“One of the best shows I have EVER been a part of!” – Mike
“It’s definitely a top shelf RDN show for sure!” – Peter
The pleasure is always mine when I get to be a part of Rock Daydream Nation. I absolutely love Peter’s show; it challenges us and it entertains you. This was a relatively easy show for me. All I had to do was listen to Van Halen all week, and pick my favourite and least favourite songs from the Roth albums. That’s it! Beats workin’!
Tim Durling joined us for this amazing showcase of tunes, with some surprises. What was clear is this: least favourites are all but irrelevant. They’re all favourites to different degrees! I learned that I tend to gravitate to the more melodic side of Van Halen. Meanwhile, Peter was able to glean some meaning behind some of Roth’s lyrics.
RECORD STORE TALES #1159: The Community is Dead – Long Live the Community!
Once Upon A Time, the old WordPress music Community was an important part of our daily breakfast. It was a wonderful way to connect and talk music with like-minded folks. It was even a good way to seek support in our lives.
Then in 2023, the Community died. I don’t know why, and I no longer care. It’s possibly a “type of feint, or fake technique, whereby a player draws an opposing player out of position or skates by the opponent while maintaining possession and control of the puck.” People just…disappeared. Ghosted. I actually don’t want to know why. “Let the past die,” Kylo Ren said. “Kill it, if you have to.” That is done, but not by my own hand.
I knew it was dead in 2024, when several people from the old Community refused to watch or acknowledge my trip to Toronto with Aaron, the Community’s spiritual leader. It was a shunning, with intent. Rest in peace, Community!
Whatever their issues are, I hope they find peace and harmony, wherever they went and whatever they are doing now. I miss them. But there was a silver lining.
A new Community awaited me. A bigger, more welcoming Community. A Community that stretches from Australia to America, east coast to west, and up north to Canada. A stronger Community. For me it began as the old Community died in 2023. Marco D’Auria encouraged me to work with the Contrarians, and suddenly I started getting invites to appear on other shows, such as Rock Daydream Nation and My Music Corner. With these fine folks, together, we have rebuilt what was lost. Bigger, better, faster, stronger!
I welcome you to the Community! A place where we support each other, collaborate, and celebrate the power of music! A place where you will not be judged for your mistakes, nor shunned.
The Mad Metal Man has spread his wings! I am proud to present below, Harrison’s first appearance on a show that isn’t our own!
Harrison wanted to do an Australia-centric topic with Peter Kerr for some time. Peter has been wanting to put together an all-Australia panel. This week on Rock Daydream Nation, that’s exactly what we got! With Peter Wicks, and Bicyclelegs himself.
It was enjoyable for me to hear about familiar Australian bands, and those I’d never heard of before. Harrison stirred the pot with some questions and comments, like a good lad! (Do the Bee Gees count as an Australian band?) Really proud of the “resident contrarian” Mad Metal Man. Check out the show!
Peter Kerr was back with a vengeance, and some great songs! Representing Rock Daydream Nation, Peter listed off a whole lot of great songs from the year 1984, ranging from rock to metal to pop rock. He also listed the greatest movies he saw from that year, with a handful of video games and TV shows. I couldn’t resist mentioning a toyline/cartoon/comic book that transformed our young lives that year.
We had awesome guest lists from the Mad Metal Man (who is sick and could not attend) and Uncle Meat. In the comments, Pete Jones, Henry Wright, Johnny Metal, Ash Geisler, and others listed off some great tunes. Ash had about 30! I tried to put all the comments on the screen.
There were some albums and artists to kept coming up over and over again. Whitesnake, Metallica, Mercyful Fate, Deep Purple, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, and many more were well represented on this show.
This was a wonderful hour-plus and I hope you enjoy watching it on Youtube if you missed it live!
GRAB A STACK OF ROCK With Mike and the Mad Metal Man Episode 67: Top 10 Rock Songs from the year 1984 with Peter Kerr
We are back! Following three weeks of chilling at the cottage, Grab A Stack of Rock returns with a roar, and a familiar face!
