Videos

Rock Daydream Nation: Van Halen with David Lee Roth: Best Song, Worst Song, Every Album

“One of the best shows I have EVER been a part of!” – Mike

“It’s definitely a top shelf RDN show for sure!” – Peter

The pleasure is always mine when I get to be a part of Rock Daydream Nation.  I absolutely love Peter’s show; it challenges us and it entertains you.  This was a relatively easy show for me.  All I had to do was listen to Van Halen all week, and pick my favourite and least favourite songs from the Roth albums.  That’s it!  Beats workin’!

Tim Durling joined us for this amazing showcase of tunes, with some surprises.  What was clear is this:  least favourites are all but irrelevant.  They’re all favourites to different degrees!  I learned that I tend to gravitate to the more melodic side of Van Halen.  Meanwhile, Peter was able to glean some meaning behind some of Roth’s lyrics.

Top shelf RDN is right.  Top Jimmy would be proud.

 

We Love Paul Di’Anno: A Thorough and Engrossing Tribute to the Iron Maiden frontman with Pete Jones, Johnny Metal, Metal Roger & Harrison Kopp

This week, we lost the monolith of metal known as Paul Di’Anno.  Born as Paul Andrews, he gripped the world in 1980 fronting the almighty Iron Maiden.  The spark was brief but bright.  His two Iron Maiden albums, plus some EPs and singles, carved an identity.  Those who get it loved him.  Some of them followed Paul into solo outings and new bands.  And this show has a wealth of appreciation for it all.

With Professor Pete Jones on board as surprise guest, we talked about all things Paul.  Pete was there from the very beginning, buying the first album in store upon sight.  He goes deep into the music and the early Iron Maiden sound, supplanted by the late great Clive Burr on drums.  Harrison Kopp, in a mighty return to Grab A Stack of Rock after nearly nine months away, gave us a run through Paul’s career, highlighting live songs and memorable tracks suck as “Marshall Lockjaw”.   Johnny Metal and Metal Roger contributed their own personal stories and what Paul’s music meant to them.  As John said so well:  thank you.

Meanwhile, I let the boys do most of the talking.  Instead, I presented an interview I did with Paul’s old guitar player Steph Honde.  He tells a tale of picking up Paul at the airport, and playing live without rehearsal.  I also played Bruce Dickinson’s tribute to Di’Anno, and friend Brian Richards’ thoughts about the tribute from the perspective of an audience member that night.  Finally, I read a loving statement from friend Thor Blackmore, towards the end of the show.

I know we will all miss Paul Di’Anno.

Paul Di’Anno Tribute on Grab A Stack of Rock with Harrison, Johnny Metal, and Metal Roger

GRAB A STACK OF ROCK With Mike and the Mad Metal Man
Episode 75:  Paul Di’Anno Tribute

We had a completely different show planned this week.  Then, in the early hours of Monday morning, John Snow informed us that former Iron Maiden singer Paul Di’Anno had passed.

It was like that moment the record scratches and the needle comes off.  The shock set in, and then I realized, we need to change the show this week.  We need to pay tribute to (not the original singer, but) the first recorded Iron Maiden lead singer.  Paul filled some shoes:  Paul Mario Day and Den Wilcock preceeded him in Iron Maiden, but it was Di’Anno who helped put them on the center stage.  Paul’s punk look and snarl differentiated Iron Maiden from the rest of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal.  They were clearly different from the pack, and their intense and sweaty live shows proved it.

This week on Grab A Stack of Rock, Harrison Kopp will make an early unscheduled return, joining myself, John Clauser, and Metal Roger in tribute.  24 hours after our show, Roger will be seeing Iron Maiden themselves in Toronto.  All of us will be talking about the man, the myth, and the albums!  As an added bonus we will also be running a clip from my 2021 interview with his former guitar player Steph Honde, on playing live with Paul!  We will also be playing Bruce Dickinson’s tribute to Paul from Minnesota.

“I know you’d have gone insane if you saw what I saw,” but tonight, please join us and see our Tribute to Paul Di’Anno.  As usual there will be lots of physical products, including two VERY RARE Iron Maiden box sets, some vinyl, and double CD sets.

Friday October 25 at 7:00 P.M. E.S.T. / 8:00 P.M. Atlantic.   Enjoy on YouTube or on Facebook!

The Contrarians Live: BROWN Album Covers tonight at 7:00 PM EST!

A sequel to last week’s show!  Last Wednesday, we saw quite a few brown album covers when we looked at minimalist album art.  This week we’re following that up with brown album covers!  I will be joining the Contrarians LIVE tonight at 7:00 PM EST for this excellent topic idea.  Each of us has ten picks.  I will have the honour of sitting on a panel with:

  • Grant Arthur
  • Tim Durling
  • John “Johnny Homework” Clauser
  • Jamie Laszlo
  • Peter “The Professor” Jones.

60 unique picks for brown cover art.  I’ve given my list a twist:  all Canadian artists!

THE CONTRARIANS – Brown Album Covers – Wed. October 23 7:00 PM EST

Standing On The Shoulders Of Kitties I Official Red Band Trailer – Trailer Park Boys, Billy Bob Thornton & Ronnie Wood

Bubbles and the Sh*trockers are back, along with Ricky, Julian and Randy. That’s right – the Trailer Park Boys are back in the cinema December 6!

