The best of 2024 in rock and pop was on showcase this week on Grab A Stack of Rock. Tim Durling, Harrison Kopp and special surprise guest Uncle Meat brought their Top Fives and runners-up in this fun and action packed show.
What did you miss? Well, shirtless Jex for one. That one even scared off Peter Kerr, but did result in some pretty hilarious comments.
The comments section was lively, and if you want to catch Johnny Metal’s Top Five of 2024, his were in the comments section which I put on screen. Meanwhile, there was some minimal repetition, and actually less than I expected. Mr. Big, Deep Purple, Jon Anderson and Bruce Dickinson were among the artists who scored two hits on tonight’s lists. There was plenty of love for other artists’ new albums such of Opeth, Paul Di’Anno, Blaze Bayley (of course) and Arkells.
We also took a look at three books that I enjoyed in 2024 – two of them by Mr. Durling!
A fun, passionate and laugh-filled 90 minutes of music appreciation awaits you below.
See you December 31 at 9:00 PM EST for a drop in New Years Eve party!
Show #21, May 26 2023 was chock full of guests! I had more scores from Max the Axe’s Trillion Dollar Treats to show. John Snow, Tim Durling, Harrison Kopp, Jex Russell, and Dr. Kathryn (via video) all had new stuff, including brand new releases and rarities. This was a cottage show once again, and plenty fun one at that.
Show #22, June 2, 2023, was one we did for ourselves. My wife Jen has found Lego to be helpful in her healing, and so we have started to buy Lego again. With that in mind, Harrison, Rob and Dr. Kathryn came on board to show off Lego and toys. Jen returned as well, with her Spice Girls Lego set! Dr. Kathryn revealed the secret to identifying Lego blind minifigure packs, though this is now obsolete due to Lego transitioning to boxes. This show was tremendous fun despite the limited appeal.
Show #23, June 9, 2023 happened at the cottage! For that reason, my co-host Jex and I decided to do a special list show. After many comments and requests, the Nigel Tufnel Top Ten lists were back. With Rob Daniels sending in a list via email, Jex and I counted down the Top 11 Albums to Play at the Cottage! Jex debuted his new moustache for this episode, giving Harrison a run for his money. “We’re back, baby!” I announced. This popular show proved that lists were still a viable way to go forward, and they would be critical for the rest of the year.
Show #24, June 16 2023, almost never happened. Jen had a bad seizure and face-planted on the sidewalk. Her entire face was black and blue (and not like the rock band). “The show must go on,” she insisted, and so it did. A huge thank-you to Aaron and Harrison for carrying the show that night. Jex Russell did a brief cameo to show off some rarities, but otherwise the topic was one of our most popular historically: Iron Maiden! We looked at rarities, vinyl, bootleg CDs, beer and menus!
Jen needed some time to recover. Her face was a total mess. The community came together with support and eventually her beautiful face returned to its normal colour. No broken bones.
Show #25, June 23 2023, was another very special one with a brand new guest. I wanted to talk about my new favourite band, the Arkells! What’s an Arkell? Watch this show and find out. Live from the cottage, Aaron and I were joined by megafan Nurse Kat. She saw the band in four different countries 13 times in just 18 months, and has since added many more concerts to her resume. I provided a Nigel Tufnel Top Ten Arkells tracks list. With Kat’s concert footage and fan photos, this was a night to remember.
Show #26, June 24 2023, was the second show in one weekend! A morning show at that! Jex Russell joined me to look at a giant box of cassettes that I found in my parents’ basement. This turned out to be a popular one with the physical media crowd. Inside that box were a number of store-bought cassettes, and ones that I had recorded with home made cover art. It was a real trip of discovery, and only one cassette was destroyed in the process.
For laughs, we parodied a former cast member at the start of the show. All in good fun. Strippers are people too.
Show #27, June 30 2023, we celebrated Canada Day at the cottage with Jex, one day early. We chose our Nigel Tufnel Top Ten Canadian bands that are little-known outside of Canada. This turned out to be the most popular non-heels episode we’ve ever done. It is certainly an episode that I am very proud of. The Spoons, Varga, Teenage Head, National Velvet, the Beaches, Kick Axe, and more. This is a show you definitely want to catch up on if you missed it the first time. I even created a graph for it.
