Grab A Stack of Rock

50 Years of IRON MAIDEN episode 25: Visions of the Beast featuring Bob Cesca from Camp Chaos

50 Years of IRON MAIDEN episode 25:  Visions of the Beast featuring Bob Cesca from Camp Chaos

GRAB A STACK OF ROCK #124

Back in 1999/2000, a little video called “Napster Bad!” went viral.  You know it, you shared it, you loved it.  Well, not Harrison because he was not born yet.  Bob Cesca (founder of Camp Chaos) created that video and many others, including official music videos for bands such as Motley Crue, Yes, and…Iron Maiden!

Bob is a talented jack of many trades, and also a massive Rush fan.  In this effortless interview, Bob tells us everything you wanted to know about him and Iron Maiden.  2003’s Visions of the Beast double DVD was a massive collection, and Camp Chaos did six music videos for it.  These videos mixed animation with the original familiar music video footage.  We break them all down in detail, including how to access the Easter Eggs.  How was he contacted by the Maiden camp?  How much input did Iron Maiden have on his creative process?  Why did he choose certain Eddies and settings, and how did he decide what to edit out of the originals to make way for animation?  It is a fascinating trip back in time, as current events impacted some of the videos, even though the songs themselves were oldies.  Hey…are there 10 ME-109s out of the sun…or not?

Bob also answered all our non-Maiden questions, such as why James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich have no noses in “Napster Bad”?

After Bob had answered all our questions, Harrison and Mike took a deep dive on the rest of the contents of the DVD set.  If you owned Visions of the Beast back in the day, own it now, or not yet…you will want to pop it in after this episode.

Please welcome Mr. Bob Cesca to Grab A Stack of Rock, and 50 Years of Iron Maiden!  Join us at the premiere in the comments tonight – we love interacting with you!

A big thanks to Tim Durling for introducing us to Bob!

Friday November 7 at 7:00 P.M. E.S.T.  Enjoy on YouTube.

Past episodes:

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#1223: The Creative Process and Why I Love Editing (The new and improved Grab A Stack of Rock show intro video)

RECORD STORE TALES #1223: The Creative Process and Why I Love Editing
(The new and improved Grab A Stack of Rock show intro video)

Funny thing about creativity:  Sometimes size does matter.

The size of your canvas, that is.

I love editing videos, and my pet project for three years now has been the theme video for my YouTube show, Grab A Stack of Rock.  In those three years, I have created over 100 revisions.  I have spent countless hours at my deck working on them.  My old PC’s fans used to groan in protest when loading the files.

Ever since the old LeBrain Train days, I wanted an opening theme song video that include every guest who had ever been on the show.  When we started over from scratch, that was still my goal.  Now we have had 50 guests and the old theme song video was getting cramped.  Tim Durling extended it a long time ago by looping a chorus, so I came to him for help once again.  Creatively, Tim added a guitar solo to extend the song’s length even further.  Modestly, Tim said “It should be apparent to anyone listening that a professional guitar player I am not, but it sure was fun.”  Hey man, it’s good enough for rock and roll, and it gave me a much larger canvas to play with.

When I had the much shorter video, it was always painful for me to edit when we had a new guest to add to the show.  What do I cut, in order to fit the new person in?  There were some parts of the video that were synched to the song and were set in stone – Paul Shortino’s cameo, for example, my laugh at the end, and so on.  I love editing; it is one of my favourite parts of the creative process.  I can sit and edit all day and not realize how much time has gone by.  I always pay for it later in cramps.

Thanks to Tim and this ever-expanding song I now have more canvas, and I’ve been playing with it even more.

“It needs more Dan Chartrand,” I said at first, and so I added more Dan, and just for kicks, more Jex too.  Game Show Host Jex, with the jacket.

There was also one shot in the original video that always bugged me.  It’s one of the oldest shots, but it is from a Christmas show that included Brian Richards as a guest – his only show as a guest.  But it was a static shot and always stood out for that reason.  It hasn’t looked right for a long time, so I took this opportunity to replace it with a moving shot of Brian waving.  I also wanted more Nurse Kat, since she did two episodes with us, and more Archie Gamble since he did three.  In a fun happenstance, I got one shot of Archie synched up to the chorus, so it looks like he’s singing Grab A Stack of Rock.  I also wanted more Davey Cretin, so a chose a shot from our Brave New World episode that has me holding stacks of Maiden during the chorus.

