The B52’s, London Roundhouse
August 19, 2008
Wade Crawley is back with a great B52 concert review! If you remember, Wade wrote for us Punk music in the late seventies. Now read his new exclusive article for ManuelMarino.com!
The B52’s, London Roundhouse
It was on a hot and very sweaty summer night in London’s trendy Camden and a packed audience of all ages and types gathered at the re-opened Roundhouse. They were all there to see that perennial party band, still together for over 30 years, the B52’s. It was ridiculously hot with many people standing and sweating profusely, but this didn’t diminish the anticipation of the crowd one bit. This became evident before the band even came out with many of them singing along vociferously to Talking Head’s ‘Psycho Killer’ when played by the club’s DJ. Then the lights went down and the words “Hello London, we’re the B52’s” was greeted by a loud roar as the band walked out onto the stage.
Touring to promote their first album in 16 years Funplex, the B52’s showed the sell-out crowd they still have the ability to turn out superbly crafted pop songs. The line up of Fred Schneider, Cindy Wilson, Kate Pierson and Keith Strickland have proved over the years they are masters of the art of catchy, pop songwriting and they treated the crowd to all of their hits and more in their uniquely frivolous and eccentric manner. The B52’s have crafted and honed their electro-beat, new wave, dance sound over 30 years and it’s still impossible to categorise.
Backed up by three backing musicians, the B52’s were in fine form. The soaring harmonies of Wilson and Pierson sounded as good as ever, while the wonderfully camp interjections of Schneider made sure everybody in the audience had a smile on their face for the duration. Along with the more humorous and wacky songs like ‘Private Idaho’ and ‘Party Out Of Bounds,’ with ‘Give Me Back My Man’ and current single ‘Juliet Of The Spirits,’ the B52’s proved they can also do serious and soulful. Their set consisted of the obligatory songs from the current album such as ‘Funplex’ and ‘Pump,’ interspersed with many of the old favourites like ‘Strobe Light,’ and ‘Mesopotamia.’
Judging by the enthusiastic reaction to the older material, it was obvious that the audience consisted of many of their older, long-term fans but there was also a surprising amount of young fans, many of whom were perched up high on their father’s shoulders. To the audience’s delight, the hits came thick and fast with Wilson and Pierson’s sixties style dance routines, Schneider’s deadpan but camp delivery and Strickland’s choppy and distorted ‘rock style’ guitar. What with their wild and wacky image it’s easy to overlook, but make no mistake, these guys are all excellent musicians in their own right.
The harmonies of the two ladies are as good as you’ll find anywhere in popular music, whereas one time drummer Strickland now stands at the front of the stage, giving us all the classic ‘rock’ guitar style poses. Schneider isn’t as animated as he used to be but the B52’s wouldn’t be the same without his perfectly timed ‘camp as they come’ vocals.
To the crowd’s delight, they inevitably get to their most well loved song ‘Love Shack.’ It is one of those songs that always gets everybody dancing at parties and wedding receptions. Where everybody from the youngest children to the oldest grannies knows the words and the Roundhouse crowd were no different. “The whole shack shimmied” barks Schneider and the crowd sing along as one. Personally, I was surprised they didn’t save ‘Love Shack’ for the encore but the crowd didn’t seem to care.
We eventually got two encores. ‘Rock Lobster’ which was the first B52’s song I ever heard as a teenager in 1980 and ‘Planet Claire’ with it’s 1960’s secret agent movie vibe. The sweat soaked crowd were on their last legs by then. The Roundhouse management obviously thought that the English summer wasn’t long enough to justify installing air conditioning, but many were ready to feint at the end. This wasn’t enough, however, to stop most of the crowd from leaving with large grins on their faces. It left many of us feeling that the world is a more fun place with the B52’s in it.