Peter Kerr of Rock Daydream Nation suggested this topic for his return to the show. 1984 was the year I got into rock music. That coincided with MuchMusic’s premier in Canada. All of a sudden, there were all these videos! Kiss, Van Halen, Iron Maiden, Helix…and I was there with my VCR, recording everything. For me personally, this will be a list of nostalgia…but not entirely. After all, it was Peter who got me into Prince in 2023. It was Tim Durling and John the Music Nut who got me buying Y&T albums recently. It remains to be see what will make my final list, because 1984 was a completely epic year for rock music.
This is a show I was made for! Spoiler alert: Regular readers already know my favourite Steve Morse era Deep Purple album. I was already trying to kickstart a Purple collection when he joined the band in 1995. His addition made me a completist – had to get every album. And, within a few years of his joining, I achieved and maintained that. Morse’s additional made me a superfan. I just love when a band has a significant lineup change that actually works. Deep Purple was transformed into something a little different, but just as good. Just new flavours in the soup. A new freedom to experiment and stretch out. It wouldn’t have worked if the band couldn’t write new songs with the new axeman, but their chemistry flourished over seven studio original studio albums.
Now that Steve is gone from the band, and they are carrying on with another new ingredient in Simon McBride, it is a perfect time to look back upon the Morse era. Joining myself and Peter Kerr on Rock Daydream Nation is “Music Swami” Pete Jones. Together, we passionately discuss three favourite albums, and the key tracks that you need to check out for yourself. We don’t just shower praise, but we break down and analyze.
Here’s what Mr. Kerr has to say:
Rock Daydream Nation is joined by Peter Jones (The Contrarians) and Mike Ladano (Grab a Stack of Rock) to choose their desert island Deep Purple album featuring Steve Morse….Are any of these albums better than Deep Purple Ritchie Blackmore? Check out the show!
Grant Arthur, Jamie Laszlo, Peter Kerr, Tim Durling and myself all gathered together to discuss this fun topic last night: Albums with common “nickname” titles! For example: The Beatles (the White Album), Metallica (the Black Album), and Weezer (lotsa coloured albums)! There are plenty on our lists, and I’m especially proud of one of my coloured picks.
This was my first ever panel discussion with the Contrarians, and about three years overdue. Thank you Grant for inviting me!
There will be no episode of Grab A Stack of Rock this weekend, but we’ll be back next week!
I need to remember for fortunate I am. Some time in 2023, I was approached by an Australian man named Peter Kerr to do a show on the Vinnie Vincent Invasion for his channel, Rock Daydream Nation. He had seen me around on social media, and we hit it off immediately. Meeting Peter has led to some of the best shows I’ve done, including a couple on Grab A Stack of Rock. This week on Rock Daydream Nation, Peter and I went back to one of our core deep love bands: the Purples. Deep Purple Mk III in fact, and the sometimes maligned Stormbringer LP.
As per the deep dive format, we begin with first impressions. Mine begin with a cheap cassette copy bought at Encore Records in Kitchener Ontario. We then go track by track through the whole album, side A and side B. By the time we offer our final thoughts, it is plenty obvious that we love Stormbringer. Blackmore may have disliked the funk, but we like when he plays funky. We touch on Rainbow, Whitesnake and much more.
We drive into some Deep Purple history here, so grab a coffee and enjoy this deep dive!
This’ll get the trolls out! Nothing gets the Motley fans in a tizzy more than critiquing a favourite album, or praising a later one with the wrong lead singer. Our rock heroes are not infallible, and Theater of Pain might be the best example of this. After two screamin’ and bangin’ hard rock/heavy metal albums, Motley made a slight change of image & sound, and left us in a Theater of Pain….
Peter Kerr of Rock Daydream Nation assembled a killer crew for this topic. With Joe B., John Clauser, Steve Deluxe, Melissa Nee and myself, we talk memories, impressions then and now, and most importantly, the songs. We discuss every elephant in the room, from the tragic car crash that ended a life, addictions, and direction (or lack thereof). This tumultuous period of Motley history is full of drama, superstardom, great music videos, and tragedy.
