Back when Harrison and I first launched Grab A Stack of Rock in late 2022, we needed an intro song. Jen and I had written some lyrics and a melody, but Tee Bone Erickson turned them into a song. I am proud to have now turned his song into a record. I decided to have a custom Grab A Stack 7″ picture disc cut by vinylart.co. I’ve done this before with two other songs (one by Max the Axe and one by Dr. Kathryn Ladano) and though the sonic results are below par, I don’t care as I didn’t have the records made to play them.
Because I’m an idiot, I had this particular record made so I could use it in the new intro video.
Yeah.
That was $60 right there. For roughly nine seconds of video.
We artists…not only do we suffer for our art, but we also go broke for it too.
I don’t make any money here, folks. I do it for fun.
Doing this intro video (over and over again) was a true labour of love. For our first show, we didn’t have the name yet, so I just ran the LeBrain Train intro video. By the second show, we had the song but no video, so I made a quickie vid using old LeBrain Train shots. As the show went on Friday after Friday, I kept updating the video (sometimes weekly) to include new guests and clips. The version below is the 40th revision! I’ve done more revisions than shows!
Now, finally I was able to let go of all the old LeBrain Train clips, as good as they often were, and use only fresh Grab A Stack content. It has been quite an odyssey to get to this point, but…as always…I’m proudest of this version. I think it’s the best one yet. Jex and Tim both ham it up a bit in this, while a stoic Harrison looks on, stoically.
Friends like these in the video are the reason I keep doing this. I love it. I love us! I love watching us do our thing, in a “greatest hits” kind of video.
I think this is the best one yet, until the next one.
*pictured above: Gimli, the secret star of the show
Folks, I am so proud of this new show intro! Grab A Stack of Rock is almost at 30 episodes, so the show intro should consist of entirely original footage, should it not? Yes it should! I’ve finally removed all the old footage and guests from the LeBrain Train shows (I think?) with two exceptions; both clips of original music videos that we still play frequently today.
There are more clips and less photos – the new version is faster and far less static. This means it takes an hour or so to load all the files into my editor, but it’s worth it when the results come out this good.
Our fans and Sarre have spoken, and they want more music and more lists on this show. We’re gonna bring ’em to ya baby.
I want to thanks Harrison Kopp for being awesome support and my rock of a co-host. I wanna thank Jex Russell for bringing a new energy to the show. I wanna thank Rob, John, Tim, Aaron, and Marco for helming some great episodes with me. Dr. K, Grace Scheele, Spenny Rice and Nurse Kat have been generous with their time and made their own episodes something really special to watch. Uncle Meat sparked the concept of this show and he’s in the new theme video too. He did after all make some cameo appearances on special occasions. Also a special thanks to Grant Arthur for welcoming me on his Rock Warehaus and helping me stay focused.
Spoilers: There’s a new revision coming in a couple weeks with a new opening, but I’m waiting for a specific “prop” to come in the mail. You’ll see!
Awesome show tonight hosted by Harrison and Jex! Top Five Alice Cooper albums, plus a nice collection from Harrison for bonus show & tell. Harrison has three Alice Cooper albums that I would like to steal from his house. Which ones? You’ll have to watch to find out. But you can check out the boys’ Top Fives below! And as a bonus, I’ll throw in my Top Five as well. Check ’em out!
This was one of my favourite shows to watch! Thank you to Harrison and Jex for doing such an amazing job! This was a great set of lists, and some awesome show & tell from Harrison. My list will be drastically different from theirs!
Thanks for watching and we’ll see ya next week for my birthday!
JEX
5. Special Forces (1981)
4. Trash (1989)
3. Constrictor (1986)
2. Killer (1971)
1. Flush The Fashion (1980)
HARRISON
5. The Last Temptation (1994)
4. Welcome To My Nightmare (1975)
3. Flush The Fashion (1980)
2. Dirty Diamonds (2005)
1. Special Forces (1981)
LeBRAINLESS
5. Welcome 2 My Nightmare (2011)
4. Killer (1971)
3. Love It To Death (1971)
2. Welcome To My Nightmare (1975)
1. School’s Out (1972)
GRAB A STACK OF ROCK With the Mad Metal Man & Jexciter: LeBRAINLESS!
Episode 28: Alice Cooper Rarities & Cinco de Listo!
I’ve been wanting to do something for a long time: Take a day off, sit back, and watch Harrison host the show without me. Seriously! I’ve always wanted to do that. Today I get my wish. For the first time ever, I get to watch Grab A Stack of Rock from the audience.
Join Harrison and Jex tonight as they show off highlights of their their Alice Cooper collections! They will also be bringing back “Cinco de Listo” for the first time in ages, to count down an Alice Cooper TBA list that will rock your minds.
With the Coop’s 29th (not including the Hollywood Vampires!) new studio album Road coming soon, the time is perfect to revisit one of the greatest stars in all of metal history. Ladies and gentlemen…Alice Cooper!
Friday July 14 at 8:00 P.M. E.S.T. / 9:00 P.M. Atlantic. Enjoy onYouTube or on Facebook!
By popular demand, here’s an updated version of the show intro! Now featuring more Jex Russell!
Here’s some site news.
Jex has contributed his first guest shot – a review of a movie that we will be discussing August 12 on Tim’s Vinyl Confessions.
We have plans for a very unique show on Grab A Stack of Rock – a show first.
I appreciate all the support I have received over the last two months. Music will become more of the central focus here once again.
The feedback is unanimous. List shows are coming back. There will be more Nigel Tufnel Top Tens and the return of Cinco de Listo.
Jen is feeling much better lately, and will be contributing more to the site in the future! She wants to do more guest appearances on live streams, and we have plans to write an episode from the Tee Bone Man Multiverse!
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!
mikeladano.com 