GRAB A STACK OF ROCK With Mike and the Mad Metal Man
🅻🅸🆅🅴 Episode – Special Morning Broadcast!
Episode 148: Science Fiction, UFOS and the Paranormal with author Violeta M Bagia
Please welcome our newest guest! From Australia, it’s author Violeta M Bagia of Melbourne, who has written a number of science fiction books including her Hart of Darkness series and more. She is a UFO and paranormal buff and it is our pleasure to host her this morning on Grab A Stack of Rock!
This is a show we have been wanting to do for several years, but circumstances never lined up until now. The goal was always to do a show about ghosts, UFOs and the unexplained, at the cottage, before it’s light. We’ve finally found the right guest, and the right time! For her it’s evening in Australia, but for us, the world is yet to wake up. We will be live at 6AM sharp, which is 8PM Melbourne time. We’ve seen and heard some weird stuff in the woods at night. Now it’s time to share that special hour with the world.
On the schedule for this morning’s show: The books of Violeta, Area 51, ghost sightings, Bob Lazar and Majestic 12, UFO sightings and much, much more.
This will be a show not to miss. We still have a live episode of 50 Years of Iron Maiden for evening viewers! Please check it out, and join us live if you’re able!
Click above for the link to the show!
Friday May 22 at 6:00 AM EST, 8:00 PM Melbourne. Enjoy on YouTubeor Facebook.
RECORD STORE TALES #1243: Checking Things Off the List: Creative Works in Early 2026
I have been relatively silent in Spring 2026. Like many of us in these uncertain times, I have been paralyzed when trying to think of the future. This is rare for me. In the past, when I have found myself unable or unwilling to create, I tended to throw the towel in and cry “I quit”! Then more sober minds gently remind me that talking about music is something I’m pretty good at. They tell me it’s OK to take a break without nuking everything. So, this time I haven’t freaked out. I’ve just created at my own pace, and focused what juice I do have on videos. Videos are a different creative process and it feels more immediate to me at the moment.
Every year, twice a year, I try to do something “new” creatively. This could be writing, cooking, or video making. I can rarely plan ahead or field creative suggestions. Something new always comes along. It just happens organically every summer. Some future summer, I swear, I will take up meat smoking at the cottage, but not this year. This year, a new investment has been made and new equipment acquired in another direction.
Drones came into my life in 2024 when I accumulated enough Amazon points through my work to buy one. I chose the Potensic Atom SE, a great drone for beginners but not with the 4k 3-axis camera that a better drone carries. It was not until I tried both that I appreciated what the better camera can do. In 2025, I had a misadventure with the Ruko company and not one but two of their drones. While I loved their 4k camera with brushless 3-axis gimble, I didn’t enjoy that their drones are prone to crashing. My more primitive Potensic didn’t seem to have that weakness. If only it took better pictures, I mused.
Welcome to 2026, my new Potensic 4k drone with brushless 3-axis gimble. I upgraded. My parents enjoy my photos and want to see what I can do with a better camera. They made it happen. You can really see the difference. You’ll see how the horizon is always perfectly level. That’s the 3-axis gimble. Thank you mom and dad!
New thing #1 in 2026: New improved drone. Check ✔
Music: “SMC” by Def Leppard
Music: “Mighty Morris Ten” by Episode Six, featuring Ian Gillan and Roger Glover of Deep Purple
My summer creative goals are usually cottage goals. The drones are a perfect example. You could not ask for a better camera in the most perfect setting. I’m all about “set” and “setting”, as they say in psychology. Mindset, and physical setting. The cottage is the setting that gives me the best conduit to my creative side. I used to do a lot of animation videos from the lake, and I’d like to return to that. Since those days, live streaming from the lake is a creative highpoint. I started in 2020 using a primitive phone and Facebook Live, and they got better year after year, with 2026 being hopefully one of the best.
Because I love the night up at the cottage, and also because strange things have been seen and heard there, I have always wanted to live stream from the spooky dark. The ideal topic would be UFOs and the paranormal, I reasoned. I put the idea on the shelf as one that I hadn’t fully formed. Something to do someday, sometime, if the right circumstances came to be.
