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#908: Practice Practice Practice

RECORD STORE TALES #908: Practice Practice Practice

Time for another confessional!

After our amazing interview with Paul Laine a little while ago, I finally have the confidence to say that I feel like a good interviewer.  I didn’t always feel that way.  My very first interview, with Eddie Jackson of Queensryche, was 20 years ago.  That was a great interview, but I didn’t think I was a good interviewer yet.  I felt like I needed a few more under my belt first.  My next interview didn’t go nearly as well, and I stopped pursuing them.

Here’s the truth.  I don’t care how stupid this sounds.  You go and interview Paul Laine yourself if you think this sounds stupid.

When I was younger…I used to practice interviewing rock stars in my room.

Paul Stanley.  Ace Frehley.  Bruce Dickinson.  I made up questions and I practised asking them.  I worked on my cadence and imagined loose, fun interviews.  I pictured myself improvising followup questions.  I practised!

This continued into my 20s.  Listening to albums.  Reading interviews.  Thinking, “I could do better than this.”  Pondering the questions you really wanted to know the answers to.

I’m happy that I’m now well past the point of practising.  Only experience can be my guide now.  If this shtick comes naturally to me, it’s only because I practised at it for years!

 

#896: Plans

RECORD STORE TALES #896: Plans

Plans.  Gotta make ’em, but sometimes nothing goes according to them.

Winter is over.  We made it through.  I have Seasonal Affective Disorder (appropriately acronymed as SAD), so winter is always a hard time.  It feels good to be on the other side of it, and not have to put on layers of warmth just to take out the garbage.

Last fall I made some plans to make it through the winter.  I completed some, and I left others unstarted.  That’s just the way the cookie crumbles, and what was winter 2020/21 but a shitty stale crumbled up cookie?

As we hunkered in for the winter, I gave myself a couple projects to keep me occupied.  One was continuing with the VHS Archives.  I accomplished very little on this.  I did not play any video tapes at all this year, and only uploaded videos I already had on my hard drive.  This season I only posted six videos.

I also wanted to teach myself Photoshop this winter.  I didn’t get anything done there.  As it turns out, I didn’t really have to, thanks to the generosity of friends.  Good ol’ T-Bone has donated his time and made plenty of great artwork for the LeBrain Train live show.  Plus our artist friend Saige did some great work too.  I’m so lucky that we have built such an amazing community of artists and writers together.

Speaking of the live show, I had one plan that I thought would be easy, but never came to be.  As a proud Canadian boy, I wanted to show some of our American friends (especially the one in Hawaii!) what a Canadian winter looks like.  I planned on doing a live show outdoors in a snow storm.  I thought that would be an absolute hoot.  The weather never really aligned with a good live stream day.  It was kind of a mild winter compared to others.

Looking back at the goals from the fall, there are two I did accomplish. One was to make a dashcam video of a shitty winter drive, set to the music of Max the Axe. I did that with “Magnum P.I.” and it is a great example of a typical winter commute.  The second mission accomplished was to keep on live streaming.  I still haven’t missed a week — knock wood.

I couldn’t have done it without my friends.  You know who you are.  Chances are if you’re reading this, you’re one of ’em.

Brent Jensen and the Raiders of the Lost Mahogany Tape Case

Thank you Brent Jensen for appearing on the show a second time!  Although the conversation veered wildly from Cinderella to Raven and back again, we orbited around Brent’s mahogany box of cassettes.  Maybe you had one like it.  But was your stuffed alphabetically from Accept to W.A.S.P.?  Take a look inside Brent’s tape collection and listen to the amazing stories that unfold.

The chat with Brent commences at 0:23:00 of the stream.

As my One Year Anniversary Show, we are doing a CD giveaway too.  Next week we’ll draw a winner from a hat.  See bottom for the trivia question and submission form!

The trivia question was: What is the tagline on Brent’s No Sleep ‘Til Sudbury podcast? Watch the episode for some pretty obvious clues and submit your answer in the form below.  Really, really, really obvious clues.  Really obvious.

A winner will be drawn next week!

NEXT WEEK

Marco the Contrarian joins Uncle Meat and I for the Blackest of Sabbaths, only on a Friday!

Brent’s Back! Leftover People with Ladano, Deke and Brent Jensen

The LeBrain Train:  2000 Words or More with Mike Ladano…and Deke!

Episode 55 – The Return of Brent Jensen

** One Year Anniversary Episode **

 

Brent Jensen is one of my favourite people.  His No Sleep ‘Til Sudbury podcast is essential listening.  I’m currently working my way through the book No Sleep’Til Sudbury, a story I really identify with.  Though Brent is a couple years ahead of me, I really see myself in his story of discovering hard rock and heavy metal in the early 80s.  Seeing bands for the first time, the contrived origins and evolution of Motley Crue, cassettes, video tapes…it is a great read.  One that has me stroking my beard in deep thought, as I am forced to consider heavy metal history from a different angle.

Superdekes will be back as your co-host for what we hope will be another excellent free-form conversation about the subject we all love:  music that makes our skin vibrate.

In addition:  this will be my one year anniversary show!  Ontario went into a state of emergency on March 17, 2020.  I went live that Friday.  And here we are a year later!  To celebrate, I’ll be doing a CD giveaway (details at bottom), and showing clips from the very first show a year ago.

Not only that:  Brent is celebrating four years and 200 episodes of No Sleep ‘Til Sudbury, the podcast!  He just opened a new Patreon membership too, so we will be talking about that and plenty more.  This is an episode you don’t want to miss.  You want to catch it live!

7:00 PM E.S.T.
Facebook:  MikeLeBrain  YouTube:  Mike LeBrain

 

CD GIVEAWAY CONTEST 

We will be asking a skill-testing question about Brent Jensen on the show.  Submit your answers in the form below.  We will be giving away two sealed CDs:  The Cars’ debut (remastered), and a signed copy of Jim Crean’s excellent Insatiable.  I will be doing a random draw from a hat next week!

Surprise Live Unboxing

The LeBrain Train:  2000 Words or More with Mike Ladano

Went live for a short stream yesterday, just to unbox some stuff that I didn’t wanna wait until Friday to do. You’ll have to watch to see the three special new arrivals.

Also just building the hype for March. The whole month is already booked up and I’m really excited. Watch the video and check out what we have in store. It’s not a spoiler to tell you that this Friday is Riffs of the 80s with Mike Slayen!  This is a followup to our very popular Riffs of the 70s show back in January.  Mike will demonstrate some of the riffs we’re going to discuss.  As an added bonus we’ll also have Rob Daniels with us, who always has an interesting set of picks.

Check out the video, and subscribe to my channel so you never have to worry about missing one!

 

 

 

 

 

 

And speaking of…

Martin Popoff chills with the Three Amigos at the Rock and Roll Highschool

Thank you Martin Popoff for a thunderous rock and roll chat on a locked-in Friday night!  Confronted by three Top Five Popoff lists, Martin threw it down!  From his books to his Youtube shows, we tried to cover a bit of everything.  Thank you Martin for giving us an hour of your Friday night.  If you haven’t read one of his terrific tomes yet, check out what’s available at martinpopoff.com.  Money well spent!

We decided to take a three-pronged approach to the discussion by focusing on three Top Five lists:

  1. Deke – Top Five Martin Popoff Books
  2. Mike – Top Five albums I bought because of a 10/10 review in Riff Kills Man
  3. Eric – Top Five Martin Popoff YouTube appearances

From there the discussion flowed like a gin & tonic.

Hope you enjoyed the show!

 

 

REMINDER: Martin Popoff on tonight’s LeBrain Train!

The LeBrain Train:  2000 Words or More with Mike Ladano

Episode 46 – A Chat With Martin Popoff

Join SuperDekes, Uncle Meat and myself TONIGHT as we talk to the guy who, frankly, got me writing reviews in the first place!  It was Riff Kills Man that inspired me, a book that I’ve been re-reading this week only to find new revelations.  I love when I feel validated by a review in one of Martin’s 90-odd books.

Martin’s extensive bibliography (he is the Isaac Asimov of Heavy Metal) includes definitive tomes on Accept, Rainbow, Judas Priest, Black Sabbath and just about every other band with legendary status.  As my re-reading this week has shown me, Martin has a way of describing music that just resonates.  It’s a talent that I have long envied.

Please spread the word, and welcome Martin Popoff to the LeBrain Train tonight!

7:00 PM E.S.T.
Facebook:  MikeLeBrain  YouTube:  Mike LeBrain

Martin Popoff – Top of the Bill on this week’s LeBrain Train – Friday Jan. 15

I am pleased to announce this week’s guest:  none other than Martin Popoff, Canadian music scribe extraordinaire!  Martin will be joining us to talk about his many books, YouTube shows, and assorted awesomeness.  It is a conversation I have been hoping to have for, oh, 20 years (give or take).

The LeBrain Train:  2000 Words or More with Mike Ladano

Episode 46 – A Chat With Martin Popoff

Join Super “Ironballs” Deke (who hooked it up with Martin), Uncle Meat and myself this Friday as we talk to the guy who, frankly, got me writing reviews in the first place!  It was Riff Kills Man that inspired me, a book that was passed around from friend to friend like a kid passes along a nudie mag.  “Have you ever heard Gillan?  Budgie?  Thin Lizzy?”  These were the words muttered as we handed the book onto the next recipient!

Martin’s extensive bibliography (he is the Isaac Asimov of Heavy Metal) includes definitive tomes on Deep Purple, Judas Priest, Scorpions, Rush, Motorhead, Max Webster and just about every other band with legendary status.  Through all that I kept my treasured copy of Riff Kills Man safely in my desk at work.  I’d write Amazon album reviews on my lunch break, and I had to have Popoff nearby to consult in case of confusion or doubt.

Please spread the word, and welcome Martin Popoff to the LeBrain Train on Friday January 15!

7:00 PM E.S.T.
Facebook:  MikeLeBrain  YouTube:  Mike LeBrain

Art by:  Saige from Weeping Willow Creations

I will be taking the next few days off from writing and posting so I can focus on preparing for this show.

Tres Hombres talk ZZ Top Deep Cuts on the LeBrain Train

Tons of fun, both on and off topic tonight, on the LeBrain Train.  Aaron from the KMA and Kevin from Buried On Mars were on board with some killer lists of ZZ Top’s best deep cuts.  A lil’ bit of overlap but not too much!  We also read off some guest lists:  San Diego guitarist Mike Slayen, and a local Kitchener singer named Mike Mahler.  Check out their lists as well as ours!

Show time index:

Watch from the start to see the latest CD unboxing from Encore Records.

To check out the new music video by Current River called “Hodder To Hell”, skip to 0:16:45 of the stream.

The ZZ Top talk commences at 0:22:20.

At the end of the show I spun the Loudness video for “Black Widow”.  Find that at 2:32:36.  (No copyright strike, yay!)

I hope you enjoy this week’s show as much as I did!  The 2021 season is off to a great start.

 

Gimme All Your Deep Cuts: It’s ZZ Top lists on the LeBrain Train!

The LeBrain Train:  2000 Words or More with Mike Ladano

Episode 45 – “Season Two” Premier

 

It’s 2021, and that makes it an even 50 years since ZZ Top released their First Album.  There is such a rich catalogue of rock, blues and jams far beyond what you hear on the radio.  Join LeBrain, Aaron from the KMA and Kevin from Buried On Mars, as we explore ZZ Top’s deeper cuts.  Songs you may have missed if you didn’t buy the albums.  We’ll be running down multiple Nigel Tufnel Top Ten lists tonight, so you’d better be taking notes!

For those who like to show up early, I will be doing an unboxing.  There are five CDs in this box from Encore Records, from two different artists.  Trying to complete some collections.  Curious?  Then you’ll wanna be there early, before the official 7:00 PM show start.

I’ll also be playing a new music video on the show — a brand new version of “Hodder To Hell” by Current River!

 

After a few weeks of fun seasonal shows, I’m eager to get back to some rock and roll!  50 years of ZZ Top is the perfect excuse to do an episode dedicated to the best lil’ band from Texas.  Best of all, it’s free!  It doesn’t matter if you Just Got Paid today, or if you’re Lowdown in the Street.  This is a show for everyone so come on board the LeBrain tonight for some ZZ Top.

 

7:00 PM E.S.T.
Facebook:  MikeLeBrain  YouTube:  Mike LeBrain