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Music Reviews: Wind and Wire Magazine I've been asked why there is no music reviews section. Well, if you search my name on Google.com, you'll find many pages (in English and Italian languages) that talk about my music works or music albums. So, I don't want to put a complete list of the links, but anyway...... -
Country Music Star Is Unleashed! Robert Benson (if you remember he wrote An Explosion of Blues Music) this time gave me a review about the next big star in Country Music, Laura Roppe (pronounced ro-pay). She has a Shania Twain-like quality and already is receiving major air play in Europe. Robert said me also that...... -
An Explosion Of Blues Music Author of this article is Robert Benson. He writes about rock and pop music, vinyl record collecting and operates CollectingVinylRecords.com, where you can pick up a copy of his ebook called "The Fascinating Hobby Of Vinyl Record Collecting." You can have your vinyl records appraised at VinylRecordAppraisals.com. An Explosion Of...... -
Living as Independent Developer Today we interview Andres Martinez, owner of baKno, a game development studio located in Key Biscayne, Florida. They are a group of video game enthusiasts committed to developing new ways to deliver fun, interactive and challenging software. Living as Independent Developer Manuel Marino: You declare yourself and your team as...... -
Punk music in the late seventies Wade Crawley said me "I propose to write an article about the influence of punk and indie music and culture on a young person (myself) coming of age in England in the late seventies and early eighties". I accepted, and Wade wrote this article! I must add also these more......
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Rufus Wainwright - Tiergarten (Singalong) Teirgarten by Rufus Wainwright (music only) from the album "Release The Stars". A great song...... -
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Book Review: The Best Tennis of Your Life: 50 Mental Strategies for Fearless Performance by Jeff Greenwald When it comes to the mental game of tennis, this is an area that every single player must master, and there is always room for improvement. This book offers an in depth look at numerous mental strategies that any player can put into practice in order to learn to play...... -
I Think This Might Be the Review Of The Year - For Betting With Lucifer I think this one might have to stand as my personal review of the year. We're close enough to the end of the year now for me to safely say this, I think. This is one humdinger of a review. Normally, I take snippets of a review and post all...... -
A Nice, but Surprising, 4.5 Star Review for Chronicles of The Lost Years The timing couldn't be nicer, really. With the new Sherlock Holmes movie coming out next month, and the yummy casting of Robert Downie Jnr. as Sherlock Holmes and Jude Law as Dr. Watson, we've finally got a casting that's interesting in all sorts of respects. Have you seen the trailer? ......
Walk Hard: a Retro-Styled Philosophy?
August 2, 2008
Yesterday I’ve seen Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story with a great John C. Reilly. It is a parody movie, a spoof of every musical biopic where John as music star Dewey Cox covers every musical style from Elvis to the Beach Boys over five decades. Dialogue and sequences are funny and goofy and the jokes never are boring. Since this is not exactly a review, I won’t tell more about the movie. What I would like to focus on is the philosophy behind the movie.
Walk Hard: a Retro-Styled Philosophy?
Dewey Cox kills his brother and begins an impressive quest to become a legendary artist. All is based on the “feeling guilty” system. He feels guilty, so he swear he’ll become big to please his brother soul (that was a talented young pianist). Feelings of guilt occur because deep down in your subconscious you have become emotionally attached to an event that you feel in some way responsible for, either you feel that you did something wrong, feel that you didn’t do enough or feel that you should have done something.
Of course, he killed his brother! Yes, but can we say he is punishing himself trying to become a legend? In the end of the movie there is the answer to this question.
Another philosophy behind the movie is the “Walk Hard” philosophy. It’s also the first song of the movie (and of the soundtrack album, a must!) and I really love it. Dewey say, that even if you’ve been told time and time again that you’re always gonna lose, life’s a race, and he is in it to win it. Some kind of people always try to control us, making us obedient. It’s a kind of psychological war out there! Dewey says no to this system and wants to free himself and walk hard up to the top of the mountain high. He still got a dream and a burning rage to live.
This is everything about being artists, about artists goals and principles. Probably also a retro-styled philosophy of the past, maybe also modern someway. But it is connected also to the “feel guilty” issue.
