#1147: Dream On (At The Cottage) Goodbye to Aerosmith

RECORD STORE TALES #1147: Dream On (At The Cottage)

“Aww, crap!” I explained upon arrival at the lake on Friday night.  “I forgot my drone!”

I should have known.  When we packed the car, I said “I’m surprised everything fit so easily.  I thought we had more stuff.”  Because we did have more stuff!  Sitting in a box in the living room…

Drone photography has been the highlight of the summer this year.  Now we’d have to rough it!  Back to regular earthbound cameras for us.

As it stands, without the drone we didn’t do much photography this time.  Last week’s video was so epic, there really wasn’t a need for it this time.  There were plenty of other activities on hand.  For the most part, we focused on music.

Twisted Sister, Kiss and Alice Cooper…all were interrupted by the news that Aerosmith had called it a day for touring.  Cutting short their 50th anniversary farewell tour, the Bad Boys from Boston have been forced to end it due to Steven Tyler’s insurmountable vocal issues.  It’s over – the man can no long sing live.  It felt right to put on the debut Aerosmith album and listen to the beginning again.  It was a bittersweet, but important album to listen to that night.  I’m sure everyone did their own tributes to Tyler that day, but mine was the only one with lake breezes and sunsets.

Come dinner time, and with a fresh tank of propane, I put on the best burgers of my life.  If you bought these burgers in an upscale restaurant, you’d be paying $20 each.  My secret ingredients included thick cut bacon, chopped and added to the mix, as well as minced mushroom, minced onion, and roasted (not raw) garlic. I don’t think these burgers can be topped.

We also bought a beautiful T-Bone and Porterhouse steak for Sunday night, but Saturday night’s dinner had gone bad.  Some wretched pork chops from Farm Boy (in Kitchener) had spoiled, so what do we eat?  Unprepared for this moment, we ordered in Domino’s Pizza, and they delivered right to the front door.  Also delivered right to the porch was a cool set of Lego Speed Champions, which kept me busy in the absence of a drone show.  Ah, the modern conveniences of life.

It’s funny how few people seem to understand how cool it is getting deliveries to the front door.  “I prefer to buy it myself at the store, it is close by.”  Well, for 50 years, there was no such nearby convenience here as “record stores” or “toys stores” or “pizza delivery”.  This is all new to us.

We hope that Steven Tyler is able to enjoy a relaxing retirement, just as pleasant as our weekend at the lake.

 

 

 

VIDEO: Deep Purple =1 Super Deluxe Box Set Unboxed by Mike and the Mad Metal Man

Here it is: One of the biggest rock album events of the summer! We have the Deep Purple =1 Super Deluxe Box Set in hand, and we go through all its contents. Have a watch.

#1146: 35 years ago, Mike heard this classic album for the first time… (An Uncle Don Don story in under 2 minutes) [VIDEO]

My Uncle Don Don was the youngest of three kids.  He was quite a bit younger than his two older sisters, who liked The Beatles.  My uncle was from a younger generation, raised on Led Zeppelin, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Deep Purple.

I had more in common musically with my uncle than my mother.  So, when my uncle approached me early in the summer of 1989 to swap tapes to record, I knew he’d have something interesting to tape.  I grabbed a Maxell 90 minute cassette, and chose an album of his to record on one side.

Hear the album and the story in the 2 minute video below.

FAITH NO MORE: A Career Retrospective on Grant’s Rock Warehaus [VIDEO]

One of my favourite bands, going back 34 years this summer, is Faith No More. The San Fransisco band hit it back in the summer of 1990 with “Epic”, but they had been plying the rock waters for years before, including a brief stint with Courtney Love on lead vocals. It was the acquisition in 1988 of Mr. Bungle singer Mike Patton (replacing Chuck Mosely) that was the final ingredient needed to push them over the top. Even though they are undoubtedly one of the weirdest rock bands to hit the Top Ten, they pre-dated the grunge era with their funky bass, rapped lyrics, and soaring choruses.

