darkness of space.
I’d call it a concept EP, based on that alone. It’s a real listening experience, with elements that remind me of Pink Floyd, Star Trek, and War of the Worlds. Some of the speeches and dialogue will be familiar, others will be novel. There are sounds that, in my limited experience, I didn’t know you could make with a harp. At 22 minutes, landings is easy to digest in a single sitting, and the download comes with a “gapless version” that enables just that. The layers of harp, samples, and electronic sound build paint a sonic picture. You can feel the tension of the launch! I bet this sounds great with headphones.
The track “pomposity” has been getting some exposure, so if you only check out one track, try “pomposity” for a taste of what this is like.
Of course, the cassette itself will be fun once I have it out of the box, and will include three bonus tracks. You know me and bonus tracks — Can’t wait to hear those!
I can’t wait until I get this tape unboxed, for which I will be joined on a live stream by Grace herself. We’ll talk about the music, the artwork, the Kickstarter and of course the cassette itself.
Music like this is hard to rate, because I think it’s art, and what’s the point of rating a piece of art? It either resonates with you or it doesn’t. I find landings to be an innovative listening experience, unlike anything else in my collection, and I am looking forward to checking it out in different listening environments. Headphones next, and then this summer, on the front porch of the cottage at sunset.
Rock Candy, Rhino, Sony Legacy, La-La-Land, Wounded Bird, BGO…all respected reissue labels that collectors seek and value. We looked at a decent cross section from these labels and more on this episode of Grab A Stack of Rock.
Harrison the Mad Metal Man educated us on Oingo Boingo. Rob Daniels highlighted a Loreena McKennit super deluxe that sounds out of this world. Mr. Durling presented a variety of rock reissues including our only vinyl of the evening. I had some cool Johnny Cash on Sony Legacy, and a bunch of Budgie. This is just a slice of what we showed.
Apologies for the audio glitches at the start! We got it figured out and rolled on.
“Ask Harrison” came from a new contributor tonight: Superhero Tee Bone Man himself! California Girl asked some questions about Heart and Pat Benatar, sparking a lively discussion.
Thanks for watching, and if you missed it, you can check it out below!
GRAB A STACK OF ROCK…with Mike and the Mad Metal Man Episode 13: Reissue Record Labels with Tim Durling and Rob Daniels
The original crew of the USS Stackterprise is reunited this week! Ensign Tim Durling, the aficionado of every edition of everything, wanted to discuss record labels that specialize in reissues. Labels like Rock Candy, Sony Legacy, Noteworthy Productions, and many more. Lt. Rob Daniels will be on hand to show off some La-La-Land reissue soundtracks. Commander Kopp and I will also be prepared with some tasty discs of rock. With Durling and Daniels, two radio legends in their own rights, I’ll be able to just kick back, listen and learn.
Additionally: Ask Harrison is back with a new question, and MarriedandHeels has another question for the group.
Join us live!
Friday January 27 at 7:00 P.M. E.S.T. Enjoy onYouTubeor on Facebook.
Some of the most fun shows are the unexpected ones. I had no idea how much fun it would be to talk Karate Kid and Cobra Kai for an hour. But when you have Rob Daniels and Dr. Kathryn along for the ride, you’re bound to learn something. I have a feeling that this show will be some of the best Karate Kid content on YouTube. We covered it all, and Dr. Kathryn taught us just about everything we needed to know about this long-lived and well-loved franchise.
We saw books, autographs, CDs, action figures and a personal message from actor Sean Kanan. We also saw a lot of Cobra Kai branded clothing! But even better than the things we looked at were the stories that we heard. Whether personal stories, or tales of the making of the movies, the talk was top notch tonight.
Meanwhile, Harrison schooled us on Ninja Turtles, another popular martial arts franchise. Rob also showed us some cool Bruce Lee soundtracks.
For “Ask Harrison”, we had a surprise question from “Blaze Bayley” himself! We also had a group question from MarriedandHeels about that most hated of bands: Nickelback! Discussion ensued.
This turned out to be the second most popular show we’ve done to date! Thanks for watching everyone!
GRAB A STACK OF ROCK…with Mike and the Mad Metal Man Episode 12: Karate Kid/Cobra Kai with Dr. Kathryn and Rob Daniels
Every once in a while, we have to do a show that I know nothing about. Why? Because I love hanging out with guests like Dr. Kathryn and Rob Daniels. If Dr. Kathryn says “I wanna show off all my cool autographed Karate Kid stuff,” then I have no choice but to oblige.