In 2025, while in a hospital emergency ward waiting to be seen for a rib injury, I spent my idle time reading the dystopian science fiction of Australian author Violeta M. Bagia. I remember complimenting the book and comparing it positively to Firefly in tone. Since that time I’ve learned that Bagia is not only a Blaze Bayley & Wolfsbane fan, but a UFO and paranormal enthusiast. Due to her location in Australia, her best time happened to fall at 6 AM EST, while the cottage in the woods is just waking up from the pitch black dark. It became obvious that I had my special guest and my setting for the UFOs and Paranormal episode. Please welcome to Grab A Stack of Rock on Friday May 22 at 6:00 AM EST: Violeta M. Bagia!
New thing #2 in 2026: Finally doing the UFO and Paranormal episode from the cottage. Check ✔
Coming May 22: Sci-fi, UFOs and the Paranormal with author Violeta M Bagia
But that’s not all. Harrison and I still have 50 Years of Iron Maiden to wrap up, and we’re so close! We are ready to cover The Book of Souls: Live Chapter, and as usual we do live albums as live episodes. Not wanting to delay 50 Years of Iron Maiden another week, I decided to do two shows in one day, at two extremes of the day: sunrise and sunset! This isn’t a goal I knew I had, but I’m excited to do it.
New thing #3 in 2026: Sunrise and Sunset Hour Shows in One Day. Check ✔
Two Live Show Announcement for May 22 2026
I have a long long weekend coming. Feeling the strain, we’ll be taking some extra time at the lake that weekend which will give me plenty of time to prepare and do two really good shows. That always makes me happy.
It’s already late May. That is rather late in the year for my creative side to start percolating, but start it has.
Aaron of KMA fame is known far and wide for his generosity and creativity in finding the perfect gifts. He was worried about this one. Sending a digipack CD in a bubble mailer doesn’t always guarantee safe arrival. He threw some plastic wrap around it as an extra layer of protection from the elements. His precautions did the trick and now I am the happy owner of a signed copy of Alice Cooper’s Paranormal!
A great album, Paranormal is a fully-loaded deluxe double CD with a smoking live disc. And now I have a signed copy to top it off. Aaron and I briefly discussed what the hell would make someone trade in a signed Alice CD? I didn’t have anything signed by Alice, until now. This is a first for my collection. Whatever the circumstances, I’m glad to be the benefactor.
Thanks Aaron — you know my “Paranoiac Personality” very well!
“The Sound of A” is in the air…but it took 50 years to get there!
Alice Cooper’s Paranormal was one of the most delightful rock releases of 2017, which really came as no surprise. Alice has been consistently awesome for several albums in a row. Any time he works with producer Bob Ezrin, you can count on quality. The new five track Sound of A EP is quality.
The song “The Sound of A” was written in 1967 by Alice and bassist Dennis Dunaway. When Cooper reunited with members of the original band for some songs on Paranormal, Dunaway suggested revisiting “The Sound of A”. With Bob Ezrin’s help, “The Sound of A” has become another in a long line of understated Cooper classics. It has the sound of Welcome to My Nightmare with a hint of the present. Another apt (but coincidental) comparison would be “Journey of 1,000 Years” by Kiss.
“The Sound of A” is packaged with four unreleased live songs: “The Black Widow”, “Public Animal #9”, “Is It My Body” and “Cold Ethyl”. Of these, the real treat is “Public Animal #9”, an old School’s Out favourite that has never seen release on any Alice live album. This is from Columbus Ohio in May 2017. As is often the case, “The Black Widow” is shortened live, but “Public Animal” is damn fine. Can you believe it took this long to get a live version? It’s one of the best on School’s Out, albeit in the shadow of a big hit. Even “Cold Ethyl” is hard to find live. You can locate it on 2011’s No More Mr. Nice Guy via Concert Live, and the semi-official Extended Versions and Alone in His Nightmare.
Don’t miss The Sound of A. Consider it a live EP with some stuff you’ll be glad to have.
2017 was, from almost every angle, a shit year. Another onslaught of losses in music, entertainment and sports (another list on its own). 2017 was as devastating as 2016, but perhaps all that loss was turned into musical dividends. Before the year was even half over, I had already found my #1 album of 2017 from a surprising corner. I knew as soon as I heard it that it was something remarkable. I pencilled it into the #1, wondering who would topple it. Over the months, no-one did. Though my annual Top Five Albums list was not finalised until last week, the #1 album never changed.
Before we get to albums, however, let’s check out some winners in other categories!