He has a dream, becoming a legend. Is it a real dream? Or he just wants to please his brother soul? He is not strong enough to resist to temptations. Sex, drugs are part of his everyday’s life. Is he really happy while pursuing his dream? Are we able to really understand what is our personal dream and life’s goal? I think that happiness is all about this, to really understand our goals. This is what Dewey finds at the end of his long and troubled life. I wish us all to discover this before the end of our lifes :)
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Artists Psychology Here's an interesting exclusive article Roland d’Humières, 56 years old psycho-analyst from Aix en Provence (France) has written for our Weblog. I think it to be a very interesting writing about the artists psychology, or maybe "arts psychology", what's behind an artists mind. Artists Psychology Whatever is his/her Art, painting,...... -
Travel Writer This is the beginning of the latest writing by Peter George Mackie. Please contact him if you want to know more about his works. The first chapter of his piece of travel writing "Flowers of Zagreb" can also be downloaded at www.authorsonline.co.uk. Travel Writer Dave was pondering over a map...... -
The B52’s, London Roundhouse Wade Crawley is back with a great B52 concert review! If you remember, Wade wrote for us Punk music in the late seventies. Now read his new exclusive article for ManuelMarino.com! The B52’s, London Roundhouse It was on a hot and very sweaty summer night in London’s trendy Camden and...... -
Freelance journalism Christian Toto is a Denver-based freelance reporter specializing in arts reporting. He can be heard on three US radio stations, as well as occasionally on "The Dennis Miller Show," which airs across the country. He got his first byline as a young boy with his hometown newspaper. He reviewed "Close...... -
Astronauts and Funk Music Today I create a new category, named 2009 Music Demos, where I'll publish totally new music tracks made with the latest gears but with the same talent behind: myself :) These tracks are demonstrations of my skills and creative ideas and in each post I'll explain the inspiration that moves......
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A Million Bucks By Thirty Review By Alan Corey Everyone loves a true rags to riches tale, and although we’ve had some with the dot com boom, there were few that echoed the stories of immigrants that moved to the big city with a pocket full of pennies and a dream. We were thrilled to read this book and...... -
Meet the Robinsons, movie review contains spoiler For those of you parenting adopted children this is a friend's thoughts on seeing the film with her two adopted daughters so you will have a better idea of what it entails. As I said, my College Girl saw it and loved it, wants me to take the little girls....... -
Escape the 9-to-5 and live the lifestyle of your dreams by transforming your life’s passion into an extremely profitable internet business –starting now. Escape the 9-to-5 and live the lifestyle of your dreams by transforming your life’s passion into an extremely profitable internet business –starting now. * Are you thinking about giving up? * Do you experience an increased lack of fulfillment at the end of each day? * Are you frustrated that...... -
Review:The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable Nassim Nicholas Taleb weaves in excerpts from experts, mostly philosophers, as noted in 26 pages of Bibliography. There was a lot that was easy to read, and a lot that was difficult to read through, but it was all interesting. You might not agree with all of his conclusions....... -
Touch of Pink (2004) Alim (Mistry) has a good life. He has moved in with Giles, his super-sexy boyfriend and he is very happy. Giles (Holden-Reid) of course has no reservations about being gay, living in London and all. Alim,on the other hand, is from a Muslim family. His family lives far away and has......
A software that helps you to be a novelist
July 28, 2008
Erick Behymer wrote for us The Djinn Chronicles. Now he is back with the review of MyNovel. MyNovel is a novel writing software. It contains a complete word processor and will get you to think about and plan your characters, settings, and the events that will form the skeleton of your novel. But let’s read Erick review about this unique software.
A software that helps you to be a novelist
Rarely when testing software (mostly security related stuff), am I impressed by anything. I will spend hours picking apart a program, attempting to find any flaw or blemish, major or minor. When I was first approached to test MyNovel, I donned my glasses of pessimism expecting the worst. This is not meant as a detractment, it’s just something I do.
At a quick glance, MyNovel appears to be a standard word processing application, however, there are several major differences/enhancements. The first, and most striking is the ability to create a story template. At any point, you can change the details of your novel, add diagrams, events, characters, places, objects and even check progress/completion.
There’s even an “inspiration” option readily available. Specifically, the character and place generators are rather impressive, as you can choose between various name types. If that weren’t enough, you can choose and/or customize a color scheme.
Once you’re finished with your MyNovel project, there is a fairly comprehensive list of publishers available to choose from, along with relevant contact information and requirements. This takes a lot of the hassle of looking for a book publisher using a search engine.
All of these features are put together in an easy-to-use-easy-to-remember interface. MyNovel’s tools are put right at your fingertips, so there’s no endless searching to find what you need. Regardless of whether you’re a novice or a seasoned veteran to writing, I would strongly recommend that you take time to give MyNovel a try.