This week, Dr. Kathryn and Rob Daniels will be talking Karate Kid and Cobra Kai. We will see action figures, autographs, and a personal message from Cobra Kai actor Sean Kanan.
Meanwhile Harrison has some Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for that martial arts action, and I will show off my Reaction Figure collection, since they also make Karate Kid toys. Join us!
Friday January 20 at 7:00 P.M. E.S.T. Enjoy onYouTubeor onFacebook.
This time, the Red Shirt didn’t die! Spoiler alert: Ensign Durling survived all 1 hour 50 minutes of this show. It was a marathon but for good reason. Star Trek is a big part of our lives, and features some pretty incredible music. Mr. Durling and Lt. Commander Rob Daniels brought a variety of classic soundtracks on vinyl, CD, and cassette. He also had an original DS9 shooting script! Interesting items here. Meanwhile, Captain Kevin brought some books, DVDs and a Hallmark communicator. Commander Kopp had a cool MAD Magazine compilation of Trek sketches from the classic comedy book. Most of my hardcore Trek stuff is packaged away in storage, but I had some cool comics, DVDs, and handmade items that are very special to me.
Bonus: Tim and I dressed in uniform.
Also: Find out which DVD to watch if you wish to hear Shatner or Nimoy (we don’t know specifically whom) let out a fart.
We had an “Ask Harrison” from the Canadian Snow Turtle, and Tee Bone answered a question from MarriedandHeels regarding the Northern Lights. Tee Bone’s eloquent answer could even bring a tear to your eye. You don’t want to miss that.
See you next week for the Karate Kid and Cobra Kai with Dr. Kathryn and Rob Daniels!
GRAB A STACK OF ROCK…with Mike and the Mad Metal Man Episode 11: Star Trek with Rob, Tim and Kevin
Hailing frequencies open, captain! Tonight Rob Daniels (Visions In Sound), Tim Durling (Tim’s Vinyl Confessions) and Kevin Simister (Canadian Grooves) join Mike and the Mad Metal Man to show off some Star Trek. I have some records, action figures and handmade items! I’m not sure what the other guys have, but we will find out tonight.
Beam in at the locations below and join us for warp speed action.
Friday January 13 at 7:00 P.M. E.S.T. Enjoy onYouTubeor onFacebook.
Thank you Marco from the Contrarians for this honour. I really loved doing this interview, and I really appreciate the chance to talk about myself and the things I love the most. I got to tell some of my favourite stories, and plug Grab a Stack of Rock with the Mad Metal Man. I also did a horrific Australian accent. Please enjoy!
And Marco…thanks again, this meant the world to me.
I’m so glad that Meat suggested this as a format many months ago, and that Harrison agreed to go live without much warning!
October 28 2022. As I was leaving for work that morning, I suddenly just thought to myself, “You know, I wonder if Harrison or anybody would feel like going live tonight. Just shoot the shit for an hour. It might be a fun way to be social on a Friday night and it only has to be an hour.”
He did and the rest is history now. Meat came on and we talked the new Dio movie Dreamers Never Die, showed off Lego, music, and had a lively and fun discussion. The shape of things to come! We didn’t even have a name for the new show yet so I ran the LeBrain Train theme song instead. In my mind anyway, this was not the Train. It was something fresh and unstructured and new.
At least it felt that way to me and that’s what I needed to make this fun again. And it was fun again.
No name? No problem. The following morning I wrote the “Grab A Stack of Rock” theme song with Jen and sent it to Tee Bone to fully realize. By the next show, we had an intro video! It took under a week, though it was still undergoing revisions.
Show #2, Nov 4 2022, was a cottage show! Tim Durling and Aaron KMA joined the Mad Metal Man and myself to show off books, rare 8 tracks tapes, box sets and model kits. Tim has since become an integral part of the show’s rotating panel. As for Aaron, he’ll make it when he’s able!
Show #3, Nov 11 2022, featured John T. Snow and a whole boatload of Japanese imports! Shockingly, John had some Jeff Scott Soto to show off! Most importantly, this week was the debut of favourite feature, “Ask Harrison”! We had two enquiries, one from Jeff Taylor and one from Tee Bone Erickson himself. The feature was a success and continued weekly from there.
Show #4, Nov 18 2022, was the debut of Robert Daniels on this new format, which he mistook for Grab a Rack of Socks! Just kidding. Rob came in with (of course), soundtracks and stories. Meanwhile I focused on Star Wars rarities, while Harrison had some nifty triple disc sets to show. “Ask Harrison” returned with Tee Bone Erickson, but it wouldn’t be long before other viewers wanted in on the action.