I put my reputation on the line when I recommended The Party to everyone I knew. I only got good reviews in return. For the record, it was our own Uncle Meat, back in July, who broke the news of this box set. He knows someone involved with the remastering and was aware of the project well before the public was. Though the packaging was bare bones, the reissue otherwise hits all the bases.
What was probably my #1 album for Christmas 1987 is my favourite reissue in 2017. In a year featuring fantastic reissues by Marillion (Misplaced Childhood) and Whitesnake (1987), none brought me back in time like Leppard’s Hysteria did.
TOP FIVE ALBUMS OF 2017
Normally I exclude live albums from my lists, but this has been a special year.
I haven’t cared so much about Styx since I was 10 years old! What an incredible album The Mission is. And I’m counting it as CanCon, because of singer/pianist Lawrence Gowan (but you can call him Larry).
Other fun categories!
BEST NEW ARTIST– Greta Van Fleet
BEST SOUNDTRACK– John Williams, Star Wars: The Last Jedi
ALICE COOPER – “Paranoiac Personality” (2017 Edel 7″ single, white vinyl)
In 1969, the original Alice Cooper group released their debut album for Frank Zappa’s Straight records. The band consisted of Vincent Furnier on lead vocals using the stage name of “Alice Cooper”, Michael Bruce & Glen Buxton (guitars), Dennis Dunaway (bass), and Neal Smith (drums). This legendary lineup laid waste to rock and roll until 1974 when they split for Alice to go solo. Though Glen died in 1997, the surviving member eventually reunited on vinyl in 2011 for three tracks on Welcome 2 My Nightmare. Since then the original band has worked together with surprising regularity, including on Cooper’s latest album Paranormal.
To go with the Paranormal brew-ha-ha, Alice put out a 7″ white vinyl single for “Personoiac Paranality” “Paranoiac Personality”. It’s an easy track to like with a vibe reminiscent of his classic single “Go to Hell”. This is likely to be a concert classic for as long as Alice tours. The chorus is meant for a crowd to sing along. “Paranoid! Paranoid!”
A great B-side is what makes a single memorable. In 2017 you see all kinds of gimmicky singles, from coloured vinyl to ridiculously low production numbers. That stuff won’t make me buy a single; but an exclusive B-side will. “I’m Eighteen” is performed by the aforementioned original Cooper band! They are augmented by current Cooper guitarist Ryan Roxie, filling in for Glen Buxton. What a great version this is, and how much more authentic can it get? Alice has a nice intro for Glen, and it’s stuff like this that makes a single worth spending the money (and shipping) on. My copy came from Seismic Records in the UK, but it was worth it to me. The pristine white vinyl is just the icing on top.
ALICE COOPER – Paranormal (2017 Edel 2 CD edition)
Both Alice Cooper and Bob Ezrin had a lot to live up to with their latest collaboration Paranormal. Excluding 2015’s covers album Hollywood Vampires, their last record together was the remarkable Welcome 2 My Nightmare in 2011. Bob Ezrin has already produced one of the more impressive rock albums of 2017, Deep Purple’s InFinite. Considering this recent track record, one might say we expect the goods this time too.
Paranormal is a great album, loaded with fantastic Alice Cooper material of different rock and roll styles. It is not up to the level of brilliance of Welcome 2 My Nightmare. That album (a concept album sequel) was dense with ideas and composition. Paranormal is a step towards something less conceptual and more like a traditional album. The big surprise this time out is the drummer: U2’s Larry Mullen plays on 9 of the 10 core songs, and you’d never guess that without reading the credits.
The title track is impressive on its own. It has a haunting guitar hook and vocal, and is built a bit like Alice’s horror material from the 80s. That’s Ezrin’s pal, Roger Glover from Deep Purple on bass. Back to the early 70s, get down with some hard rocking “Dead Flies”, but don’t let your guard down. Relentlessly, “Fireball” blazes down the terrain, kicking aside everything not nailed down. Alice doesn’t have anything that sounds like “Fireball” on any of his other albums.
The lead single “Paranoiac Personality” (a single worth tracking down for an exclusive live B-side) is similar to “Go to Hell” (from 1976’s Alice Cooper Goes to Hell). It’s the kind of magic that happens only when Alice Cooper and Bob Ezrin work together. Memorable Alice Cooper rock, accessible enough for radio play, but within the personality of Alice.