Show #28, July 14 2023, was a brand new thing for me and something I had been wanting to do a long time. For the first time ever, Harrison was host as I took the night off for the first “LeBrainless” episode! Harrison and Jex Russell tacked their Top Five Alice Cooper albums, a well-overdue list show. They did a great job without me, and it was a joy for me to just watch Grab A Stack of Rock for a change instead of hosting it.
Show #29, July 21 2023, was back at the cottage! We had Tim Durling, Grant Arthur, and Aaron KMA on hand to celebrate the birthdays of Harrison and Mike. I showed off my massive birthday hauls and recent arrivals. I also ran a fun slideshow of old birthday party photos from the 70s to the 90s. This was the first birthday show since 2021, since by this time in 2022 I had quit live streaming. A wonderful way to have a birthday party with friends far away. Tim Durling played guitar for us! We also unsealed the new Grab A Stack of Rock 7″ picture disc by Tee Bone Erickson, from vinylart.co. Tee Bone’s first ever music on vinyl!
I wanted to do something special for Show #30, which I called “The Dumbest Thing You Will See on YouTube.” Why?
Show #30, Aug 4 2023, featured me breaking the seal for the first time on my Metallica Master of Puppets box set, purchased four years earlier and still sealed. This was something I wanted to do on camera, because it’s not every day that some idiot unseals a box set that goes for up to $1600 online. We also looked at new arrivals in stickers, vinyl, and Alice Cooper deluxe CDs. Max the Axe attempted to drop in, but was thwarted by technical issues. We’ll try again one day. Perhaps the coolest thing about this episode was showing the brand new Paul Shortino cameo for Grab A Stack!
A wise man once said, “Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.” MarriedandHeels declined to participate for her scheduled time slot. I booked this afternoon off for her. So, this week’s box of chocolates includes some sweet surprise guests! Jex Russell co-hosted, and harpist Grace Scheele dropped by for a bit to talk about her cassette tape Landings. The end result is one of my favourite shows! Top ten?
Max the Axe’s garage sale scores were the main focus of the show, with a second on cottage stories and musical memories. We told the previously unrevealed tale of Max’s carbon monoxide detector collection. We tributed the man himself with song after song, going over two hours!
Best of all: a first. A chipmunk visiting the show, captured on camera, live. Twice.
Addendum: Here’s the funny thing. MarriedandHeels was still welcome to appear on this show, and declined to show up. Why? Because she scheduled her own stripshow at the same time on OnlyFans. However, the gods disapproved, and she failed due to technical issues! She could have joined me, but karma and the universe worked together to spite her. Oh well! Hope she enjoyed her day at home alone, not making any money or having any fun with us.
Life is like a box of chocolates indeed! I say, eat on. The No More Heels tour of 2023 begins!
1. Each of these are real search terms, typed in by real people on a search engine like Google.
2. Somehow, each of these search terms led them to ME!
So here’s 10 more for this installment!
A week isn’t a week unless I get hits from people looking for stuff like this. I’m still assuming that people don’t know how to spell the word “lesbian”.
lebrain sex
lebrani nude 1
Here’s a good one:
why is here i go again not on reissue of slide it in
Because it’s not on Slide It In. It’s on 1987, sillypants.
This guy can’t spell the singer’s name, nor the name of the site he’s looking for.
you too runny james dio neon nights
Here’s a selection that led people to some of my Kiss reviews:
just how bad is peter criss’ ’78 solo album?
was peter criss’ ’78 solo album really that bad
why did paul feel unwanted and alone in the carnival
patty stanley stripper
jean simmons with a moustache
And finally, if this guy had his way, we’d all be speaking Anglesh:
You could always tell the strippers when they walked in (especially in Cambridge). You could especially tell when they talked. They all had that Smoker’s Voice…you know the one? The one that makes them sound like the Bouvier sisters? And they all had skin the colour and texture of my jacket.
Anyway, they’d call you “hun”, or “love” or whatever. As in, would you like a bag? “No, thanks hun.”
Then they’d laugh…a big barrel “HAAA HA HA HA!” laugh, buy some dance music shit for their show, and be out the door. They’d be back every month or so to buy updated music for their acts, and they’d tell you that’s what they were buying it for.
mikeladano.com 