For the computer savvy, I have compiled a list of observations below:
MyNovel is fairly impressive, and has quite a bit of potential not only in features, but also performance. When idle, the program takes up a less than 3MB of RAM and during the most intensive states, 12-19MB. If that wasn’t impressive enough, it only requires ~25MB of disk space for a full install. Even running MyNovel at full throttle, it remained fairly quick and responsive to user interaction.
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The Djinn Chronicles Today we add a new Category: Writings, where we'll publish exclusive short stories, novels or poems available on ManuelMarino.com only. Today's Author is Erick Behymer. Read his words about this work of fiction: The Djinn Chronicles Well, I do have one that directly involves the mythological creatures known as Djinn....... -
Documentary Filmmaking This is a special article written for us by James N. Weber. He has worked on Socially Aware Media, especially documentaries, in South Africa, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, and Mexico, and is currently working on a project on food security in Guatemala. His work and more info can be found...... -
Creating Clouds Frank Kane job is very particular... he creates clouds! He can do it through his C++ library for real-time sky and 3D cloud rendering, used worldwide by scores of games and visual simulation applications on the Windows platform. Its name is SilverLining. Creating Clouds Manuel Marino: Your sky and clouds...... -
Stop jogging and listen to some new music I'm a big fan of 80s music. Yes, the decade that gave the world the sound of pop, the memorable 80s! I'm talking about Madonna, Michael Jackson, Huey Lewis, Cyndi Lauper, George Michael and many others. Well, let's focus on Madonna, eleven albums, an impressive career. Stop jogging and listen...... -
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Copywriting Tips For Bloggers Who Hate Writing Online copywriting, contrary to what some may say, is not some mysterious ancient code you must decipher before you get good at it. Quite frankly, I don't see what all the hoopla and fuss is about writing copy online. Although online copywriting is different in many ways then print media,...... -
7 Ways To Leave Comments And Drive Traffic Back To Your Blog People say that to make an impression, you'll have to open your mouth. While that is physically impossible in the virtual world of the Internet, saying your piece is not entirely difficult to do. Thanks to forums and discussion boards, you can leave a comment or start a discussion...... -
Blog Roundup As Christmas approaches, I'm feeling the need to get cozy and relieve some stress. Thus, I'm focusing on reading here. For those of us who haven't finished our shopping yet, these posts can also lead you to some gift ideas.100 Notable Books of 2008The New York Times has compiled their...... -
Woods Presents to Singh Trophy Tiger Woods stood posed, along side him the trophy for the Chevron World Challenge. It was a sight that was all too familiar, but there was a twist. Tiger Woods was presenting the trophy to the contest winner Vijay Singh. Ever since the U.S. Open, Tiger Woods has not played...... -
What to Look for in Your Blogging Software There are so many choices for blogging software on the market, that it can be very difficult to choose the right one. Every software choice has its advantages and disadvantages which means that you will have to make some decisions on your needs. This will help you to determine which......
An Explosion Of Blues Music
June 20, 2008
Author of this article is Robert Benson. He writes about rock and pop music, vinyl record collecting and operates CollectingVinylRecords.com, where you can pick up a copy of his ebook called “The Fascinating Hobby Of Vinyl Record Collecting.” You can have your vinyl records appraised at VinylRecordAppraisals.com.
An Explosion Of Blues Music
Anyone who has ever listened to the “Blues” knows that it is more than just music, but an inspiration, an unfolding of the emotions that we all feel. From Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Willie Dixon and many other influential Blues legends, to the more contemporary Blues artists such as Robert Cray, Eric Clapton and Stevie Ray Vaughan, Blue’s music has and always be a part of out musical heritage.
Capturing the essence and spirit that the Blues represent is a novel “Blues Musical” called “The Tear Jar.” Not focusing on a particular band or individual, the “Tear Jar” instead is a collaboration and meeting of the minds of many talented people including producer Chris Bravacos, song writer Robert Welch, audio engineer Frank Silver and writer Jerry King Musser.