I’m excited to watch this show that I was proud to be a small part of. Theater of Pain is one of my favourite musical topics, and I think we fairly covered all the bases here, and them some. How do you feel about Theater of Pain?
It has been a hell of a week. There’s an untold story here; one that I have elected not to tell. Let’s just say I’m out a lot of money, and other setbacks have caused me to take a step back from social media for a few days. Just too much going on for me to deal with in a calm and cool manner. Better to retreat into the shadows a bit.
As always, the Show Must Go On, and so I was determined to do my best on Friday May 17’s Arkells special on Grab A Stack of Rock. It was the first show I’d done without a co-host (just a special guest) in a long while. I felt unprepared despite a whole week of listening. Things came together at the last minute, and all I needed was the new Arkells album, Disco Loadout Volume One, for the show to go right. I planned to spend the afternoon listening to the CD and hoped to open up the autographed clear splatter vinyl live on the show.
The thing about going live is that it’s a double-edged sword. The plus is you get the rush of live viewer feedback, and that sparks the show to be so much more exciting. The negative is that when things go wrong, there’s nothing you can do about it. That’s live for you.
My record was supposed to arrive on May 15. It didn’t. May 16 came and went. Surely, it would be in my mailbox by May 17, the release date. It had to be.
I arrived home from work early on Friday. I raced with my heart pounding to the mailbox. “It’ll be in there,” I reasoned to myself. “Why wouldn’t it be? It has to be.”
It wasn’t.
Furious, I went right to my computer and called up the tracking.
“Good news!” said Canada Post. “Your parcel was delivered to your locked condo mailbox on May 16!”
Umm, no it wasn’t! I picked up the phone. I searched for a phone number. Do you know how hard it is to call Canada Post on the phone and get a human being on the phone? I was completely unsuccessful.
I went ’round and ’round on phone menus for half an hour. I called my local post office, only to go to voicemail after an agonisingly long wait. I swore up and down, and let out a primal yell that would have frightened the upstairs neighbour, had he been home.
I called Encore Records, and fortunately they had CD copies of the album in stock. I ran downtown, grabbed the album from them (and a few other discs as well). I was greeted there by old pal Chris, and I want to thank Encore for saving the day. Once home, I immediately played the album once-and-a-half times, and began my show prep. (I also picked up three other discs – a 4 CD Faster Pussycast set, the new Beatles single “Now and Then“, and the new Ace Frehley 10,000 Volts.)
I wouldn’t be able to open the signed splatter vinyl live on the show, but I filed a report with Canada Post. It was all I could do. There were no other options available. Showing a CD copy wouldn’t be as exciting, but at least I had it in hand and could read the credits while listening.
The show went incredibly well; far better than I expected. This was due to special guest Nurse Kat and her enthusiasm, and to some excellent notes from D’Arcy Briggs. I’m really happy and proud of the show we did together. I’d never attempted to do a show on a new album, on the day of release before. We were treading new ground in multiple ways, and while it almost didn’t work, it ended up being one of the best shows to date. The passion for the music came through.
Two days later, there was a knock on the door. A tall gentleman from down the hall had a parcel for me. It had been delivered to his unit.
How this happened, I’ll never understand but someone at Canada Post wrote the number “103” on the parcel. Even though my correct unit number was written clearly on the parcel where the address was, this scribbled “103” put my parcel in the tall man’s mailbox. Fortunately he is one of the good ones, and not all of them are. Just this week, an upstairs neighbour had an expensive Amazon parcel opened and stolen. It’s not a good feeling to have mail thieves in our building, but I have been victim twice before. I’m glad this wasn’t the third time.
Even though I didn’t get to unbox it live, Peter Kerr from Rock Daydream Nation was kind enough to join me for a quick look at a beautiful record. It looks as great as it sounds.
And so the week of stress comes to a happy ending. The other bit of good news is that the social media hiatus was a good idea. I went on a writing bender like never before. Expect loads of reviews this spring and summer.
Thank you to the guy down the hall, to Peter Kerr, to D’Arcy Briggs, and to Nurse Kat for turning this potential disaster story into one of triumph!
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