Moving on to sleaze rock, “Fallen in Love” is a strong entry. If it sounds a little greasy, that’s probably because Billy Gibbons is on it. It’s followed by a speedy trip called “Dynamite Road” with a neat spoken-word style vocal. It suits Alice’s storytelling lyrics. After a couple of heavy bashers, it’s good to get back to a groove on “Private Public Breakdown”. These are some impressive songs, each different from the other but fitting the whole.
A kickin’ horn section joins Alice on “Holy Water”, a fun and unorthodox rock and roll sermon. Then there’s a good old fashioned punk rocker called “Rats”. It might remind you of Michael Monroe’s classic “Dead, Jail or Rock ‘N’ Roll”. It’s the only song on disc one that Larry Mullen doesn’t play on. “Rats” has the surviving original Alice Cooper band: Michael Bruce, Neal Smith, and Dennis Dunaway.
Going for a haunting close, there is an understated song called “The Sound of A” to end the album proper. This truly recalls Welcome to (and 2) My Nightmare. Original bassist Dennis Dunaway co-wrote and plays bass on the track. Although he was not in the band during the Nightmare era, that is what immediately comes to mind. This is the kind of song that has the potential to become an Alice classic a few years down the road.
Cooper has been generous with bonus tracks on his last few albums, and Paranormal has a fully loaded second CD. There are two more brand new songs featuring the surviving members of the original Alice Cooper band. Steve Hunter is also on board with some slippery slide goodness. “Genuine American Girl” is a transgender celebration, the kind of thing that would have been cutting edge in 1972, but today is just timely. Smith co-write this with Alice and Ezrin, and it’s a remarkably catchy little tune. “This is no-man’s land and I live here every day” sings a gleeful Alice. It does sound like something the original band could have played back then. “You and All Your Friends” (Cooper/Dunaway/Ezrin) is more of an anthem. A crowd could definitely sing along. These two tracks serve as reminders to what great players the original band members are. Neal Smith is absolutely a drumming maniac and Dennis Dunaway is still one of kind.
There are six more bonus tracks, all live cuts from 2016 featuring Alice’s stellar live band. It’s good to have these, because really the only thing missing from the new songs is guitarist Nita Strauss. She’s a monster player. For those hoping to hear Nita on Alice’s new album, at least she’s on the bonus tracks. The live cuts are a fairly standard selection of 70s hits (all but “Feed My Frankenstein”). You know what you’re getting: expertly performed Cooper classics by his gang of professional rock and roll misfits.
Paranormal is yet another late-career triumph by Alice Cooper. It’s just a hair shy of mind blowing.
The return of Sunrise Records to Canada has been one of the most exciting stories of 2017 for fans of physical product. I rarely leave without new music under my arms. This time I went for the new Alice Cooper album Paranormal, deluxe edition CD of course. It was there front racked, $29.99. A bit pricey compared to Amazon, but I wanted to buy it so I went for it.
I always get good customer service at Sunrise, and I went to the counter to ask a question. The lady working looked it up — the Alice Cooper “Paranoiac Personality” single on 7″ vinyl. No luck, as it turns out Sunrise don’t get many 7″ singles that aren’t for Record Store Day. And that’s fine, but here’s where she went the extra mile. She was working on something else and said, “I’ll be right over here in this isle if you have any more questions.” Cool. I appreciated that.
I had no more questions as I came for a few specific things.
Something on vinyl that I didn’t already have on CD.
A fidget spinner.
Mrs. LeBrain bought me a fidget spinner for my birthday, but I didn’t know how many levels of quality there are in those things. That one is a light silver metal and doesn’t spin very long. Mrs. LeBrain’s is much heavier and spins much longer. I timed it once at 11 minutes! It so happens that Sunrise had a buy one/get one free sale on fidget spinners. So I bought the heavy one that Mrs. LeBrain owns, and a second metal one that looks like a ninja star!
Finally, some vinyl. There were plenty to tempt me, but I didn’t want some crappy reissue. I chose July Talk’s Touch. And it’s excellent! This band is impossible to describe. Lead singer/guitarist Peter Dreimanis has a whiskey soaked Tom Waits howl, but it’s his own twist. Leah Fay (lead vocals) contrasts Dreimanis, sometime delicate and sometimes loudly. There is nothing easy to pigeonhole on this album. They go from bluesy to punky to dancey. But always with a toe in another genre too. They get heavy and they get soft and every track is good.
Thanks Sunrise for another successful music run. It won’t be our last I assure you.
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