Blended into the musical are the rare talents of musicians such as: industry veteran Diane Wilson (singing the character of Savannah), talented Bluesman Don Johnson (singing the character of Mason Ball), Blues guitar virtuoso Jared James Nichols (singing the character of JD Hunter), Jazz sensation Rose Hudson (singing the part of Chandra), veteran Gospel singer Eugene Barclift (playing the character of Stubs) and Soul Music vet Charles Lee (as the Preacher), among others.
To set up the story, one needs to know what a ‘tear jar’ is and what it represents. In ancient cultures, water was a prized possession and giving up water from one’s own body, in the form of tears, was considered a personal sacrifice. They would catch their precious tears in tiny pitchers or ‘tear jars.” The ‘saved’ tears could then be used to ward off evil or to help a sick child. The writer takes this belief and implements into the storyline and applies it to the infectious Blues songs that encompass and define the musical. Here is a brief synopsis of the story:
“Seasoned, itinerant blues man, Mason Ball, returns to The Blue Rose, a club in which he enjoys playing, with an owner he deeply ‘admires.’ Upon his arrival, he’s surprised to discover that a ‘new kid in town’ has claimed the stage and attention of an appreciative audience. This young upstart, one JD Hunter, is unwilling to relinquish the limelight and makes it clear that the ‘old blues’ is dead. To add to the tension, Mason’s private love interest shares with him a serious, personal loss. Frustrated with his inability to appease her emotional pain, Mason dips his finger into a jar of tears given him by his recently departed mother and touches her with the potion. This act, apparently, manifests in wondrous results… relieving her of her anguish. Mason doubts his healing powers, yet can’t dismiss the changes he seems to have made. When word gets out, the audience demands Mason’s appearance onstage and seem to come for his ‘gift of healing’ as much as his gift of song. JD challenges Mason’s abilities, those both spiritual and musical. When a plan to expose Mason backfires, JD Hunter learns what it’s like to be on the receiving end of ‘the gift.’ But, gift or not, the characters in this story find themselves at a new place in their lives after discovering life’s potential magic is available to anyone.”
I have not seen the production, but have listened to some of the music and was overjoyed to hear a dizzying array of crisp, fresh Blues cuts that are certain to be standards and will have die-hard Blues fans clamoring for more.
“When Does The Healing Begin” is full of Gospel-fueled licks and superb vocals that fuses the Blues and Gospel in an explosion of sound. The cut called “The Magic,” like any great Blues song, just bleeds emotion, from the growling vocals and the Stevie Ray Vaughan-like riffs, yet it still remains achingly tender. “Satisfier” is expertly played and sang, with sultry vocals and is sung with immeasurable passion and strength. “I’m Gone,” is bound to become a classic blues rocker, tight and structured, and just compels you to bob your head or tap your foot with melodic adventure. “Stormbringer” perfectly fuses Soul and Blues music, with impassioned vocals and stellar guitar and organ work.
“The Tear Jar” is bound to become an instant classic Blues production, with fresh Blues music for all fans of the genre, who are sure to be pleased with the efforts of all the performers and everyone who is involved with this wondrous project. In its beginning stages, “The Tear Jar” has a performance slated for the Sunoco Performance Theater on Thursday, August 7 and Friday August 8, 2008 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. And with an intriguing storyline, a stellar cast and new Blues standards, it will soon make a bold impression in the music world and specifically Blues music.
To learn more about this inventive project and learn more about the players visit TearJar.com.
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The B52’s, London Roundhouse Wade Crawley is back with a great B52 concert review! If you remember, Wade wrote for us Punk music in the late seventies. Now read his new exclusive article for ManuelMarino.com! The B52’s, London Roundhouse It was on a hot and very sweaty summer night in London’s trendy Camden and...... -
Music Reviews: Splendid E-zine Another beautiful music review I had (with my pseudonym Vanethian) is this one at Splendid E-zine. The music review is about my music album Futures Past, with my pseudonym Vanethian. If you want to read more music reviews just search my name on Google and Yahoo. Music Reviews: Splendid E-zine...... -
Country Music Star Is Unleashed! Robert Benson (if you remember he wrote An Explosion of Blues Music) this time gave me a review about the next big star in Country Music, Laura Roppe (pronounced ro-pay). She has a Shania Twain-like quality and already is receiving major air play in Europe. Robert said me also that...... -
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Music Biz Marcos Marado wrote this exclusive article about Music Biz. Is the situation really so dramatic as he explains? Leave your comments, this could be our first really important debate on ManuelMarino.com. Music Biz I'm, first of all, a passionate for music. My passion for music before I can recall it,......