I hope this brief glimpse of a day’s work gives you an idea of why I love working on editing videos.  There is almost always something you want to fix, but the process of doing so either becomes so impossibly tedious that I say, “That’s it, this work is done.”  Not done – abandoned!

I have been working in the video medium, as an amateur, for 36 years.  I like editing to music.  I like placing my edits at key moments of songs, or at least with the beat.  It gives me a framework and enhances the visuals.   I’m obviously just a hack; this isn’t a “how-to”.  I’m just expressing what I love and why I drink my coffee until it is stone cold, sitting here trying to perfect that magical “final” edit.

And then I wait, because now I can’t wait for the next guest to arrive and be added to the showcase.*  We still have several more to come!**

One day I’d like to do some more animation, but that is mostly an outdoor summer activity for me.  For now, I will continue to enjoy doing this for myself, because at the end of the day, nobody else notices all the minute little tweaks and changes I make to my passion projects.

 

 

 

*We’ve already added Lana Teramae, and another new addition, Bob Cesca, will join us this week on 50 Years of Iron Maiden.

**Two more guests are coming on 50 Years of Iron Maiden:  Ryan Murphy from RushFans, and D’Arcy Briggs from darcyska.  We also have plans with author Robert Lawson, and an interview with a musician that I am not ready to disclose.

 

 

 

Written by Mike Ladano, Jen Ladano, and Tee Bone Erickson.  Recorded and performed by Tee Bone, guitar solo and remix by Tim Durling

  1. Blaze Bayley
  2. Harrison Kopp
  3. Mike Ladano
  4. Eric “Uncle Meat” Litwiller
  5. Aaron KMA
  6. Tim Durling
  7. Rob Daniels
  8. John T Snow
  9. Marco D’Auria
  10. Grant Arthur
  11. Brian Richards
  12. MarriedandHeels
  13. Kevin Simister
  14. Dr. Kathryn
  15. Jen Ladano
  16. Grace Scheele
  17. Jex Russell
  18. Spencer “Spenny” Rice
  19. Nurse Kat
  20. Peter Kerr
  21. John Clauser
  22. Erik Woods
  23. Jason Drury
  24. Pierre-Luc Allard
  25. Len Labelle
  26. Reed Little
  27. Metal Roger
  28. John the Music Nut
  29. Mike Slayen
  30. Pete Jones
  31. Todd Evans
  32. James Kalyn
  33. Angie Moon
  34. Ryan Gavalier
  35. Chris Preston
  36. Dan Chartrand
  37. Glen “Archie” Gamble
  38. bicyclelegs
  39. Davey Cretin
  40. Melissa Nee
  41. Sidney Cini A
  42. Ashley Geisler
  43. Martin Popoff
  44. Bert Blotto
  45. F Lee Harvey Blotto
  46. Bowtie Blotto
  47. Broadway Blotto
  48. Jake Not From State Farm
  49. Bob Cesca (Camp Chaos)
  50. Lana Teramae
  51. and (briefly) Max the Axe

Plus Daisi the Dog, Gimli the Cat (RIP) and Galadriel the Cat

 

 

🅻🅸🆅🅴 In-Costume Celebration: Top Five Band Costumes & A Tribute to Ace Frehley tonight!

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

🅻🅸🆅🅴 Episode

Episode 123:  Happy Halloween – Top 5 Band Costumes & A Tribute to Ace Frehley
With Mike, Harrison, Johnny Metal and Rob Daniels – IN COSTUME!

Happy 3rd birthday to Grab A Stack of Rock (Oct 28 2022)!  We have a special show tonight.  Not only do we have an excellent panel of returning guests, but we have a fun, Halloween-themed gimmick-laden episode to satisfy!  And of course, for the physical media crowd, we will have lots of CDs (rare, imports) and some music merch to look at!

