Videos

VIDEO: Searchers of the Lost Drone

Earlier this spring, I lost a drone in the waters of Lake Huron.  Finally the waters cleared and warmed enough for us to search for it.  We found nothing, but the underwater video footage is nice regardless.

🅻🅸🆅🅴 Top Female Rockers with Peter Kerr of Rock Daydream Nation

GRAB A STACK OF ROCK With Mike and the Mad Metal Man

🅻🅸🆅🅴 Episode featuring Peter Kerr of Rock Daydream Nation

Episode 154:  Top Female Rockers with Peter Kerr from Rock Daydream Nation

Peter Kerr returns to Grab A Stack of Rock with a great topic we’ve never tackled before!  Who are our top female rockers?  The field is wide open with singers, guitarists, bassists, drummers and entire bands!  New bands, old bands, it doesn’t matter as long as they rock!

Viewers are familiar with certain artists Mike has featured on his channel, such as Lita Ford and Lee Aaron, but tonight he’ll prove his tastes are diverse even within the rock realm.  As for Peter?  Always expect surprises from the Rock Daydream Nation main man.  We will also have a guest list from author Michael LeFevre, the 80s Metal Man, who has been featuring female rockers on his blog, and some special clips from former Helix drummer Archie Gamble!  This show is packed!

We will be live tonight.  Be sure to join us and interact with the comments.  Looking forward to it!

Friday July 31 at  7:00 PM EST, 8:00 PM Atlantic.  Enjoy on YouTube or Facebook.

 

 

50 Years of IRON MAIDEN bonus episode: McFarlane & NECA Eddies

50 Years of IRON MAIDEN bonus episode: McFarlane & NECA Eddies

GRAB A STACK OF ROCK bonus episode

This episode is dedicated to Mike’s childhood best friend, Bob Schipper, who got him into Iron Maiden back in 1984.  Today is Bob’s birthday.  Happy birthday Bob!

Welcome back to 50 Years of Iron Maiden.  It has been two months to the day since our last episode.  Alas, Harrison is ill, but he did find a way to participate in this bonus episode while we await his return!

In this special episode, Mike takes a look at what we’re calling his “Large Eddie” collection of Iron Maiden figures!  While the collection itself is modest, the figures are not!  From the McFarlane and NECA lines, we take a close look at all the details of these highly collectible figures.  All still sealed to this day, and some are over 20 years old, which makes them officially “vintage”.  Others are more recent, but still highly desired by collectors.

Check out the details, accessories, packaging and Maiden references in this slick figure collection.

 

Past episodes:

Handy YouTube Playlist:

 

Late July drone videos Pt 1

The two videos below were taken with my new Ruko F11PRO 2 Plus drone.  There are more coming that I need to edit!

The first video features an altitude record of about 380 feet.  The second video was taken while Jen was swimming!

PRODUCT LINK:  Get yours on Amazon today.

 

MUSIC:  Memory of Water (Big Beat Mix) by Marillion

MUSIC:  Everybody Wants To Rule the World by Tears for Fears

This video below was made using my light Potensic Atom 4k drone.  I wanted to do some “stunt flying” which you shouldn’t really do with a pro drone when people are around.  The Potensic is perfect for that feeling of flying!

MUSIC:  Traveling Riverside Blues by Led Zeppelin

 

 

 

 

Videos From The Vault! Pre-Grab A Stack Archeological Rock!

GRAB A STACK OF ROCK With Mike and the Mad Metal Man

Episode 153: Videos From The Vault! Pre-Grab A Stack Archeological Rock!

If you’re new to the channel, or have been watching since this beginning, then this is an episode that will take you back in time!  We’ve making videos a long time for a long time now, and the channel has well over 1,000 clips and episodes today.  Mike’s earliest video work dates back to 1989-90 on the VHS format.  Until the modern era, he never had the chance to do anything with that video footage, but now…

As we await Harrison’s return, Mike has dug deep into the archives to bring you another special “Mix Tape” episode.  All this material pre-dates Grab A Stack of Rock and is being presented to you in compilation form for the first time!  Mike has included new commentary, and some new material.  Just like a good Greatest Hits album!  Join us tonight for this 1 hour 11 minute episode covering the following subjects, hosted by Mike:

  • “Nothing But a Good Time” – Mike’s first music video – 1990
  • The original mikeladano.com animated ad – 2012
  • “Here Comes LeBrain Again” music video by Tom and Uncle Meat – 2014
  • Record Store Tales – “Cry For Help” – 2018
  • A Trip to Sonic Boom in Toronto – 2017
  • Summer HQ – 2014
  • Max the Axe live in concert – 2018
  • Sausagefest Outtakes – various
  • “One More For the Road” – Rob Daniels’ student video starring Bob Schipper – 1989
  • Top Five Reasons I Love Kiss – podcast outtake – 2014
  • Exclusive interview with Brian Vollmer of Helix – 2012
  • Outtakes and Random Bits – 1990 to 2019
  • New Bonus Clip!  Mike’s ORIGINAL “Battle Jacket” – 2026
  • And LOTS more!

Don’t miss this trip way back in the time!  This capsule of old clips will keep rocking and laughing on your Friday night.  Join us for the premiere!

 

 

Friday July 24 at  7:00 PM EST, 8:00 PM Atlantic.  Enjoy on YouTube.

A Lot ‘O BLOTTO! Collected Works of Vinyl And CDs

GRAB A STACK OF ROCK With Mike and the Mad Metal Man

Bonus Episode

A Lot ‘O BLOTTO! Collected Works of Vinyl And CDs

A real treat for you today, with a special 17 minute bonus episode!  Today we’ll go through my entire, still growing, Blotto collection.  This will include all my vinyl, CDs, VHS, and more.  There are stories to go with each, and a ton of show and tell.  Included in this episode is an 8″ flexidisc, buttons, letters and more.  There is even an Easter egg, but only the diehard of diehard Blotto aficionados will notice it.

Join us after your workday and enjoy some Blotto!

 

#1247: Vindication

No words needed.  I have been vindicated by Alex Van Halen himself!

See below from “Sammy Hagar” after our LeBrain Train episode on the 5150 album.  In a case of over-preparing for the episode, I played 5150 numerous times that week, along with 1984, OU812, and Eat ‘Em and Smile for context.  I felt that each era had its merits, but Dave had better lyrics than Hagar.  I still feel that way,

I was teased for calling David Lee Roth a “poet” while critiquing the lyrics on 5150.

In 2026, Alex Van Halen said:  “He was a poet.  We did our best work with Dave.”

I’d call this vindication!

Full LeBrain Train episode is below (April 30, 2021).

Hold onto your seats, folks, because T-Bone will blow you away with his 5150 knowledge and insight. In fact, all six panel members tonight brought it!

  • Mike
  • Tee Bone
  • Derek Williamson
  • Aaron (KeepsMeAlive)
  • Uncle Meat
  • Kevin

While it wasn’t fun being the lone dissenting voice when you’re up against heavyweights like Kevin and Meat, this was one of the best discussions on 5150 that you are likely to hear. And you need a dissenting voice, right?  I was happy to play the role of punching bag too!

The Van Halen talk begins at exactly 0:48:00 and runs through to the end.  Enjoy!

VIDEO: Transformers Revisited – The Director’s Cut (2026)

This is my birthday weekend, so I’ve decided to take a break from doing shows.  Instead, today we’ll premiere something very much related to my birthday:  the Transformers!  For my birthday in 1984, I received my first two ever:  Skywarp (Decepticon plane) and Windcharger (Autobot minicar).  For many birthdays since, I have received Transformers toys and memorabilia.

In 2012, I started doing animation.  You’ve seen some of it already:  Transformers 2 – Revenge of the Schnauzers.  However, as the title implies, that was just one of the many animated films I made.   In 2026 I edited the whole series together into one film, with new segments shot more recently.  The new supercut with everything thrown in is called Transformers Revisited.  It consists of elements shot in 2012, 2022 and 2026.  In a weird case of unintended synchronicity, one of the 2026 segments worked perfectly with the 2012 stories as a new opening sequence.

The fun thing is this will be an ongoing story.  At the conclusion of this movie, I already have two brand new shorts ready to roll out to continue the series.  Those will be coming later this summer, and are all filmed in 2026.

Please enjoy Transformers Revisited, with a full soundtrack by Max the Axe.  I plan to attend the premiere!

Friday July 17 at 7:00 PM EST, 8:00 PM Atlantic.  Enjoy on YouTube.

1 hour 17 minutes

 

Album Battle! Angine de Poitrine – bicyclelegs talks music

I always enjoy talking music with people who are more musically scholarly than I am. Me? I can tell you what I enjoy about a song or a band. I can recite lyrics and I can mimic solos and riffs that I enjoy. bicyclelegs, on the other hand, helps us dive a little deeper.

Join us for the premiere today of Album Battle: Angine de Poitrine!

You’ve seen and heard all about this bizarre microtonal duo from Quebec (actually, from space). They have gone viral and have recently re-pressed their albums Vol.1 and Vol.II (yes, we talk about that annoying difference!), and we have both acquired our copies.  After numerous listens, we report back with our findings.  Spoiler:  the albums are very different though still unmistakably Angine de Poitrine.

Check out the show!

Saturday July 11 at 8:00 AM EST

Revisiting the Priest: Top Eleven Judas Priest Albums Ranked

GRAB A STACK OF ROCK With Mike and the Mad Metal Man

Special from the Train Archive

“Nigel Tufnel Top Ten” JUDAS PRIEST Albums – First Appearance of Harrison!

On May 30, 2020, history was made:  Harrison Kopp and Mike Ladano met face to face for the first time, and did their very first show together.  The show was on Facebook Live (we didn’t even have a name yet), and we decided to rank our Top Eleven Judas Priest albums.  Since this was pre-Invincible Shield, the lists only cover up to Firepower.  A subject near and dear to our hearts, we later did a larger Priest ranking episode with John Snow and Geoff Stephen on graphs.  That said, there’s nothing like the first time!

For your enjoyment, this is the very first episode ever starring the duo that would become known as Grab A Stack of Rock, edited for pace and length.  We rip through the lists in rapid fire, with a third list provided by the site regular known as Holen.

This episode was a lot of fun to edit and revisit.  Not only was it the beginning of the Mike and Harrison partnership, but it was also the very first cottage show from Grab A Stack Summer HQ, ever!  Below is the text we wrote when the episode was first posted.

Please welcome Harrison to the Saturday live stream! With only minor technical glitches, the Mad Metal Man himself joined me from the other side of the world today.

Today’s subject: A solid “Nigel Tufnel Top Ten” list on the might Judas Priest. Harrison was armed with an additional list by Holen!

Friday July 10 at 7:00 AM EST, 8:00 AM Atlantic.  Enjoy on YouTube.