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What are Acoustic Guitars Made Out Of? There are a number of different materials that are used for the purpose of constructing guitars. Let us take a look at a few of them. Mahogany When this wood is used as a guitar top, it has a low velocity of sound as compared to other woods, good density,...... -
How to Get Kids Interested in Acoustic Music Getting children interested in music is not normally a difficult task, especially considering how many different types of music there are out there. If you are looking to get your children interested in acoustic music, however, the process may be a little more difficult. Children begin listening to music as...... -
Book Review: Celtic, Blues and Beyond (Acoustic Master Class Series) by Al Petteway This book and CD combination is a part of the Acoustic Masterclass series, teaching Celtic music, blues music and beyond. Al Petteway offers advanced guitar arrangements in this tome. As an award-winning composer and guitarist, Al Petteway has developed a unique style for guitar solos that mixes up numerous different...... -
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FMV Hell - Make My Video (Part 3, C+C Music Factory) The deepest level of FMV Hell awaits as The Spoony One is forced to make the videos of four bands: Marky Mark & The Funky Bunch, INXS, Kriss Kross, and the C+C Music Factory. Will he be able to escape with his sanity, or will these games crush his......
Music Reviews: Splendid E-zine
October 20, 2007
Another beautiful music review I had (with my pseudonym Vanethian) is this one at Splendid E-zine. The music review is about my music album Futures Past, with my pseudonym Vanethian. If you want to read more music reviews just search my name on Google and Yahoo.
Music Reviews: Splendid E-zine
If you’ve ever caught yourself getting into the soundtracks that play in the background of sci-fi fantasy games, you might enjoy Futures Past. Unassuming synthesizers create a circumambient musical flow, taking you first to the distant and icy plains of Pluto, then back in time, where you’ll mingle with the shoguns of Japan and explore England’s age of chivalry. Born in Palermo, Manuel Marino, the man behind the music, started out playing solfeggio-style fingerpicking and jazz guitar.
Marino’s heavy interest in role-playing games is evident on Futures Past; he takes his own personal enjoyment and translates it sonically through MIDI sequencing into breathtaking soundscapes that take the listener left of heaven into the World of Dreams. Taking Korgs, Rolands and Moogs to the next level, Marino remains modestly mindful of old masters Rick Wakeman and Alan Parsons when evoking his own brand of medieval methodology. From intergalactic battles to dystopian visions of society, infinite space is the only limit for Marino and his music.
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The Emperor's New Clothes Ananda Sukarlan is an Indonesian composer and pianist living in Spain. This is an article he wrote for a magazine which has been published a few years ago in Spanish. We are very proud to have the original in English which has never been published anywhere, so this is...... -
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American Music and Vintage Guitars Mark Weakley is an impressive artist; sculptor, painter, musician. He plays guitar, banjo and harmonica, and has recently recorded a CD of his original compositions. In this exclusive article he talks about himself, about his passions, about his father, about traditional american music, about vintage guitars and banjoes, and much...... -
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An Explosion Of Blues Music Author of this article is Robert Benson. He writes about rock and pop music, vinyl record collecting and operates CollectingVinylRecords.com, where you can pick up a copy of his ebook called "The Fascinating Hobby Of Vinyl Record Collecting." You can have your vinyl records appraised at VinylRecordAppraisals.com. An Explosion Of......
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Review: His Wicked Kiss by Gaelen Foley His Wicked Kiss is the seventh installment of Foley's Knight Miscellany series. The novel was quite exceptional from the steamy romance scenes, the tender moments, and the insecurities that flared between Eden and Jack. His Wicked Kiss flirts with the tried and true plot of what you thought you...... -
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Music Reviews: Wind and Wire Magazine
October 11, 2007
I’ve been asked why there is no music reviews section. Well, if you search my name on Google.com, you’ll find many pages (in English and Italian languages) that talk about my music works or music albums. So, I don’t want to put a complete list of the links, but anyway I’ll post parts of the most beautiful music reviews. I’ll begin with the one written by Bill Binkelman (Wind and Wire Magazine).