The show topics tonight are three:

1. Our panel will be dressed in costumes!  Some many be dressed in two costumes!

2. Mike will run down his top Ace Frehley songs of all time, from his Kiss, Comet and Solo careers.  Knowing Mike, expect deep cuts and non-album tracks.

3. Top Five Band Costumes from the panel.  Any band, any costume qualifies.  Literally anything from the matching Beatles suits to Gwar.

Don’t miss this special episode, coming to you LIVE on YouTube.  Join us in the comments – we love to interact!  Best of all, we plan to be done in time for you to catch the World Series game tonight.

 

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

Grab A Stack of Rock theme video – extended version with Blaze Bayley and guitar solo

Music & vocals by Tee Bone, remix and guitar solo by Tim Durling.  Writting by M Ladano, J Ladano, T Erickson

Not including myself, 50 people have been on Grab A Stack of Rock to date.  We started this show on October 28 2022 – happy three years to us!  50 guests in three years – two of which you have not officially met yet! Can you spot them in the new video? Their appearances on 50 Years of Iron Maiden are coming soon.

I know I’m a luddite when it comes to software.  My computer friend Brian, who assembled my new PC for me, has probably been ripping his hair out trying to make sure all my tastes for outdated software (and hardware) are satisfied.  As such, I still use Windows Movie Maker as my sole video editing software.  And it’s glitchy.  No question it’s glitchy.  I put about 5 hours’ work into this video this week!  Tim Durling came to the rescue at the last minute with a lost file of his guitar solo for the song.  You see, so many people have been on the show that we cannot squeeze all 50 guests into it any more.  It has now been extended twice to accommodate all the guests.  This new version will last a long time as now there is plenty of room for more.  And more are indeed coming.

Thanks for watching Grab A Stack of Rock.  Happy Three Years to us!  Cool things still to come.

 

  1. Blaze Bayley
  2. Harrison Kopp
  3. Mike Ladano
  4. Eric “Uncle Meat” Litwiller
  5. Aaron KMA
  6. Tim Durling
  7. Rob Daniels
  8. John T Snow
  9. Marco D’Auria
  10. Grant Arthur
  11. Brian Richards
  12. MarriedandHeels
  13. Kevin Simister
  14. Dr. Kathryn
  15. Jen Ladano
  16. Grace Scheele
  17. Jex Russell
  18. Spencer “Spenny” Rice
  19. Nurse Kat
  20. Peter Kerr
  21. John Clauser
  22. Erik Woods
  23. Jason Drury
  24. Pierre-Luc Allard
  25. Len Labelle
  26. Reed Little
  27. Metal Roger
  28. John the Music Nut
  29. Mike Slayen
  30. Pete Jones
  31. Todd Evans
  32. James Kalyn
  33. Angie Moon
  34. Ryan Gavalier
  35. Chris Preston
  36. Dan Chartrand
  37. Glen “Archie” Gamble
  38. bicyclelegs
  39. Davey Cretin
  40. Melissa Nee
  41. Sidney Cini A
  42. shley Geisler
  43. Martin Popoff
  44. Bert Blotto
  45. F Lee Harvey Blotto
  46. Bowtie Blotto
  47. Broadway Blotto
  48. Jake Not From State Farm
  49. Bob Cesca (Camp Chaos)
  50. Lana Teramae
  51. and (briefly) Max the Axe

🅻🅸🆅🅴 Spinal Tap II: The End Continues with Uncle Meat and Dan Chartrand

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

🅻🅸🆅🅴 Episode

Episode 122: The End Continues with Uncle Meat and Dan Chartrand

In September of 2024, Marco D’Auria, Dan Chartrand, and Uncle Meat joined us to celebrate 40 years of This Is Spinal Tap.  This comprehensive and loving analysis needed a followup episode once the sequel, The End Continues, had come out.  Now it has, and we have all seen it.  Dan and the Meat are back tonight to discuss the sequel, and the sequel soundtrack!  Tonight we’re gonna rock ya tonight!

Though we have not had 40 years to study up like we did last time, we have done our homework and will be addressing the below topics and more:

  • What were your hopes and fears going into this movie?
  • Where and when did you see it?
  • The new drummer – our impressions.
  • Favourite scene.
  • Favourite cameo / callback.
  • Soundtrack thoughts:  New songs, old songs, and CD vs the movie.
  • The big question:  Did it live up to the Spinal Tap legacy?