It’s been a minute since we’ve seen the boys on the screen, but fans know that Bubbles (Mike Smith) has always brought music to the fore.  Whether it’s jamming with Alex Lifeson on “Closer to the Heart”, playing with his band the Shitrockers, or crooning solo hits such as “Kitties Are So Nice”, Bubbles is the musical one.  And now, the Shitrockers are on the road, opening for Billy Bob Thornton’s band the Boxmasters.  And somehow Ronnie Wood figures in it too.  I guess we’ll get the whole story on December 6!

From prison riots to being stranded in London, it sure looks like Bubbles and the boys will have their hands (and pipes, and glasses) full this time!  This’ll get your lazy arses back in the cinema, stoners!

 

The Contrarians Live: Minimalist Album Covers tonight at 7:00 PM EST

I will be joining the Contrarians LIVE tonight at 7:00 PM EST for an excellent topic idea:  minimalist album covers.  Each of us has ten picks.  I will have the honour of sitting on a panel with:

  • Martin Popoff
  • Grant Arthur
  • Tim Durling
  • John “Johnny Homework” Clauser
  • Jamie Laszlo
  • Peter “The Professor” Jones.

70 unique picks for minimalist cover art.  This outta be good.  Link is below!

Finding the Beatles and Beck: That’s the “B” Section – Compact Disc Collections with John Clauser @MyMusicCorner

An exhaustive two hours with Johnny Metal took us through almost everything we own in the “B” section of the CD collections!  From Sebastian Bach to Bryan Byrne, we looked at everything on CD, except a few box sets.  As such, we did not see all my Beatles, Black Crowes, Black Sabbath, Bon Jovi, or Blue Rodeo on CD.  We saw pretty much everything else.

Johnny Metal’s collection, as usual, featured some really cool and rare Christian metal, and other assorted metal and blues that most of us might not have heard of.  Many of his CDs included collector’s cards or autographs.  John excluded (most of his) Black Sabbath and all of his Beatles for this exercise.

Speaking of the Beatles, halfway through the show, I realized I didn’t have any Beatles in my stack, which is just not right.  I have lots of Beatles besides the Stereo and Mono box sets.  Then viewer Ashley mentioned I had no Jeff Beck.  Well, obviously I do!  I reviewed two of them here on this site!  I realized I had a whole stack I left behind!

That’s how much B stuff I have.  Bon Jovi was the majority of it, and a lot of it turned out to be Bon Jovi I don’t even like.  There was, however, some Bon Jovi that I really really do like, and I hope you enjoy having a look at them.

We saw a lot of CD singles, remasters with bonus tracks, deluxe editions, remasters, digipacks, Japanese imports, and even one 3″ CD.

Thanks for watching this show, which might take you two viewings to finish, but that’s it – that’s the B section, done n’ dusted.

The “B” Section – Compact Disc Collections with John Clauser @MyMusicCorner

GRAB A STACK OF ROCK With Mike and the Mad Metal Man
Episode 74:  The “B” Section with Johnny Metal

Johnny Metal Homework is back for the third week in a row, to grab some stacks of rock!  As a sequel to our “A” section show, this time we are diving into some killer “B’s”.  You’ll be seeing my Black Sabbath, Bon Jovi, and yes…Blaze Bayley.  This episode will exclude box sets which have been shown off before on their own dedicated episodes.  CDs only; no vinyl, cassettes or 8-tracks on this week’s episode.

John says it won’t be as crazy this time (no 74 CDs from a Christian parody band), but it will be  heavy!  The big section is loaded with “Big” bands (Wreck, Sugar, House), and plenty of “Black” (Sabbath, Country Communion, Label Society, Star Riders, Jack).  Let’s take a deep dive into some Japanese imports, rarities, and heavy hitters.

Join us live!

Friday October 11 at 7:00 P.M. E.S.T. / 8:00 P.M. Atlantic.   Enjoy on YouTube or on Facebook!

Droning On – Recent Videos with Music!

Lots of new videos up on the channel, with great music to go with them!

The First Flight of Dr. K – Marillion “Fugazi”

I actually let Dr. K fly my drone. This is the unedited footage. You can see the panic on my face, with my hands on my head in anxiety!

Following a Canada Goose and some beach dogs – Jeff Bridges & Colin Farrell “Fallin’ & Flyin'”

Really special footage here of a lone Canada goose in the morning. I hovered nearby, afraid to get too close.

Dawn flight in the fall to lone rock – Brant Bjork “Sun Brother”

This flight took me further than I’ve gone before, all the way to a lone rock on the other side of the river that my sister and I used to sit on.

A Mighty Wind is Blowing with Dan Chartrand, Uncle Meat & Johnny Homework

Johnny Metal earned a new nickname tonight:  Johnny Homework!  His meticulous research and notes provided a solid backbone of knowledge on which we arranged an awesome discussion.  The topic:  the now-classic Christopher Guest mockumentary A Mighty Wind!

Together with Uncle Meat and Dan from Off the Charts, we tried to cover every aspect that we love about this movie.  We went deep on the following topics:

The cast

  • Our favourite bands
  • Our favourite songs
  • Favourite scenes
  • Fred Willard
  • The Kiss at the End of the Rainbow
  • The ending

Additionally, we looked at CDs, vinyl, and a very nice songbook from Johnny Homework.  Gotta get that physical product in.

Thanks for joining us!