Show #5, Nov 25 2022, is where things got serious with this new format. We decided to hone in on the new Kiss Creatures of the Night box set with Tim Durling and Marco D’Auria of the Contrarians. We gave the set and its surrounding history a good solid look. Marco brought the bootlegs and Tim had vinyl, cassettes and a related 8 track tape. Uncle Meat appeared via video, with his memories of seeing Kiss on the Creatures tour.
Meanwhile on “Ask Harrison”, it was time for viewers to get their questions answered. Lana Teramae got her question in via Tee Bone, and new arrival MarriedInHeels inquired about Harrison’s haircare secrets — a question he dodged.
After Show #5, I took a week off to appear with Grant Arthur on Grant’s Rock Warehouse, to do a discussion on The Darkness and their discography. Tim Durling jumped in for that one too, and it was a lively show for all involved. And it led to later things! (And I will be back with Grant in February to talk about Stone Gods and Hot Leg.)
With our Creatures show done and dusted, we had to keep going big. And so we did. We got the Snowman back and dug deep once again.
Show #6, December 9 2022, was overlong but for good reason. We took deep dives into two Judas Priest box sets: 50 Heavy Metal Years of Music, and Complete Albums Collection. Every disc, every album, every bonus item, we dug deep. Those autographs are authentic, by the way, as we showed.
Unfortunately however, this was our first show since the passing of Christine McVie. On “Ash Harrison” that week, MarriedAndHeels asked him about Christine, for which he had an excellent answer. Meanwhile Tee Bone had something he’s always been meaning to ask Harrison about Australia!
Show #7, December 16 2022, allowed me to continue diving into box sets. The Queen Miracle box turned out to be a favourite. On this night we were joined by Aaron KMA once more, who had a lot of books! Mr. Books had books? Imagine that. Harrison followed the books with more books, CDs, and a lightsaber. (Can’t wait for summer when Harrison and I can have duelling lightsabers!)
On “Ask Harrison” this week, Lana returned via Tee Bone, and MarriedAndHeels threw us a curveball by asking Harrison and Mike a question each! And it would not be the last time she’d pull a trick like that!
Show #8, December 23 2022, was the final show before Christmas and so we invited Tim Durling and Marco D’Auria back on to go out in style. Marco had some cool Elvis and Mystique items to show, including the new DVD of the film Standing on the Firing Line. As for me, I continued into the box sets with Rush and Marillion and unboxed a new Savatage vinyl reissue. For “Ask Harrison”, Jeff Taylor and MarriedAndHeels returned, as did “Ask Mike”! The ever-evasive Harrison remains excellent at dodging questions!
Show #9, December 30 2022, and final show of the year as a drop in special! With an eye to showing off all our cool Christmas gifts, Harrison and I brought the Lego, the box sets, and more. I went on a good Guns N’ Roses rant. Grant Arthur made his show debut with some neat Kim Mitchell stuff. Brian Richards, who had already done the LeBrain Train previously, returned and showed off some cool vinyl among many other collectible goodies including a signed Bruce Kulick bobblehead. And good pal Robert Daniels was on board with…shoes? Perhaps the shape of things to come.
Finally the planets aligned, and I got MarriedAndHeels on to do a whole show. I’d been wanting to do this since the start. I knew she’d be great. I was right. Happy New Year indeed!
Show #10, January 6 2023, was pre-taped due to scheduling issues, and even so Harrison could not make it this time. But he was with us in spirit, and even asked his own questions of us – one “Ask Mike” and one “Ask MarriedandHeels”. Together we showed off Lego, including some brand new sets released just that week! Of course she had to show off her heels, and we even got a show exclusive: unboxing her new orange summer heels that I am sure her fans will love to see.
After she shared the show to her social media, it got views that surpassed every rock star interview I ever did. For that I am very grateful and all I can say is, I hope her fans liked the show as much as I did!
I can tell you this much.
Show #11, Jan 13 2023, will see Rob Daniels, Tim Durling, and Kevin “Buried On Mars” Simister join Harrison and I to talk Star Trek. What cool things will these guys have to show off? It’ll also be nice to have Kevin back for the first time on this new format.
Lists will be coming back at some point. It has been made clear to me that people miss the lists. So, sure. Once in a while we can do lists. Meat will be back for that.
Join us this Friday for another Grab A Stack of Rock With the Mad Metal Man. It’ll be out of this world!
GRACE SCHEELE – landings (2023 EP – cassette side one, and download)
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