Please join us live tonight in the comments.  There will be blood to let!

Friday October 24 at 7:00 PM EST, 8:00 PM Atlantic.  Enjoy on YouTube or Facebook.

50 Years of IRON MAIDEN episode 24: Eddie’s Archive and Edward the Great

50 Years of IRON MAIDEN episode 24: Eddie’s Archive and Edward the Great

GRAB A STACK OF ROCK #121

Post-Brave New World, Iron Maiden were back on top.  With the struggles of the 1990s well behind them, Iron Maiden forged forward with new releases such as Rock In Rio, Edward the Great, and Eddie’s Archive.  Rock in Rio was a double-live, the likes not seen since last Bruce was in.  We covered this in our previous episode.  The latter two were Iron Maiden collections aimed at two very different groups of fans.

Edward the Great was a “hits compilation” aimed at new fans.  As a single disc compilation, it was limited by its length, and an interesting selection of tracks.  As a whole, it offered nothing besides new artwork for the seasoned Iron Maiden fan.  They were advised to save their money and buy the massive, limited edition Eddie’s Archive instead.

The Archive was a generous six-disc collection of three:

Discs 1 & 2 – BBC Archives.  We covered the first four songs in this set on our debut episode of 50 Years of Iron Maiden, so we won’t be tackling these again tonight.  These discs span professional BBC recordings from 1980 to ’88.

Discs 3 & 4 – Beast Over Hammersmith.  Episode 6 of 50 Years of Iron Maiden was dedicated to this double-live album, so there is little need to repeat our praise.

Discs 5 & 6 – Best of the B’Sides.  We already critiqued all of these songs on the relevant albums, so our commentary here is focused more on value to the fan.

Mike and Harrison will break down the above releases, including Edward the Great, and have lots to show as well.  The goodies on display include two complete Eddie’s Archives:  One pre-ordered and delivered back in 2002, with rear sticker still intact, and one “Archive of Theseus” that Harrison will explain the origins of.

This magnificent metal episode is brought to you by the letter E, not to mention Mike and Harrison.  Please check out the premiere tonight if you can!  We love to interact in the comments section.

Friday October 17 at 7:00 P.M. E.S.T.  Enjoy on YouTube.

Past episodes:

Handy YouTube Playlist:

🅻🅸🆅🅴 50 Years of IRON MAIDEN episode 23: Rock in Rio

50 Years of IRON MAIDEN episode 23: Rock in Rio

Special 🅻🅸🆅🅴 Episode

GRAB A STACK OF ROCK #120

It was with great joy that we anticipated Iron Maiden’s first live album since Donington 1992:  Rock In Rio!  A decade had passed, and with it, three new studio albums, all of which are represented in the live set.  The new six-man Iron Maiden lineup was on fire, and little did we know it would become the most stable lineup in the band’s history.  Though they had released live B-sides from the Ed Hunter tour, Rock In Rio was the first full live album with the new lineup, and of course, new songs!  We even got a live DVD out of it.

In Rio, Iron Maiden played to approximately 250,000 people; the second largest crowd of their entire career, only topped by the 350,000 people who saw them in Rio in 1985.  They hit the stage with a setlist generous on new songs, classic hits, and respectful nods to the Blaze era.

Harrison and I will break down the album, produced by Kevin Shirley, track by track in tonight’s special live episode.  Don’t miss this one as we always enjoy interacting with the comments, and we can do this best when we are live.

Much like Iron Maiden, we are best when we are live.  Check it out tonight!

Friday October 10 at 7:00 P.M. E.S.T.  Enjoy on YouTube or Facebook.

Past episodes:

Handy YouTube Playlist:

🅻🅸🆅🅴 Harrison’s Box Sets and Mike’s Whitesnake

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

Episode 119: Harrison’s Box Sets and Mike’s Whitesnake

Time for a Maiden break this week, as Harrison and Mike have their ears full of live Maiden preparing for the next two shows!  In the meantime, Harrison has acquired a good sized collection of box sets, while Mike is only one Whitesnake box away from completing his collection of Coverdale’s boxed compilations.  Not much else to say except we will dive deep on some cool collections tonight!