Music Reviews: Wind and Wire Magazine
Here’s a part of the music reviews:
“Manuel Marino, a.k.a. Vanethian, records some of the best “pure” melodic synthesizer music around. He composes and performs in the same musical style as Larry Fast (Synergy). Manuel’s music is overtly electronic and yet rooted in pop-music sensibility (repeated motifs, refrains, and bridges); he (Manuel) has few (if any) contemporaries in this regard. Frankly, I’m always impressed with how good his music sounds.”
“Sophisticated listeners may hear Manuel’s (Vanethian’s) music and only discern overly slick pop EM. Myself, I’m a sucker for the hooks and expert musicianship that, in my opinion, Manuel excels at. As with the last album of his I reviewed, I make no apologies for how much I love his music. It’s chromium candy – polished, yummy, and never upsetting to my stomach, no matter what mood I’m in. I can see why this guy gets a shitload of videogame and computer game music work – he’s a wiz when it comes to hooks and he’s an EM engineering professional.”
The Music Albums Bill Binkelman is talking about are Electronic Souls Fusion (2001),
Electric Blue (2001) and Amazing Dimensions (2000).
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Music Geek Robin Mookerjee is a songwriter obsessed with music. Is this a good thing? Or a bad thing? I can say he is a real music geek! Read his story and check his website. Music Geek I’m really a fan as much as a songwriter, but a lot of songwriters say...... -
Reflections on some well loved Poets Ziggy Olivier wrote this article. He met Dylan Thomas and spent some of his youth drinking whisky with him. He said me: "Everything you may have read about him was true." Reflections on some well loved Poets Approaching my own demise, I was delighted this Christmas to receive from...... -
Art, Communication, Connectivity Michael Marcus (also known as "Jacques Treatment") is a published author, poet, artist, and game designer; with George McVey, he has been publishing comics as "The Hamtramck Idea Men" on the very sensible grounds that they live in Hamtramck, have many ideas, and they are men. Joint work can be...... -
Walk Hard: a Retro-Styled Philosophy? Yesterday I've seen Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story with a great John C. Reilly. It is a parody movie, a spoof of every musical biopic where John as music star Dewey Cox covers every musical style from Elvis to the Beach Boys over five decades. Dialogue and sequences are...... -
A Finnish music story Musician Matti Mattila wrote his story for us, a Finnish music story! Please read also his Finnish blog and check his page at LinkedIn. I named this article "A Finnish music story" because through Matti words we can know an exclusive tale about late 70's and 80's of Finnish music.......
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Review: To Tame a Highland Warrior by Karen Marie Moning By: Sasha Muradali, guest blogger To Tame a Highland Warrior has to be the second best book in the Karen Marie Moning Highlander series, falling short directly behind The Dark Highlander. Starting out in 1499, the novel tells the tale of Grimm aka Gavrael McIllioch, the son of a...... -
The Legacy of Jaco Pastorius - Joe Sinaguglia For over twenty years now, the planet has been without the presence of Jaco Pastorius, the revolutionary electric bass player of the 70s. He was a member of the group Weather Report and later led his own bands. Sadly, the lifestyle caught up to him in 1987. Despite his death,...... -
Robert Trujillo: Bassist for Metallica Metallica was up to the task of performing at Ozzfest this year, for they commanded the attention of the massive stadium. Robert Trujillo was rocking for over two hours with drummer Lars Ulrich, singer/guitarist James Hetfield and lead guitarist Kirk Hammett, all of whom brought forth a power that made...... -
The Cycle of Pop Music Rock music has always had its critics and those that wish that rock and pop music would just go away. But over the years rock has proven to be pretty resilient and has withstood the test of time. Pop music is a bit of a different animal than rock music...... -
I'm Not sure what I'm looking at here, But I think I like it. It's a New Year, a New Decade and naturally time for Webstravaganza's Newest Writer to Showcase his Finding's of the Internet in 2010 I've come across an excellent opportunity to write an article. Through my previous co-worker like acquaintance of Webstravaganza Designer Eric Lortie I've gained this chance to have......