Grant Arthur and I covered the whole shebang, including a triumphant return with the reunion album Sol Invictus.  What is it?  It’s a damn great episode of Grant’s Rock Warehaus.  Give it a watch below!

VIDEO: July 25-28 at the Lake – loads of drone beauty shots

Six cameras.  3 hours and 20 minutes of footage.  Edited down to 14 minutes of highlights, all to the music of Richie Kotzen.

Ducks, geese, seagulls, and one John Clauser cameo.

Enjoy.

#1145: Goals 2024

August approaches!  So much still to do this season!  Yet, goals have been achieved:

  1. Numerous Amazon deliveries to the front porch, including my new cottage desk for outdoor work.
  2. Lots of animal footage, including a couple shots of the fox.
  3. Several episodes of Grab A Stack of Rock and Tim’s Vinyl Confessions recorded and streamed from the new porch (and new desk).
  4. Drones drones drones.
  5. Two epic birthdays done.

If summer ended tomorrow, I’d say goals have been achieved and the season was a success.  Yet there is more to be done!

  1. Finish (or at least continue to make progress) organizing the music collection.
  2. Take the drone even further for more videos.
  3. Animation – haven’t done any animation videos in a couple years.

What would you like to see this season that we have not done yet?

 

 

VIDEO: “Bang!” It took Mike 35 years to get this rock CD…

Some albums just fall by the wayside.  Here’s a CD that came out 35 years ago, and I just never got around to.

This album, from a new hard rock band, was on my radar due to involvement from some people in the circles of Bon Jovi.  It was scarce in these parts, either unseen on the shelves of local stores, or left sitting in favour of other purchases.

Another thing about the summer of 1989 is that there were few quality record stores at the cottage 35 years ago.  Now, I just have to find what I want on Amazon, and new music is on its way to me while I wait for it on the front porch.  Absolutely amazing.  Tell that to 17 year old Mike in July ’89!

 

A Friday Hang with Johnny Metal & Mike Ladano – Classical Music, Quiet Riot, Lego Jazz, Movie Props and more!

Thank you to John Clauser of My Music Corner for joining me for an impromptu Friday afternoon!  I wanted to finish showing off my birthday hauls, because there was some cool stuff still to be seen.  Possibly the coolest of them was a Star Trek:  Strange New Worlds plaque made by the propmaster on that show and purchased directly from him.  I also received a replica lamp from the Star Wars series Andor, and a Tchaikovsky CD.  This led to an informative back-and-forth about classical music in the comments, led by Pete Jones.

John Clauser brought with him some personal stories and rare copies of his own music.  One is an album that he played some guitar on, one is an album of his own making, and another is a live DVD recorded at a coffee house!  He also has a demo tape of his early W.A.S.P.-influenced solo music.

Quiet Riot was an artist that John spotlighted, with a bonus Randy Rhoads bootleg.  He also brought a double live Accept — a prelude to his next big deep dive series on My Music Corner!

The final thing I had to show off was my Lego Jazz quartet, which ironically, Aaron received for his birthday a few days ago.

Thanks to everyone for the lively comments.  This is why I love going live.  See you next time!

Surprise Friday Stream – Johnny Metal & Cool Music

GRAB A STACK OF ROCK With Mike and the Mad Metal Man
Episode 66:  Surprise Friday Stream with John Clauser

SURPRISE!  John Clauser from My Music Corner and I will be live at 3:00 PM this afternoon.  That’s just three hours from this posting!

John & felt like being social this Friday, so come one and all and join the conversation.  I have some new things to show off, including birthday gifts and cottage treasures.  John will have some cool stuff to show as well.  Perhaps we’ll even discuss his Twisted Sister series and what is to come next at My Music Corner.

Join us today at 3:00 for a classic cottage afternoon show.  These are always a blast.  Welcome to the cottage John!

Friday July 26 at 3:00 P.M. E.S.T. / 4:00 P.M. Atlantic.   Enjoy on YouTube or on Facebook!