“Ere’s a box set for ya!”

This is possibly the last cottage show of the season, and an indoor one this time due to the early sunset.  Join us tonight live for this special look at some expensive beauties.

 

 

Friday October 3 at 7:00 PM EST, 8:00 PM Atlantic.  Enjoy on YouTube or Facebook.

 

 

50 Years of IRON MAIDEN episode 22: Brave New World with Davey Cretin

50 Years of IRON MAIDEN episode 22:  Brave New World

Special Guest:  Davey Cretin from Cretin Classics

GRAB A STACK OF ROCK #118

How do you move on from a special interview with former Maiden frontman Blaze Bayley?  By going to the next album, of course!  After the wildly successful Ed Hunter reunion tour, the new six-man Iron Maiden lineup of Bruce Dickinson, Steve Harris, Dave Murray, Janick Gers, Adrian Smith and Nicko McBrain were tasked with creating a new Iron Maiden studio album.  With new producer Kevin “Caveman” Shirley at the boards (whom they tested out on “Wrathchild 1999” – see Episode 21), the band had to capture their classic sound with modern production and a new three-guitar configuration.

The band toiled away in the studio as fans speculated.  Finally we were given a preview of the new Maiden sound on the first single “The Wicker Man”.  This was followed by the rapturous release of Brave New World on 29 May 2000.  Together, with the legendary Davey Cretin of Cretin Classics, Harrison and Mike break down the album’s 10 tracks in incredible detail.  You simply will not find a better analysis of this album anywhere else on the internet.

We don’t just dive deep into the album.  As usual, you can expect us to tackle all the live B-sides from “The Wicker Man” and “Out of the Silent Planet”.  We will also look at some very rare CD singles, including the elusive remix of “The Wicker Man” with additional lyrics.  We will also have a good look at the album and singles artwork, and even a special edition DVD of the Wicker Man movie with Edward Woodward and Sir Christopher Lee.

Before we’re done, Harrison will take us through the Brave New World tour, the setlists and the performances.  Expect the level of detail, analysis and pure love that you have come to know from 50 Years of Iron Maiden.  It’s all here as we enter the brave new world of the Maiden reunion era!

 

Friday September 26 at 7:00 P.M. E.S.T.  Enjoy on YouTube.

Past episodes:

Handy YouTube Playlist:

 

BLAZE BAYLEY interview: 50 Years of IRON MAIDEN bonus episode!

For all things Blaze Bayley, go to BlazeBayley.net.

50 Years of IRON MAIDEN bonus episode:  BLAZE BAYLEY interview

GRAB A STACK OF ROCK #117

We cannot imagine a better way to wrap up the Blaze years on 50 Years of Iron Maiden, than chatting with the man himself.  Metal fans worldwide, we present to you Blaze Bayley!

This isn’t just any Blaze interview.  With Harrison and Mike involved, you know we’re going to go deep.  We’re going to respect the man and his entire career, from Wolsbane to Iron Maiden to solo.  A lot of the information we covered won’t be found in mainstream interviews.

In this interview, we cover:

  • Punctuality!
  • Re-recording Wolfsbane as “Live Faster…” and what that means.
  • AI, science fiction, Blade Runner, and technology.
  • “Do, or Do!”
  • A secret, unwritten conceptual storyline to King of Metal, that Blaze reveals here.
  • The Silicon Messiah and the dangers of AI.
  • How “Virus” came be
  • The waist-high snowbanks of Canada.
  • Who the King of Metal really is.
  • The stigma of mental health.
  • Meeting Absolva, and joining forces with the Appletons.
  • And so, so much more.

For us and this series, asking Blaze our favourite questions was the realization of many dreams.  Instead of saying “Do or Die”, Blaze likes to say “Do, or Do”.  This interview was the culmination of us just doing it, for the love of music and the love of Iron Maiden.

Folks, you are in for a treat.  Please welcome Blaze Bayley to Grab A Stack of Rock.

Past episodes:

Handy YouTube Playlist: