#the ‘the whole worlds gone nuts’ part starts at 1:20:40

[brown-spider]

I enjoyed Snapcube’s stream of Web of Shadows

[secretradiobrooklyn]

Radio Decameron |1.16.21 & 1.23.21

Secret Radio | 1.16.21 & 1.23.21 | Hear it here.

1. Sylvain Sylvain - “I’m So Sorry”

I never feel right saying “RIP” or “rest in peace” about an actual human being who is no longer with us. But I will say: I hope Sylvain Sylvain died content with the music he made and the life he lived. 

2. The Honeydrippers - “Impeach the President”

And ideally, then we would never have to hear from or talk about that accursed criminal ever again. We recorded this section before the inauguration — may we never forget how ALL 50 STATE CAPITOLS plus the US Capitol itself were being guarded against attacks by American citizens on that day — and shit was tense there for many days. As of this writing, things are… unviolent. It feels like a lull to me, honestly, rather than, say, all that stuff being in the rearview. It is not. 

But meanwhile, check that beat out!  

I love how Roy Charles is trying to convince them to stop demanding, but they just keep insisting. This song is brilliant, and the playing is — c’mon now — unimpeachable.

3. Niagara - “Tchiki boum”

We heard this song in the film “Perdrix,” known as “The Bare Necessity” in the version we saw via SLIFF. They’re dancing in a club to this, and it’s just a really distractingly good song for the scene.

- C.K. Mann - “Mber Papa”

We just recently learned about Essiebons by learning that he passed just this August. He was a producer of legendary status to a lot of people. Listening around his music we came upon C.K. Mann and this righteous track, which Essiebons produced. I think this is a pretty ultra track, really. Every instrument really kicks it out. I hope Essiebons died happy.

4. Rocky Horror Picture Show - “Hot Patootie / Bless My Soul”

New president, feeling kinda upbeat and hopeful. Really just starting to feel the tips of my soul from where it’s been getting singed. It’s going to take a long time to scab over what happened to us all over the last four years. I’m so fucking glad he’s gone that it makes me really love that rock n roll!

5. Moon Unit & Frank Zappa - “Valley Girl”

Tell you what: we watched the movie “Zappa” recently as part of a film festival, and I highly recommend watching it at your earliest opportunity. It is absolutely for people who do, and for people who do not, love his music. He shows up as a really interesting character throughout his whole life. The film skips through his songs with amazing speed, which actually works really well in his case. This song is with his daughter Moon Unit, who actually slid a handwritten note under his door introducing herself by name and saying that she wanted to collaborate on a project. They did this, and while Zappa was in Europe, Moon Unit brought the acetates to KROC and the song became an instant hit for them. Meanwhile he was writing for multiple orchestras.

6. Jacques Dutronc - “Sur Une Nappe de Restaurant” 

This is totally not how I tune my drums, but I love how Dutronc’s drums sound in every song. I mean, the whole band of course, but there is a physical space both in the drum part as written and in the recorded texture of the whole that is just deep and wide.

7. Nyame Bekyere - “Medley: Broken Heart / Aunty Yaa / Omo Yaba (Nzema)”

This is another discovery via Essebiens, who released it on Essiebons Enterprises. It’s such an intense track! The cover artwork is by K. Frimpong, who plays a crazy Cuban guitar style on his own albums. 

8. Ros Serey Sothea - “Tngai Neas Kyom Yam Sra (Today I Drink Wine)”

This is a voice, and a cast of characters, I can’t stop thinking about. This is from “Cambodian Rocks Vol 1,” which is full of great recordings. Her voice could shatter glass, and it’s so skillfully wielded — I’d love to hear her in a face-off with Frankie Valli.

- There’s a moment from Paige’s phone archives of a little George and Isabelle aching to ride rides at the Millstadt homecoming.

9. Les Poppys - “Isabelle je t’aime” 

These young boys singing collectively about their — collective? 17 individual? — love(s) for Isabelle is even more innocent in video format:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o618mlIaR7E

- more C.K. Mann - “Mber Papa”

10. The Jam - “In the City”

This song makes me miss the city so much! It sounds like everything we really can’t get up to right now. I feel like this song helps me feel like I’m walking fast under streetlights.

11. Bruno Leys - “Maintenant je suis un voyou”

This 7” from Born Bad is so incredible! Bruno Leys worked on just a few songs with a band that included a guy named Emmanuel Pairault who plays parts on an instrument called the ondes Martenot, a super early, very eclectic and ungainly electronic instrument. The fact that he could actually compose music of any kind on it was considered remarkable. The fact that he was able to write such incredibly expressive parts to thoroughly filigree the choruses is what amazes me. 

This band recorded four songs, then Bruno Leys left for his military service, and when he came back it was all completely over — the catalog was sold, everyone was scattered. Four songs. 

12. Sleepy Kitty - “Nothing = You”

I’m pretty sure this song was essentially our response to our own growing fascination with French pop. To me it sounds more French than American in texture. We played this song with the Incurables once at The Pageant in STL and it was especially glorious. I think of that moment — Kevin Bachmann harmonizing flawlessly with Paige, four different guitars ringing through the chords — every time I hear this track.

13. Plastic Bertrand - “Pogo Pogo”

I don’t know why or when “Ça Plane Pour Moi” became the one French pop song that Americans are likely to know, but it’s a total banger so I have no complaints. It turns out that pretty much all of his songs sound very similar — one-note melodies in the verse, cool vocalese hooks in the chorus, and super-driving guitar parts throughout. Turns out that’s a formula we totally dig!

14. Os K-rrascos & Vanessinha Do Picatchu - “Bochecha Ardendo”

For whatever reason, a variety of Brazilian music seemed to be the very hottest stuff to be found in Chicago’s art-school party nights, and I remember losing my mind to some heavy Brazilian rhythms that just kept folding over and over on themselves while staying so impossibly funky that the whole night just turned into a deep-green-and-dark orange smear of a late-night winter warehouse dancing and sweating and then way, way later, walking home steaming along a cold sidewalk on a tree-lined street.

- Eric Dolphy - “Hat and Beard”

15. Von Südenfed - “The Rhinohead” 

I feel like no one in my zone talks enough about how awesome Von Südenfed is. I mean, we only know this one album, but it’s so fascinating — a band where Mark E. Smith is contributing but not in control, and on purpose. He shows off his pop chops and gets to be a whole different character in this one place, while the Mouse on Mars guys get to play new characters themselves. It feels like it’s related to “Extricate” in how it’s constructed, but the music doesn’t sound like something any version of the Fall has made. 

16. Fischer-Spooner - “The 15th”

A friend of Wire is a friend of ours.

p.s. Paige here, they went to SAIC (before I arrived) but they were super famous to all of us in the dorms. 

17. T.P. Orchestre - “Pourquoi Pas?”

The depths of this band just continue to amaze us. We’re waiting on some T.P.O.C. vinyl right now, featuring mostly songs we’ve never heard, and the everlovin’ post office is misdelivering it BACK to France even as I write this. It’s driving us totally nuts.

18. Nina Simone - “Mississippi Goddam”

The hardness of her voice, the hardness of her experience, the hardness of her words.

19. Fanny - “Blind Alley”

I don’t know who first put this in front of my eyes, but it was a few years ago. The video is so basic — they’re performing in front of a video-psych effect — but the performers themselves are just so absorbing. And the production is so heavy, it feels legendary. 

20. Manmadha Leela soundtrack - “Kushalamena”

I think we first saw a colorful glimpse of this song before we heard it. Paige automatically starts dancing a little dance as soon as “Kushalamena” comes on. 

This I think came from the “Now Playing” group I’m in on FB: a guy was holding out a picture of the cover of this album and said he’d bought 40 more like it and he LOVED EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM. He just wanted to see if anyone knew anything more about them. I did my best to hear the album he was showing. I think this is it. I think he’s right to be super jazzed about it, we just want to hang out with him and listen to all those records.

21. Francis Bebey - “Je vous aime zaime zaime”

Paige was working on her pronunciation and when to use the ellision — the z sound for the s letter, depending on what comes next — and he said something about, “Unless you’re Francis Bebey and you’re singing ‘Je vous aime zaime zaime.” And she said, “Francis Bebey? I know Francis Bebey!” and he said, “No, you’re thinking of another Francis.” But we all know the truth. This was our introduction to the song though.

- Jack Teagarden - “I Guess I’ll Have to Change My Plan”

Paige was looking for the Fred Astaire & Jack Buchanan version from “The Bandwagon,” but found this great instrumental trombone-forward version instead.

22. Pono AM - "Good Vibes"

This is one of those things you see every once in a great while when you’re playing clubs in a music scene — a band hits a natural home run. They just have an undeniably appealing crowdpleaser of a song that they wrote, and everyone flips out when they hear it. We salute Pono AM for writing this perfect song. They enrich the STL music world. My only advice to them was to never get tired of it or take it for granted. 

Paige: We took their band photos at our space on Cherokee Street, for an RFT article. I was impressed because they arrived with matching shirts that still had the tags on them, and it was really exciting to see a new band on the scene who was really good and also putting in the effort to be graphically interesting. We believe that stuff counts. All of their shows, if you got there early, you’d see all of the band members blowing up as many balloons as they could, so there would be balloons bouncing around their set for the whole show, and it made it even better.

23. Sir Victor Uwaifo And His Titibitis - "Iranm Iran"

Analog Africa has a new album! It’s called “Edo International,” and it shows off a whole other side of Beninese music that isn’t T.P. Orchestre. I think of T.P. Orchestre as just a giant force in Beninese music, but then this comp comes out showing so many other roots of Benin City’s highlife-funk scene. Victor Uwaifo was a Nigerian guitarist who returned to his hometown in Benin City and built Joromi Studio. The sound he put together at that place, via his own bands and others’, came to be called Edo Funk.

24. Laughing Man - "Brilliant Colors"

This is a tape of one of the artists of one of the group houses that we always would stay at in DC. Benjamin Schurr runs a tape label and it was always such a treat getting the new batch of Blight. releases for the van soundsystem when we’d roll through town, or one of his bands would tour through St. Louis. They were always interesting stuff and a wide range of sounds and styles. 

We first met Brandon Moses when he was on tour with Paperhaus in St. Louis. I think it was his birthday, too. He didn’t tour a ton with them. Laughing Man was our first time hearing him front songs. We always enjoyed staying with Erik and Benjamin and Brandon and enjoyed sharing that green power juice that Brandon gave us — really powered us up for the next drive. 

- Bembeya Jazz - “Petit Sokou”

I have felt love for this song for awhile, but Josh Weinstein recently sent a video of the band actually performing this song and WOW, it is hypnotizing. The outfits, the instruments, and the expressiveness of the guitar playing are all so vivid in black and white: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpZVF_kKUJ4

25. Maxime le Forestier - “San Francisco”

Our thanks to Paige’s French instructor for showing us this song. Paige’s version is well worth hearing too, I must say: https://www.instagram.com/p/CKhJfqDDe2q/

p.s. Paige again, if you want to see the dragon birthday card that Evan made, here it is!

[vnshkk]

Let's talk about Kyo's media blackout.

It is with a slight reluctance that I post this. It's not wise to mention Tanuki online nor share what they talk about within the overseas fandom for a multiple of reasons. 

1. I don't want them to get angry at me

2. I don't want the overseas fandom to flip out and judge the Japanese fandom

3. I just want everyone to be chill and happy and flowers

But I've seen a lot of people freaking out, a lot of random theories floating around and people worrying so I wanted to post this theory and open it for discussion. 

Of course this isn't fact. It's pure speculation. But given the timeframe, PERSONALLY I feel like this may have had something to do with Kyo decision. 

So I post this with two DISCLAIMERs. 

1. As mentioned this is not in any way fact. There is no proof that Kyo does or doesn't look at Tank. I simply find it interesting the sequence of events, the timing of the media blackout and I am only translating this for those who are interested. I hope this doesn't cause any huge arguments or any bad blood. It's simple here to discuss and consider.

2. Please do not judge the whole fandom based on Tank. Just like any forum, any comment section on the world wide web; there will be people who leave negative feed back. It is a tiny portion of people and not a reflection of the Japanese fandom as a whole. Judging them based on what they said would be like someone looking at negative comments or sarcastic jokes on Tumblr and judging the English speaking fandom. That's not to say what they post is okay, but it's just dumb shit posting and shouldn't be taken to heart. 

you get me fam?

Okay, so I contemplated posting screenshots and translating what happened immediately after Kyo changed his profile picture up to when he deleted everything but as I said I don't want to be taken out by angry tank users so I'm just gonna translate a selection of posts. 

These posts are taken from the Meg thread (remember the girl linking arms with him at a concert? That's Meg.) which to be honest is a shit show. It was a thread born from those notorious pics and for over a year now has remained a place where people post rumours, shit talk, complain and just make shit up a lot of the time. So please, AGAIN, bare that in mind. It is a place of negativity born from a scandal that shocked a lot of the fandom. Aint nothing nice ever gonna be said there. Periodt. In reality a lot of the people who post there are still fans of Kyo. I think they're just still a little hurt by the way it came to light about Meg. 

After Kyo posted his new picture I checked tank before going to bed because I was curious about what their reactions would be and everyone had exploded. During the 7 hours I was asleep Kyo deleted everything and left the internet forever so tbh given the fact he was probably bored in a hotel in Fukuoka, just did a radio show, probs wanted to see peoples reaction, etc I personally, believe he was on Tank. This is a running theme in the thread itself and people often say he actively browses it (this is not a major thing, a lot of guys in bands browse tank same as celebs browse twitter. Why Kyo would look at the meg thread in particular? idk. ) 

SO TLDR 

Yesterday around 7pm the thread suddenly changed to mixed reactions after Kyo changed his Twitter pic. 

"His new twitter icon had me shook lol" 

"I hope he changes his instagram one too" 

"Idk I don't like how quickly he's become some kind of social media old fogey" 

"Kyo's turned into a social media monster too" (*edit; my bad Yuchi is beer monster, Shinya is social media monster lol)

"It's kinda cheap" 

"I get you, it's like he's lost his values" (probably because Kyo has always made big deal about how much of himself he shares) 

 It continued like that for a while with people more or less saying the same thing until he posts about leaving social media.

"He just suddenly said he's not gonna do social media anymore" 

"lol after he went to all the effort of changing his profile picture" 

"I'm shook" 

"annoying 40 year old nut job" 

"Bet you he came on here"  

"Do you normally change you icon then quit" 

"Join Kyo online" 

"idg why even though Kyo's had so many haters since he first started twitter he's suddenly affected by it??" 

"I still think he's cute even when he's sulking like this lol" 

"I knew he was looking at Tanuki"

"I don't get why he's suddenly deleting it after all this time?? It's like what is this old man on about?" 

"It's lame how he's making such a big deal of out saying he's quitting" 

(lots of people agreed with this post saying that he's acting childish)

"I wonder what happened? Like everything seemed fine recently. I mean we'll never know but like I'm sure he has a lot going on.." 

"I can't believe he basically wiped his instagram clean but left all the pics of cake and omurice lmao" 

"If only he'd go to sleep earlier and eat a banana the serotonin would fix everything" 

The random comments and mixed reactions continued for all of Friday.  One of the main points that stuck out after the initial reactions was how people began to become suspicious that this was merely a tactic to get people to join Kyo online with people claiming this was typical of business man kyo,  that it was about that time of year where they usually begin to advertise and promote in order to get new members. 

So, allow me to play devils advocate for a second. As someone who is a member of Kyo online I have to admit since he started posting more and more online (compared to hardly ever on Kyo online), the membership has become more or less invalid. In the past it was worth the money for the videos and pictures that as fans we rarely saw. But if he's going to post them online then it raises the question (tickets to concerts aside) is there any point in being a member if you can just get the content for free?  I'd imagine that this plays some kind of role in why the reactions are often negative. Members of Kyo online have suddenly gone from having something exclusive that was only for them, to simply being a part of something anyone can access. 

Another point someone brought up is that whilst it's acceptable for Kyo to be upset. It is very, very childish and the timing is selfish.  Sukekiyo literally made their instagram days ago and suddenly Kyo states how he isn't going to post online anymore. This act instantly casts a negative feel on Sukekiyo's insta. It almost gives a vibe that any picture Kyo is in might be "against his will". Kyo is not new to criticism. He's been in this game for 20 plus years. Everyone who is in the Indies scene knows about Tank. Every fan, every bandmen, knows it's a bad place filled with mostly shit posting and rumours and doesn't represent fans a whole. 

The meg thread is simply fans flogging a dead horse, posting any poor Japanese girl with a straight fringe and some tattoos, anyone who looks even a little like Meg and saying she MUST be a groupie of Kyo. Which begs the question why would Kyo go there? Why would he look at that? Why would he want to subject himself to that kind of thing and then punish the majority for some dumb comments a few bored fans made? What was he expecting by going there?

Of course there is no proof Kyo lurks. But the reality is he probably does, I mean he's only human, he' s bound to be curious about fans reactions for Madara, etc and where else to get honestly reactions than an anonymous forum? Personally, as someone who has lurked tank for a few years now, I think he reads it. There have been times in the past where he's mentioned certain things, done certain things and I've thought "hmmm that's weird tank was literally talking about that". But once again there's no proof. It's just one of those vibes you get sometimes. (one major one I can think of is during the interview for mode of gauze where he said everyone massively complained about it. I know people can submit questionnaires after lives but I feel that a lot of Japanese people are more brutally honest when they can hide behind anonymity. ) 

Considering the "staff" posted a pic of his feet on the sukekiyo instagram today, I feel like this is just Kyo being (sorry to say) butthurt and it might just blow over.  A lot of the comments mention his age, mention how he's clearly trying and failing to copy 20 year olds by using insta, that he's lame or cringe and that's gonna hurt anyones pride. But I honestly think Kyo should be looking at the billions of comments on instagram of people who love him rather than a few trolls online. 

So with that being said I hope this was an interesting read and gave a little insight into why Kyo is often private. It was a big deal that he was posting so much and actively using instagra. I for one was very happy. I believe that in this day and age it is something that is required in order to engage with your audience and keep a good relationship. Hazuki and Ruki are good examples of this and Ive been saying for the longest time I wish Kyo would get more on board with it. So it's a shame he's left at the first hurdle. 

Oh well. This is why we can't have anything nice isn't it. 

[travelingtheusa]

ARKANSAS

2021 Apr 24 (Sat) – Did some errands today.  Got fuel, picked up groceries, and bought pet food.

    Vanleigh had a catered breakfast this morning.  Following that, they had a Q&A with Leigh Tiffin.  We left early because we had an appointment with techs to make some repairs on our RV.  Our appointment time of 9:30 a.m. came and went without anyone showing up.  At 10:30, Paul went over to find out what was happening only to be informed that they were waiting until after the Q&A. That infuriated me!  I wanted to be there for the Q&A but had to leave for the appointment that never happened.  The techs showed up at 12:30 and worked on our Magic Fan for about an hour. They even wound up reprogramming the Spyder Control Panel.  But, they were not able to make the repair.  They are going to send us a new fan.

    After our catered dinner tonight, they played Survey Says, a take-off on Family Feud.  It was cute but a little irritating.  We left after the first group challenge.

 2021 Apr 23 (Fri) – Paul brought the truck to the garage at 7 AM this morning. He had to take a taxi back to the campground.  The mechanic called later and said the truck started several times with no problem. He sees no sign of starter problems. Paul instructed him to change the starter any way.  With his years of working with heavy equipment, he’s got an ear for trouble with engines.  

    The weather is forecast to be crappy for most of the rally.  Thunderstorms are due in today and tomorrow.  Sunday is supposed to clear up but that’s when the rally ends.

    The seminars started at 8 AM. There was one scheduled for each of the first 3 hours, then lunch, then 3 seminars in the afternoon, then dinner and more singing.

 2021 Apr 22 (Thu) – The Vanleigh Owner’s Rally started today.  We went over at 1 PM to sign in and get our goodie bag. Some goodie bag.  The rally schedule, two pieces of advertising from vendors at the rally, a bag, a lanyard and ID card.  Activities will be taking place in an large open-air pavilion.

    At 5 PM, we went over for dinner. A caterer was set up in a tent where came in and they served us as we moved along the line.  There was BBQ pulled pork and pulled chicken, cole slaw, beans, corn salad, potato salad, and a scrumptious brownie.  After dinner, there was entertainment by Nick Dover and an employee of Vanleigh who played guitar and sang.  It was fun but the temperature really dropped.  It was cold.

    While getting propane, Paul had trouble restarting the truck.  He thinks it’s the starter going bad.  We called the local Ford dealership but as usual, the earliest appointment is not for at least a week.  So Paul called a local garage and arranged to bring the truck in tomorrow.

 2021 Apr 21 (Wed) – It was 36 degrees this morning.  Brrrrr!  We had a minor disaster overnight.  Paul heard the water leak alarm in the basement go off around 2:30 a.m. this morning. He got up and went outside to see what was going on.  There was water dripping into the basement.  It was coming from the bathroom area.  He came back in to the RV to check it out.  The floor had about a half-inch of water on it and the throw rugs were soaked.  He lifted the toilet seat and saw that the toilet bowl was overflowing.  It turned out that a piece of toilet paper had not fully flushed but got stuck in the valve closure.  Because it wasn’t fully closed, the water kept running and filled the tank.  After it filled with the water, it overflowed.  Fortunately, we dumped the tanks this morning so they were not full of waste.  It could have been so much worse.  Paul emptied the tank and I scrubbed down the bathroom.  We took the wet rugs from the bathroom and in the basement to the laundry room and washed and dried them.

    We went to the Red Oak Fillin Station for lunch.  It was a cute café with a woodland decoration (stuffed animals and grasses around the room) and full.  There was only one table left when we walked in.  The food was very good and the waitresses very attentive.  

    After lunch, we went to Garvin Woodland Gardens.  It is a botanical gardens that covers about 100 acres of flowering shrubs, trees and plants.  The Children’s Garden was delightful.  There were lots of large rocks and water treatments among the trees that made it nice to walk among.  There was an amazing chapel in the woods.  The Anthony Chapel has clear glass walls that make it look like you are sitting outside among the trees.  It was like the chapel we toured in Bella Vista.  The same architect probably designed both of them.  I took a fall walking along the “natural” path and banged up my knee.

    After dinner, Linda (another Vilano owner) came by and invited us to join a group over by her trailer. We met Linda and several other folks who were around the campfire tonight at the Tampa RV Show in January last year.  There were also some new Vilano owners at the campfire as well as an SOB couple (Some Other Brand).  

 2021 Apr 20 (Tue) – We packed up and left Little Rock AFB FamCamp at 9:30 a.m.  It was an easy hour and a half drive to Catherine’s Landing in Hot Springs.  The campground is a resort. All the sites are paved with barbecues, fire pits, and picnic tables.  The pool is open, heated and very inviting.  They have a disc golf course and lake activities with Kayak and canoe rentals.  We are here for five nights for a Vanleigh Owner’s Rally.  The rally doesn’t officially start until Thursday but we’ve been watching Vanleigh’s coming in all day.  There will be about 100 rigs here, I think.

2021 Arp 19 (Mon) – It was cool when we got up this morning – in the low 40s. I can’t believe it’s still this cold. It’s just 2 weeks to Memorial Day and we’re putting the electric blanket on at night.  And there’s a freeze warning in effect for tomorrow.  What. Is. Going. On???

    We did the laundry this morning.  They have 2 washers and 2 dryers at $1 apiece. Unfortunately, one washer’s spin cycle did not work.  So we had to rewash one load.  The dryers worked fine.

    After the laundry was put away, we went into town.  We bought propane at Camping World.  The cost was double the normal price.  Why in the world would propane prices have gone up??

    We ate at the Whole Hog Café.  It was a barbecue place and the food was pretty good.  On the way back to the campground, we stopped at a plane display on base.  There were several aircraft on static display in a park. We walked around and read the plaques describing each aircraft, its origin, cost, and history.  It was interesting.  

 2021 Apr 18 (Sun) – We watched church service live stream on FaceBook this morning. Then we ran errands – got fuel, picked up groceries at Kroger, bought some wine at the BX, and parts at Lowe’s. When Paul was repairing the seat on the toilet bowl, the washer fell into the hole.  He had to pick up another nut and washer, which also fell into the bowl. After some cussin’ and fussin’, he wound up using the old hardware.

      We searched for places to have lunch. We have to keep in mind that down in the bible belt, most stores and restaurants are closed and the one or two that are open are usually packed.  After going through a number of options (all closed), we found an Italian restaurant with a 20 minute wait.  The food was very good and we bought leftovers home.

     For dinner, we enjoyed shish kabobs. However, they were overcooked. We’ll have to experiment for the right amount of time to barbecue them.  Having never cooked them before, it’s a learning experience for us.

2021 Apr 17 (Sat) – We stayed in the campground all day.  It was cold and overcast.  Paul worked mostly on trying to get our route laid out from the rally next week to Washington, D.C.  The internet is slow and it is frustrating.  I made reservations for a flight back to New York on May 16.  My sister, Susan, used her points to pay for my ticket.  That was very nice.

 2021 Apr 16 (Fri) – We stayed in most of the day.  It was a cold, dreary, drizzly day.  The fireplace was on all day.  I don’t think it went over 60 degrees today.  At 5 p.m. I took Paul to Barnhill’s Steak and Buffet.  The place had a very extensive buffet selection. We were surprised since all this kind of thing was stopped with the pandemic.  But this place had a robust buffet with all kinds of delicious foods.  

 2021 Apr 15 (Thu) – We went to Papito’s Mexican Grill for lunch.  The place was very colorful with beautiful tile work all over the restaurant.  The employees were Spanish and the food was good.  It all felt very authentic.

    After lunch, we drove to Camping World. Paul is still looking for parts to permanently install the cell phone booster antenna.  They did not have what he wanted.  He couldn’t find the parts online either.  Looks like they just don’t make what he wants.  He’ll have to jury-rig something.

    Since we were out and about and the weather was pleasant, I suggested we take a ride over to the State Capitol. We had not seen it the last time we came through this area.  We don’t know why.  It might have been a weekend and the building was closed.  It was open and we went in.  There were four floors open to the public.  The House of Representatives was in session and we sat in the gallery for a little while, watching the proceedings.  One rep would get up, describe the bill he wanted to present, questions would be asked, then a vote was taken with the reps voting AYE, NAY, or VISITING (meaning they are present but not voting).  Out of three proposals made, two passed and one did not.  It was interesting.  The building was nice, but not spectacular.  The rotunda was four floors high with a large chandelier hanging from the ceiling.  It can be lowered all the way to the first floor.  That’s a looooonng cord!   After exploring the building, we walked around the outside looking at the statues on the grounds.  One exhibit represented the Little Rock 9 with statues of nine students. This is in honor of the black students who were bussed to the Little Rock High School at the height of the civil rights era.

2021 Apr 14 (Wed) – It rained most of the morning until about 11 a.m.  At least it wasn’t thunderstorms.  I called the office this afternoon and complained loud and long about the lack of electric.  A staff person in the office overheard my call and came over to see what he could do. He couldn’t solve the problem so he returned to the office and related the issue.  His boss suggested we plug into the 30-amp outlet rather than the 50-amp outlet.  The staffer returned with the suggestion.  We did it and voila!  We have a 30-amp hookup.  Not as good as a 50-amp hookup but better than limited electric.

    We went out to the Fried Pie Shop for lunch.  Paul read about it online.  It’s like a pot pie you hold in your hand.  I got a chicken vegetable pie and Paul ordered a beef vegetable pie.  We got a blueberry pie for dessert.  The wait was long.  *sigh*  When our order finally arrived, it was very hot; fresh out of the fryer.  I burned my mouth and my tongue was numb for the rest of the day.  The pies were OK; kind of bland.  Oh, well.  We tried something new.

    After lunch, we went to Lowe’s so Paul could pick up a connector for the antenna to the cell booster.  They didn’t have what we wanted.  We then drove to True Value.  They didn’t have the part either.  Then we went to Camping World and they also did not have what we wanted. So Paul changed what he planned to do. When the weather clears up, he’ll install a permanent connection.

     On the way back to the campground, we stopped at the base exchange looking for some wine and liquor.  It turned out to have a limited selection and we couldn’t get everything we wanted.  

2021 Apr 13 (Tue) – We packed up and left Memphis, TN at 9:30 a.m.  After a stop at the dump station and a hearty good-bye to the awful smell hanging over the campground, we drove 3 hours to Little Rock AFB FamCamp.  It is a small but pleasant campground.  Most sites are paved except the few in the tree line, of which we have one.  Our site is one grass.  After set up, I noticed we didn’t have any electric.  Paul checked the stanchion and found that one of the legs is not working.

    We drove over to Outdoor Recreation to pay and point out the lack of electric at our campsite.  The ditsy girl behind the counter said a work order had been put in and the problem would hopefully be fixed soon.  No indication when that would happen.  Paul rigged up an extension so we could have some electric in the trailer.  The fridge and TV are working and I have a plug for the computer.  We grilled steak on the barbecue since the toaster oven is not working (the toaster oven is the most used appliance in our rig).  At least the stove is propane and I was able to make side dishes to the steak.

    We are at a new phase in our relationship.  Paul has begun to speak in low tones.  I am often asking him to repeat what he said.  He is also losing his hearing.  Many of our conversations are filled with “I thought you said …” or “I heard you say …” I guess it’s kind of funny but it sure can be frustrating.

[angelsd0ntkill]

I need to distract myself so I’m doing the Answer All The Ask Meme Questions thing again.

1: Let’s start with a tricky one; what is the real reason you are confused right now? My heart, my head, my gut, and my personality disorder are all at odds about how to handle heartbreak.

2: Do you ever get “good morning” texts from anyone? Lmao no

3: If your significant other smoked pot, would you care? Yeah, I don’t fuck with that shit, sorry.

4: Do you find it easy to trust others? Not really. Like, I’m very open and straight-forward, which might give the impression of being trusting, but at my core I’m always expecting people to hurt me.

5: What were you doing at 11PM last night? Internet shopping.

6: You’re drunk and lost walking down the road; who is with you? The man I’m in love with, probably.

7: What would you do if you found out you had been cheated on? Rage, scream, cry, possibly get drunk. Laugh bitterly and remind myself I had this coming.

8: Are you close with your dad? As close as you can be, living across an ocean from each other.

9: I bet you kissed someone last night, right? I wish.

10: What are you listening to? A Youtube video about “haunted” videos.

11: You can only drink ONE liquid for the rest of your life - what is it? Not to be boring, but ... water.

12. Do you like hickeys? Yes.

13: What time do you go to bed? Midnight, usually.

14: Is there someone who continuously lets you down? Eiichiro Oda.

15: Can you text as quickly with one hand as you do both? Nope.

16: Do you always answer your texts? If it’s something that, y’know, needs an answer.

17: Do you hate the person you fell the hardest for? No. There are two who are on par with one another in terms of how hard I fell; the first is my platonic soulmate and the second is ... the best part of my life right now, despite everything.

18: When was the last time you talked to one of your best friends? Thursday.

19: Is there someone that makes you happy every time you see them? Janne Warman! :D

20: What was your last thought before you went to bed last night? I was probably stressing out about today and tomorrow. Today because therapy, tomorrow because I will either see Him or I won’t, and I’m not sure which would be worse....

21: Is anyone else in the room with you? No.

22: Do you believe what goes around comes around? No. Sometimes people get what they deserve, but I think it’s more of an exception than a rule, unfortunately.

23: Were you happier four months ago than you are now? I dunno. Four months ago was August, which was when Verso and school started up and things went downhill from summer, but I’m doing pretty shitty NOW, too, so yeah, I really don’t know. I guess I had a little more hope back then than now.

24: Is there someone you wish you could fix things with? I’m too tired for that shit.

25: In the past week, have you cried? YEP! :^D

26: What colour is the shirt you are wearing? Blue and grey stripes.

27: Do people ever call you by your last name? No.

28: Is anyone ignoring you right now? No?

29: Do you have a best friend? I don’t know. Guess we’ll see tomorrow, or whenever I see Him. :^))))

30: Would it be hard seeing someone else kiss the last person you kissed? “Hard” isn’t a big enough word, my dude, I don’t even wanna think about that happening.

31: Who was your last call from? My grandmother, probably.

32: Are you mad at anyone? Myself. My therapist.

33: Have you ever kissed someone older than you? Yeah.

34: How old will the last person you kissed be on his/her next birthday? 30

35: How many more days until your birthday? Exactly one month.

36: Do you have any summer plans yet? Rockfest 2018 is the only thing I’ve got planned, and even that is just like YEAH, TICKETS OBTAINED, I’M GOING. Details? What details?

37: Do you have any good friends of the opposite sex? All but one of my good friends are of the “opposite” sex.

38: Are you keeping anything from your best friend(s) now? No. I can be obnoxiously open.

39: Do you have a secret that you’ve never told anyone? I don’t think so. I’ve probably told all my “secrets” to at least one person.

40: Have you ever regretted kissing someone? Yeah, the guy I had a fling with when I was like 18. Also my last ex, shoulda just Not Gone There in general.

41: Do you think age matters in relationships? To an extent. 

42: Are you available? Technically single, but emotionally unavailable.

43: How many people have you had real, strong feelings for since high school ended? One.

44: If you had to get a piercing (not ears), what would you get? Lip ring, I guess.

45: Do you believe exes can be friends? Yes, eventually.

46: Do you regret anything? Several things. The aforementioned kisses. Cheating. Things I’ve said in anger. Things I’ve tried to explain but couldn’t phrase properly. Jokes I’ve cracked. Reactions and overreactions I’ve had.

47: Honestly, what’s on your mind right now? What I’m going to wear tomorrow, whether I’ll have the energy to put on make-up in the morning, and whether I’ll be warm/comfortable enough to play Pokemon Go in those tomorrow afternoon. Also how I’m going to approach The Issue with Him if he does show up tomorrow. And whether he’ll want to hang out that day if it goes well. And whether I can hit level 29 if we hit up a legendary raid, which I ... don’t do on my own lmao.

48: Did you ever lose a best friend? Too many times.

49: Was your last kiss a mistake? For him, probably. I just wished it were a proper kiss.

50: Why aren’t you pursuing the person you like? He isn’t interested.

51: Has the last person you kissed ever seen you cry? Several times. :^)

52: Do you still talk with the person you LAST kissed? Yes. Sort of. It’s been a weird week, hence my dilemma.

53: What was the last thing you ate? Assorted nuts. O:^)

54: Did you get any compliments today? Umm, my therapist said I’m brave, does that count?

55: Where are you going on your next vacation? Fuck if I know.

56: Do you own anything from other countries? I mean, I brought plenty of stuff from Canada and U.S.A back with me to Finland; I’ve got loads of anime merch & Alpacassos ordered from Japan; and I’ve brought back some souvenirs from Sweden and Estonia.

57: Are most of your friend guys or girls? Guys.

58: Where have you lived most of your life? Canada.

59: When was the last time you took a long drive? Not last summer but the summer before, I think?

60: Have you ever played Spin the Bottle? No.

61: Have you ever TPd someone’s house? No.

62: Who do you text the most? My grandmother.

63: What was the last movie you saw? Shaun of the Dead.

64: What’s preventing your current boyfriend/girlfriend from going back to their ex? N/A

65: How many boyfriends/girlfriends did you have in 2010? One.

66: Is the last person you kissed younger than you? No.

67: Do you curse around your parents? Yes. Around my dad, anything goes. Around my mom, there’s a fine line. Or there was. It might be different now that I’m older.

68: Are you happy with where you live? I’m not complaining.

69: Do you collect anything? Anime figures, Alpacassos (& plushies in general, really), ties.

70: What’s your favourite colour? Purple, green, red, blue.

71: Does the last song you listened to remind you of anyone? The last song I listened to was “Weight of the World” by Evanescence and mostly it just reminds me of when I was 14.

72: Has anyone ever cheated on you? Not that I know of.

73: What are your plans for tomorrow? Dress up nice, put on my war paint, try not to cry, and do what I can to salvage what I can of the most important relationship in my life at the moment. Also try not to die from the anxiety.

74: Do you have siblings over the age of twenty-one? Yes, one.

75: Does your last ex have a job? Don’t know, don’t care.

76: What would you do if you found out your most recent ex was in a relationship? He was dating before we’d properly broken up lmao. (I don’t count that as cheating because he was an idiot and because the whole situation was a jumbled fucking mess.)

77: Where is your cellphone? On the table next to me.

78: What colour is your cellphone? Black & silver.

79: What did you dream of last night? Can’t remember.

80: Are you atheist? No.

81: Will you change your name when you get married? I want to hyphenate.

82: Are you ready for autumn weather? Bitch, it’s winter.

83: Have you had any big storms recently? Nah.

84: What kind of bottoms are you wearing? Grey sweatpants.

[jonasmaurer]

Thanksgiving recap + Black Friday steals

��Hi friends! Happy Friday! I hope that those of you who celebrated yesterday had a safe and happy Thanksgiving. Ours was filled with family, lots of amazing food, and time outdoors. Not much more you could wish for. (Ok, just one thing: that the Pilot could have been here, but alas he was doing that work thing.)

The day started off bright and early (a little too early). I made breakfast burritos for the girls and they watched a show while I caught a quick Peloton ride. After spinning, I put Nana’s egg casserole in the oven (the best!) and we got ready to head to Kyle and Meg’s for breakfast.

At their house, we drank coffee, ate breakfast, watched the parade, and looked at the Black Friday sales fliers. It was such a fun and relaxing start to the day.

We came back home, and I put the finishing touches on Ina’s roasted maple carrot salad. (I made the dressing and did the first roast of the carrots the night before. This way they only needed to roast one more time with the maple syrup for about 15 minutes. I also started soaking the cranberries that morning since I knew we’d be gone most of the day.) Instead of goat cheese, I used this nut cheese from Whole Foods and it was AWESOME. It was a little tangy and paired perfectly with the remaining ingredients. (The salad was totally gone by the end of the night, so I don’t think anyone minded a lil cashew cheese.)

We packed up everything and headed to my Uncle’s house for Thanksgiving dinner with my dad’s side of the family. It was SO much fun watching all of the cousins run around. They’re all getting to the ages where they just want to play, all day long, and it’s a blast watching them together.

Plate #1:

(We have a family member who is Celiac, so there were a ton of gluten-free options at dinner including stuffing, gravy, and two types of pie. I’ve been avoiding gluten and dairy for the most part because of the dang gallbladder situation but was going to eat whatever because Thanksgiving. I ended up eating gluten-free all day, maybe had a small amount of dairy, and my stomach didn’t hurt at all, which was very much appreciated.)

The dessert spread: 

So thankful for this little crew right here. <3 

Now it’s another favorite holiday, Black Friday, and I thought I’d share some of my top finds! Are you shopping today? Let me know what you’re going after! I’m going to do most of our shopping online, but hit up Lowe’s for a new Christmas tree and World Market for gingerbread houses. 

Black Friday Sales 2019:

Gap 50% off everything! Here’s what I’m ordering for the girls: Christmas dresses, emoji pajamas, this tie dye sweater, ALL the leggings, and long-sleeved graphic tees. 

Madewell 30% off. Love this ruffle front top, this metallic dot top, and this turtleneck sweater dress. This is the pom pom sweater I posted recently. 

Shopbop big fall sale. This cozy coat is so cute, these leopard leggings (!!!!) and this metallic dress.

Carbon38 30% off with code THANKS30. This has become one of my favorite spots to get workout gear! I’m obsessed with these holiday leggings (I wear them for barre all the time) and these tri-panel leggings.

Lululemon free shipping and returns. Perfect chance to stock up on Align pants and foil print Wunder Unders.

LOFT 50% off with code INDULGE. Love this penguin sweater with the black skirt, this shimmery sweater dress, these rhinestone hoop earrings, and this beanie.

Get the Equilibria All is Calm CBD box here! This is the CBD I use and love. Use the code FITNESSISTABF for 20% off. 

J Crew 50% off! Some top picks: a leopard blazer, flannel pajamas, oxford shirt for the mister, and Liv would loooove this dress.

Banana Republic 50% off. This sequin slip dress is gorgeous and I always like their shoe selection.

Kate Spade 40% off with code TGIBF.

Old Navy 50% off the entire store! I love this sale to stock up on winter pajamas for the girls.

Express 50% off everything. I have and love this jumpsuit and this sweater.

Treat yourself with a Fit Guide! Use the code BLACK FRIDAY and get 50% off any of my Fit Guides here. The most popular ones are Lean Machine and Home Workout Warrior. These are 12-week plans (text workouts that were strategically designed to progress over the 12 weeks) with meal ideas and bonuses. 

Beautycounter: Get 15% off site wide and FREE shipping on orders over $50. Shop it up here! (There are minimal exclusions and holiday sets are included in the promo.) This is also the perfect time to join Band of Beauty if you haven’t already. It’s our VIP program and gets you:

A free gift (right now it’s a full Overnight Peel, valued at $63) if you spend over $50

Free shipping all year for orders over $100

and 10% back in product credit

It’s only $29 to sign up for the year!

If you’re looking for recommendations for the sale, here are my top picks:

Overnight Peel

Color Intense Lipstick

Countertime Supreme Cream

Jellies

Counter+ Skincare Faves

More top picks from the holiday collection here. If you need help with recommendations, please let me know! gina@fitnessista.com

Gift guide for her is here! My gift guide for the kiddos will be up early Monday morning if you’re shopping for the kids this week.

Splurges:

Dyson vacuum. I use this every day. It’s so great for crumbs, spot cleaning, dog hair, and easily carrying up and down the stairs.

A Peloton. This is my #1 favorite purchase of the past year and a half and I still use it 2-3 times a week. The Pilot uses it and loves it, too! Use my code to get $100 off if you decide to treat yourself with one! The code is XXKJQU

Nespresso. I’m always pumped when hotels have one so it might be time for us to upgrade. 

Dyson hair drier. My friend has this one and is obsessed with it. It might be time for me to go for it… 

Hope you have a wonderful day! I’ll be back on the blog Sunday morning with our December mindfulness challenge. <3

xoxo

Gina

The post Thanksgiving recap + Black Friday steals appeared first on The Fitnessista.

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[alexbandfan]

CrypticRock

The twists and turns of life can easily break someone down, but through hope and determination anything is possible. Growing up in Hollywood, California, Alex Band knew he wanted to be a musician from a very young age, and by the age of 15 landed a record deal with RCA Records. Eager to make his move, it would not be until 5 years after his signing that his music would finally get a chance to shine, and shine it would when his band The Calling hit the airwaves with their single “Wherever You Will Go.” The lead single off their platinum-selling debut album, Camino Palmero, the song set records as a number 1 hit single on the Billboard charts, earning The Calling one of the biggest Alternative Rock radio songs of the 2000s.

Following up with their sophomore album, Two, in 2004, the future was promising for The Calling, but sadly there were some bumps in the road, leading to the band’s dissolvement. Fortunately the story does not end there because Alex Band has continued to fulfill his musical passion since, and now after many years, brings The Calling back, hopefully for good. Set to tour, and yes, release new music, the next chapter is still being written for Band and The Calling. Excited for the future, Band recently took the time to chat about the twists and turns over the years, his undying love for music, plans for The Calling, plus more.

CrypticRock.com – You have been involved in music professionally for nearly 2 decades. From the tremendous commercial success of The Calling to your solo career, you have certainly accomplished a great deal. First, briefly tell us, what has your experience been like dedicating your life to music?

Alex Band – What a question. First and foremost, it has been what I was born to do – it’s all I know and it’s all I’ve ever done, I just followed this natural path. I look at it as life, it is nothing I would ever stop or not continuing doing, even if there was no one left to listen. This is a wacky, crazy business, growing up in Hollywood and in the movie industry, it makes that very tame. It’s the business of an art, and when that happens, it can become very frustrating. For every amazing, incredible, life-changing moment I’ve had, I’ve had equal moments of crazy struggles, things you wouldn’t even believe. Getting on the stage and performing songs and seeing what 200 or 10,000 people sing back, there is nothing like that. It’s all worth it for me. I have been handed an insane hand in this card game, especially in the past 10 years. It’s crazy, but I am very optimistic right now and looking forward to what is about to come.

CrypticRock.com – It seems like it has been a very exciting ride, ups and downs.

Alex Band – Oh yea, it’s never boring. I will give it that. There have been lots of ups and a lot of downs.

CrypticRock.com – Understood. The Calling’s 2001 debut album, Camino Palmero, topped charts around the world, attained gold and platinum status, and really left an impression on the Alternative Rock scene. Being your debut album, was the success at all overwhelming and what were those times like for the band?

Alex Band – For me, it was actually kind of like it was now. I had been signed with a lot of those songs written already, actually, 6 years prior to that album coming out. There was this insanely long amount of time of arguing, anticipation, and trying to get noticed by the guy who signed us. The typical story of pushed in 100 different directions to create one sounding thing, but then coming full circle to what I was and what I had first met him with songs like “Wherever You Will Go,” which I wrote when I was 16. There wasn’t a band, I hired people. The person with me in those early times was my songwriting partner. That in itself is a whole other crazy explanation.

They were very exciting times nonetheless because of the insane amount of anticipation. The struggle that went just to get the album out, then it dawned on me, 19-20 years old, when that album came out, I started working my ass off. There was 8 months straight, touring around America doing radio before that first song broke. It was a lot of work and a long time coming, but the true battle is once the music is out there, that’s the true work. At the time I was just thrilled! They all thought I was crazy at the record label because I was the perfect kid for a band because I wanted to do every press thing and everything possible. It was exciting, I was excited, and I wanted to make it happen. It almost didn’t happen, that is actually a story I never told. But it did happen, it became a hit.

CrypticRock.com – Wow, sounds like a wild ride. That debut album was anchored by the number 1 hit single “Wherever You Will Go.” It broke records remaining at the top of the charts for a long, extensive periods of time, and is considered one of the defining Alternative Rock tunes of the early 2000s. That all said, do you personally connect with the song as much as fans do?

Alex Band – I became connected to it because of how it changed people’s live, because of how expansive it was, because of how it reached parts of the world I have never been to. Be able to go to 100 plus countries and meet these people who were changed in some way or just enjoyed listening to my music was the wildest thing ever.

That song for me was 1 of the 200 songs I had written. I knew it was a good song and a single contender amongst the songs on the record in the label’s mind. It was a very personal song when it was written, but I had no idea until it all happened. I think the biggest accolade for me was on the Billboard Charts, it was the number one song of the last decade for adult top 40. That is crazy to think, of all the songs that were played in the last 10 years. More recently, it made the number 3 song of all Billboard history, again, Billboard started in the ’80s, so we are missing a huge chunk of music. But still, the number 3 song of the last 30 years, that kind of stuff is nuts to think about and comprehend.

The quick answer, it was a song to me that was not at all what it became until I experienced that. Like I said, it was only through all of that I became more fond of the song and performing. Which is a good thing because I have performed it a zillion times. (Laughs)

CrypticRock.com – It really is an amazing story. The Calling followed up with Two in 2004. While the album was not as successful commercially, it showed a level of maturity from the band as songwriters. All these years later, what are your thoughts on Two?

Alex Band – I’m bias, but the following record, I thought was really strong. “Our Lives,” not only was featured in the Olympics in 2004, it opened the Oscars in 2005. The song was number 1 in tons of countries around the world. I lived it, so I know, it was a complete business plug pulled on the project. There was a cash flow plug pulled on the project in the midst of that record which led to the demise. I know that for a fact, it’s a sad thing, because it would have gone much further. Things happen, it is what it is, I have moved on.

I then stupidly said, I will just do a solo thing. That wasn’t the stupid part, the stupid part was I signed with the same person I did as a kid who made me wait those 5 years. He did it again, which was crazy. The whole exact same thing happened again where I we went full circle where I made this album which was the original material I first brought to him in 2006. Anyway, it’s a crazy story that I won’t go into detail about. The important thing is I have always wanted to make more albums and be The Calling. I certainly have stopped playing shows, I have been all over the world and played shows, but I have needed a few things in life to come together to able to make it possible again to be The Calling. Which relieves a huge stress which makes it possible for me to do what I already did, just without a lot of heartache and drama in the background at the same time. That is why I am very excited, I get to to be The Calling again.

CrypticRock.com – It certainly seems to have been a long road travelled. It is exciting for fans to see The Calling back in full force.

Alex Band – It’s kind of scary, because you’re kind of starting over. We are out to do a tour around the US, just a few dates on the coast. Then we have massive shows in Brazil and Europe, we just came from Australia where we sold out. It’s very exciting that fans of The Calling are still around, it’s a good thing!

CrypticRock.com – It is a very good thing. With you doing this North American run of shows, can fans expect a new The Calling record?

Alex Band – Absolutely. I’ve spent the last 10 years making it. I recorded over 2 1/2 albums worth of songs, full production recordings, and I narrowed that down to an album. Again, I’m bias, but going off opinions of people in the industry who I trust and who are very big people in the industry that say it’s a phenomenal record and it’s going to blow people away. I am very proud to be able to get it out there. It is in kind of the beginning stages, but the record is done.  

CrypticRock.com – That is wonderful news. Do you have a timetable of an expected release?

Alex Band – Right now, I need to decide which label ultimately I am going with. I am in the lucky position to be able to choose that. Ultimately, that then will of course dictate the dates of release and what not. It’s a very different business, very different than when I caught the last moment when I came out of the music business as it always was. These days, you work 10 times harder to get 10 times less. It doesn’t stop me for a second, but there is also a much smaller window getting lucky, there is luck involved. It’s not just a great song ended up being a hit song. I have a good time around me at this point, but to answer the question, the goal right now is to get a record release date. We are just going ahead and starting playing, why not get people’s reaction and play some of these new songs? Play all the old songs too of course live, just start doing that in the moment since we don’t need to make a record right now.

CrypticRock.com – This is all something to look forward to. Beyond music, you are also involved in several causes to help raise awareness for diseases such as Parkinson’s. Do you have anything new going on in association with these causes?

Alex Band – I don’t. I like it to happen naturally and Donate Life is doing organ donation awareness, they are really making a dent on it. The numbers of lives we have saved in America from my fanbase alone, working on that with Donate Life was huge. I really pushed that for a number of years. Then you have of course with Parkinson’s, I have worked with that.

I think naturally with this new record coming out, and us touring, something will come of it. I know the things I am passionate about, of course I always love to help if I can. If people listen to you and you are in that powerful position enough to help other people, that is the best part of it. I am not sure what that’s going to be at this point.

CrypticRock.com – We will see what happens, it seems like positive things are coming together, as stated.

Alex Band – Yes. The last few years have been rough. Just being healthy is a blessing that a lot of us take for granted. I went through a couple of things that were really scary, I am really happy to be here. I am happy to be healthy and to be about to go do what I have wanted to do, and loved to do, and honestly have been missing from my life. It’s that dear to me and it’s been a lot of work to get this point to be able to at least try that journey and see what happens.

CrypticRock.com – Fans have waited for it, so the reaction should be a good one.

Alex Band – I hope so. Of course I have to believe in myself, I beat on myself, I’m hoping. If there is one thing I know, the same people who were touched by “Wherever You Will Go” or The Calling’s music in general, are going to find themselves with this record in a continuous level, if that makes sense. I am interested to see how disillusioned I am. (Laughs)

CrypticRock.com – The determination is paying off! Last question. CrypticRock also covers Horror and Sci-Fi films. Growing up the son of a Horror filmmaker, if you are a fan of either genre, what are some of your favorites and why?

Alex Band – Yea, of course. My first memory is literally of a giant bear monster ripping a girl’s shirt off and eating her breast. (Laughs) I was on the set of my dad’s movies, I truly grew up in them, and he has made a lot of them. I have always been a fan. There are definitely a couple of films from the ’80s of my dad’s that are classics and I enjoyed.

I don’t know these days what a B-movie is. It was always direct to video, but I am out of touch with that world these days. Favorites for me, Trancers (1985), Re-animator (1985), Ghoulies (1984) was awesome, Troll (1986). It is crazy how many movies my dad made as a kid, which had all these no name actors/actresses who became huge stars later.

TOUR DATES: SAT. JUNE 16TH LAS VEGAS, NV TOP GOLF TUES. JUNE 19TH SAN FRANCISCO, CA THE INDEPENDENT WED. JUNE 20TH SACRAMENTO, CA HARLOW’S NIGHTCLUB SUN. JUNE 24ND LOS ANGELES, CA THE TROUBADOUR TUES. JUNE 26TH BOSTON, MA BRIGHTON MUSIC HALL THURS. JUNE 28TH NEW YORK, NY GRAMERCY THEATRE FRI. JUNE 29TH WASHINGTON DC PEARL STREET SAT. JUNE 30TH PHILADELPHIA, PA THE FOUNDRY AUG 18-19 FESTIVAL ROCK ARENA – ARENA PANTANAL CUIABA, MT BRAZIL

FOR MORE ON THE CALLING:

THECALLINGMUSIC.COM | FACEBOOK | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM 

FOR MORE ON ALEX BAND: FACEBOOK | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM 

Crypticrock

[jumpsitehq]

100+ Heart Touching I Miss You Status for Whatsapp and Facebook

It is always very overwhelming to feel the presence of someone special Person who truly Respects and Love you, listens to every story you will tell, Miss You Status and someone who accepts you even with the darkest secrets that you have in Past. When will you realize that you are missing someone? Because Every Person Sometimes times understand this Situation when they Loose their Loved one. It is when you feel so excited to see him or her again after being apart for quite some time. And maybe, when you feel uncomfortable when the thought of that person crosses your mind. So for all that People We have missed their Loved one we dedicate this Post to them. Enjoy this Amazing Collection of I MISS YOU Quotes and Messages and Share it with your Friends. We also have a great collection of Hurt Status for Whatsapp & Short One Line Cool Whatsapp Status.

Heart Touching Miss You Status Quotes

1) Come Here. I Miss You. 2) I’M Officially Missing You ! 3) I Feel Like An Idiot For Missing You. 4) Its Not Enough To Say That I Miss You. 5) I Will Stop Missing You When I Am With You. 6) I Miss You Like A Squirrel Misses His Nuts. 7) I Hate To Admit It But I’Ll Always Miss You. 8) You Make Me Miss You Like There’S No Tomorrow. 9) After All This Time, I Still Miss You, Everyday. 10) I Miss The Sound Of Your Voice. I Miss You Baby. 11) I Wish I Were Kissing You Instead Of Missing You. 12) I Try Not To Miss You. But In The End I Still Do. 13) If You Think Missing Me Is Hard. Try Missing You. 14) Missing Someone Is The Worst Feeling In The World. 15) I Miss You. I Don’T Know What Else There Is To Say. 16) I Just Wish I Am Kissing Her Instead Of Missing Her. 17) I Miss The Time When I Actually Meant Something To You. 18) In A Sea Of People, My Eyes Will Always Search For You. 19) I Wish We Could Go Back To How We Use To Be. I Miss That. 20) I’M Tired Of Missing You. I Just Want You Here By My Side. 21) I Did Three Things Today : Miss You, Miss You And Miss You. 22) Time Seem To Crawl When You Miss The One You Love. I Miss You. 23) When I Miss You, It Seems Every Song I Listen To Is About You. 24) You May Be Out Of My Sight But Never Out Of My Mind. I Miss You. 25) The Worst Part Of Missing You Is Not Knowing If You Miss Me Too. 26) Come And Kiss This Pain Away. I Am Alone Without You. I Miss You. 27) There’S Not A Single Moment In The Whole Day, When I Don’T Miss You. 28) When I Close My Eyes, I See You. When I Open My My Eyes, I Miss You. 29) If You Start To Mess Me, Remember, I Didn’t Walkaway. You Let Me Go. 30) I Wish That You Were Here Or I Were There Or We Were Together Anywhere. 31) All I Can Do Every Time I Miss You Is To Stare At Your Pictures & Smile. 32) Sometimes When One Person Is Missing, The Whole World Seems Depopulated. 33) When I Miss You, I Re-Read Our Old Conversations & Smile Like And Idoit. 34) Missing Someone Is Your Heart’S Way Of Reminding You That You Love Them. 35) Even If I Spend The Whole Day With You. I Miss You The Second You Leave. 36) He’S Not The Only Guy In The Universe, But He’S The Only One That Matters. 37) I Go To Your Page Because I Miss You, Then Regret It Because Of What I See. 38) Life Is So Short, So Fast. The Lone Hours We Ought To Be Together, You And I. 39) I Really Miss You But Probably Not As Much As You Miss Me, I’M Pretty Awesome. 40) If You Can’T Get Someone Out Of Your Head, May Be They Are Supposed To Be There.

I Miss You Quotes

41) I Miss You Dearly My Heart Aches, My Head Is Lost, I Really Miss You. I Love You. 42) When Your Mood Is Not Good Without Any Reason, You Are Definitely Missing Someone. 43) I Try Not To Miss You. I Try To Let Fo. But In The End. You’Re Always On My Mind. 44) I Keep Myself Busy With Things To Do, But Everytime I Pause, I Still Think Of You. 45) Sometimes It’S Not About Missing Someone. It’S Wondering If They Arr Missing You. 46) You May Not Be Here With Me But Thoughts Of You Are Always In My Heart. I Miss You. 47) I Saw You, I Wanted You, Got You, I Liked You, I Loved You, I Lost You, I Miss You. 48) One Day I Caught Myself Smiling For No Reason, Then I Realized I Was Thinking Of You. 49) I Miss You More Than Ever ! I Don’T Know Why When You’Re The One Who Broke My Heart. 50) Within You. I Lose Myself….Without You….I Find Myself….Wanting To Be Lost Again. 51) I Just Wondered How You Are And If You Miss Me At All….Because I Miss You. A Lot !!! 52) I Planned To Say A Lot Of Things To You, But In The End All I Could Muster Up Was. I Miss You. 53) I’Ll Miss You Until You Come Back But I Hope You’Ll Make Up For It By Getting Me Awesome Gifts. 54) I Want To Say. I Miss You. But It Wouldn’T Change Anything So I’Ll Just Keep Pretending I Don’T. 55) I Miss You. No, Let Me Correct That, I Miss The Old You. I Miss The Old You That Cared About Me. 56) I Love You & I Miss You So Much ! You Will Always Be In My Heart, In My Thoughts & In My Prayers. 57) I Am Waiting And Hoping….And Wishing For The Time, When We Can Be Together Again. Missing You A Lot. 58) I Planned To Say All These Terrible Things To You, But In The End, I Just Want To Tell You, I Miss You. 59) I Wanna Write ” I Miss You ” On A Rock And Throw At Your Face So You Know How Much It Hurts To Miss You. 60) I Miss You As Soon As I Wake Up. I Miss You When I’M About To Sleep. I Wish You’Re Always Here Next To Me. 61) I Miss You A Lot Baby, But Don’T Worry. I’Ll Wait No Matter How Long It Takes For You To Make Up Your Mind. 62) I Miss You A Little, I Guess You Could Say, A Little Too Much, A Little Too Often, And A Little More Each Day. 63) Missing Someone Is A Part Of Loving Them. If You’Re Never Apart, You’Ll Never Really Know How Strong Your Love Is. 64) I Used To Miss You So Much, But I Never Felt Like You Really Missed Me Back & So I Guess I Just Stopped Missing You. 65) Whenever I Start Feeling Sad, Because I Miss You, I Remind Myself How Lucky I Am To Have Someone So Special To Miss. 66) When I Tell You That I’Ll Miss You, It Doesn’T Mean I’Ll Never Get Over You. It Just Means I Wish I Didn’T Have To. 67) For Everything You Have Missed, You Have Gained Something Else, And For Everything You Gain, You Lose Something Else. 68) Whenever I Miss You, I Close My Eyes & Go Back In Memory Lane & Live Those Moments Again .When It Was Just…You & Me. 69) I Planned To Tell You All The Bad Things Why I Am Mad At You….But In The End, U Just Want To Tell You. I Missed You. 70) I Admit, I Really Miss How Things Used To Be. But I Can Also Admit, That I’Ve Accepted The Fact That Things Have Changed. 71) You Can Miss Someone Who Dies, You Can Miss Someone Who Moved Away, But The Worst Is When You Miss Someone You See Everyday. 72) Distance In Relationship Can Cause You To Miss Someone So Much That It Helps You To Realize How Much That Person Means To You. 73) The Pain Is Not On The Day Of Missing Our Dear Ones. The Pain Is Really When You Live Without Them & With Their Presence In You Mind. 74) I Miss Our Conversation. I Miss How We Used To Talk Every Minute Of Every Day & How I Was Able To Tell You Everything That Was On My Mind. 75) I Miss You, But I’M Trying Not To Care. I Love You, But I’M Trying Not To Show. I Want You, But What Can I Do When You Are Not Even Mine ? 76) Even When You Hang Up, I Miss You Right Away. Even When You Teing And I’M Waiting For Your Reply, I’M Still Missing You. I Miss You Even Now. 77) There’s No Need To Be Apart From You For A Thousand Miles To Miss You. Theres No Need To Be Apart From You For A Period Of Time To Miss You. I Just Miss You. 78) I Miss Your Cuddles. I Miss Your Kisses But Most Of All I Miss You ! The Love I Have Will Never Change As Each Day Goes By I Will Love You Till The Day I Die. 79) It’S Hard When You Miss People. But, You Know, If You Miss Them It Means You Were Lucky. It Means You Had Someone Special In Your Life, Someone Worth Missing. 80) “I miss our conversations. I miss how we used to talk every minute of every day and How I was able to tell you everything that was on my mind.”

I Miss You Quotes For Lovers

81) “Absence from whom we love is worse than death, and frustrates hope severer than despair.” – William Cowper 82) “Where you used to be, there is a hole in the world, which I find myself constantly walking around in the daytime, and falling in at night. I miss you like hell.” 83) “I won’t let you have it. I won’t give you this moment. I won’t let you fill up this valuable organ; I own it. I won’t do it. I can’t think; I won’t think about it.” 84) “I am waiting and hoping and wishing for the time when we can be together again! I Miss You.” 85) “Each time I miss you, a star falls from the sky. So, if you looked up at the sky and found it dark with no stars, it is all your fault. You made me miss you too much!” 86)“I knew that looking back on the tears would make me laugh, but I never knew that looking back on the laughs would bring tears.” 87) “Sometimes I just Want to Disappear and See If anyone would MISS ME.” 88) “Where you used to be, there is a hole in the world, which I find myself constantly walking around in the daytime, and falling in at night. I miss you like hell.” 89) “It’s clear that you don’t feel the same way for me, The problem is that as much as I can’t force you to love me, I can’t force myself to stop loving you.” 90) “Every parting is a form of death, as every reunion is a type of heaven.” 91) “Your absence has gone through me, Like thread through a needle, Everything I do is stitched with its color.” 92) “Missing you comes in waves.So Tonight I’m drowning.” 93) “Don’t Waste Time Looking Back on Memories That Hurt You.” 94) “No distance of place or lapse of time can lessen the friendship of those who are thoroughly persuaded of each other’s worth.” – Robert Southey 95) “My smile doesn’t always mean I’m happy. Sometimes it means I can manage and sometimes it just mean that I’m tired of crying.” 96) “I don’t know when I lost my mind, maybe when I made you mine, I don’t know when I lost my mind, maybe it was every time that you said. I miss you. I Am Going To Miss You.” 97) “If practice makes perfect, by now, I have become a pro at losing you.” 98) “My Life’s Biggest Mistake was to Think that I will be OK without You. The Truth is, That I am not and I never Will be.I MISS YOU.” 99) )“Spending time away from you makes me feel like a car without wheels – stuck on life’s highway at the mercy of oncoming traffic. I miss you.” 100) “I am waiting and hoping and wishing for the time when we can be together again! I Miss You”

Missing You Messages

101) “Sometimes, when one person is missing, the whole world seems depopulated.” 102) “I can’t LIE, But I MISS YOU.” 103) “Maybe I’m too late to be your first. But right now, I’m preparing myself to be your last.” 104) “My eyes await your return. Please come back soon. I miss you.” 105) “I keep myself busy with the things I do. But every time I pause, I still think of you.” 106) “Distance Never Separates Two Hearts that Really Care for our memories span the miles, and in seconds we are there. But whenever I start feeling sad, because I miss you, I remind myself how lucky I am to have someone so special to miss.” 107) “Life is so short, so fast the lone hours fly, We ought to be together, you and I.” – Henry Alford 108) “I love to find you staring at me. You make me feel loved, adored, and beautiful. I love you, my love.” 109) “I miss the way; you wake me up to the sunshine. I miss the way; you fulfill every dream of mine. I miss everything about you. Come back Sweet Heart without you I feel blue.” 110) “The silence isn’t so bad, till I look at my hands and feel sad. Because the spaces between my fingers are right where yours fit perfectly.” 111) “Time moves on for us, for you, it stands still. You will be forever ageless as we grow old, your smile will never wrinkle, nor will that shine in your eyes fade.” 112) I Push People away when all I want is Someone to Hug Me and Tell me It’s OK.” 113) “I dropped a tear in the ocean. The day you find it is the day I will stop missing you.” 114) “Your absence has completely ruined my life. Everything feels hollow without the woman who I call my wife. I miss you.” 115) “A hug for you means I need you. A kiss for you means I love you. A call for you means I’m missing you.” 116) “You have NO Idea How Fast My Heart Beats when I See YOU!” 117) “Sometimes love is not enough, and the road gets tough I don’t know why.” 118) “Among men and women, those in love do not always announce themselves with declarations and vows. But they are the ones who weep when you’re gone. Who miss you every single night, especially when the sky is so deep and beautiful, and the ground so freezing.” – Alice Hoffman 119) “If you want someone to miss you, go secretly and spray your fragrance somewhere.” – Blake Lively 120) “I feel bad when you miss me, I feel sad when you don’t.”

Miss u Status for Whatsapp

121) “Seeing her cry still made me feel the same way it did earlier.” 122) “I miss you. A little too much. A little too often and a bit more every day.“ 123) “The worst thing you can do if you missing someone or need them is let it hide from them.” 124) “Missing you isn’t what hurts. It knows that I had you that’s killing me.” 125) “Sometimes I’m not sure if the tears I cry are for you or myself because I must now live without you. Two things I do know, I love you, and I miss you so much my heart hurts.” 126) “Not Everyone will Understand your Journey. That’s Okay. You are Here to Live Your Life, not to Make Everyone Understand.” 127) “That’s how you know you love someone; I guess when you can’t experience anything without wishing the other person were there to see it, too.” 128) “When I miss you, I don’t have to go far I just have to look inside my heart because that’s where I’ll find you.” 129) “Missing you is like being diagnosed with a disease. The pain is slow, excruciatingly painful and constant.” 130) “I suck at everything, even trying to forget you.” 131) “What is the opposite of two? A lonely me, a lonely you.” – Richard Wilbur 132) “If I had a single flower for every time I think about you, I could walk forever in my garden.” – Claudia Adrienne Grandi 133) “When I miss you, sometimes I listen to music or look at pictures of you, not to remind me of you but to make me feel as if I’m with you. It makes me forget the distance and capture you.” 134) “Without you here, the sun forgets to shine.” 135) “It’s true we don’t know what we’ve got until it’s gone, but we don’t know what we’ve been missing until it arrives.” 136) “My heart never knew loneliness until you went away. I’m missing you.” 137) “I don’t Miss you; I miss the Person I Thought You Were.” 138) “I miss you. Is that such a crime? I don’t Think so.” 139)”I’m still not ready to accept that you are gone.” 140) “I only miss you when I’m breathing.” 141) “Nothing makes a room feel emptier than wanting someone in it.” 142) “Please Don’t go If you go, then I’ll miss you.. terribly” 143) “I did three things today; miss you, miss you, and miss you.” 144) “I miss you more than the sun misses the sky at night.” 145) “Can miles truly separate you from friends? If you want to be with someone you love, aren’t you already there?”

So, Here was the Latest & Unique Collection of Heart Touching Miss You Status Quotes. You can also Share these Heart Touching Miss You Status with Your Friends.

[thrashermaxey]

Ramblings: Impact of a new family on production. Also, the kids are arriving – Tolvanen, Andersson (Mar 26)

Ramblings: Impact of a new family on production. Also, the kids are arriving – Tolvanen, Andersson (Mar 26)

***

I was reading a Wyshynski article last week where he interviewed Ryan Getzlaf (link here). Regarding Corey Perry: “He has a family now. Last season was his first year with a kid. And that adds a different element to the game. It can change your preparation away from the rink and all those kinds of things. I think it all contributes into it.”

Getzlaf on his weak season 2011-12: “my first year as a dad was one of my worst years in the NHL. [Getzlaf had just 11 goals and 57 points in 82 games, and the Ducks missed the playoffs.]” And then: “there's really not a whole lot that can prepare you for parenthood. You have to just live it. Especially in our world, with how much it changes your daily life and how much more important things feel for you away from the rink.”

As I said on Twitter a few days ago, I would bet good money that a player sees his production drop significantly when he has a second or third child when one of the other children are toddlers. Significantly. No data available on this, of course. But my thinking is that if a player has a couple of tough years and then suddenly has a good one, I would check on his family – did he have a kid during that first tough year? If so, I’d be more inclined to believe that the good year is the norm and not an anomaly. The toughest year of my career (other than the last one obviously – ha) was when my oldest daughter was two and my youngest was born. Very hard – “terrible twos” is a label for a reason! Imagine being an athlete used to a workout regimen in the summer – I don’t know, three hours per day? Now suddenly it’s a couple of 30-minute sessions and a broken-up 10-minute attempt as you try to juggle.

Anyway, I found it interesting, it got me thinking and I wanted to share this new perspective. After I Tweeted these thoughts, I was quickly reminded by some followers that Cam Talbot had twins this year. So…hmmm…

*

Jordan Weal had a three-point game Sunday, which drives me nuts. I’m always panning for hidden gold, and Weal has come up on several occasions. A prospect who was a bit of a long shot, Weal dominated junior hockey. But most players who do that still fail to become fantasy relevant. However, he took to the AHL quickly with 139 points in 149 games in his second and third years there. Then he had a strong training camp with some clutch goals back in the preseason of 2015. Plus, he had to clear waivers that year to be sent down, so I drafted him as a late sleeper. But Weal became one of those guys who still needed another AHL season yet couldn’t be sent down there because he would get claimed – so the Kings played him sparingly and later when he went to the Flyers in the Lecavalier trade he was used sparingly there too. A complete lost season. And that almost always kills a player’s upside. So I dropped him…

Then last year, after clearing waivers and again dominating the AHL, he was called up and played his way onto the top line, tallying eight points in the final 10 games and 11 in his last 16. And that was going into a UFA summer for him. He earned a two-year contract and again I slapped on the “sleeper” status to his name. But he’s been brutal this year, even with decent linemates (often Wayne Simmonds and Nolan Patrick). Last season’s tease was good enough to get him re-drafted in my league and I re-acquired him in January as a throw-in, playing a hunch (which until Sunday had completely failed). I’m in a deep keeper league and with five draft picks I’ll need to choose between dropping Weal, Lars Eller or Jordan Staal. Or I acquire two more picks and drop all three? It was an easy decision to drop Weal until he gets these three-point games and you realize he is entering his prime and his fourth NHL season. Not a life-changing decision, but one of those meaningless ones that could surprise. And of course it will kick you in the teeth if you make the wrong one. Fantasy hockey is fun!

*

You laugh at the name Lars Eller, above, but he’s going to end up with 42 points which is by far a career high. And at the age of 28 he’s in his prime and could likely be semi-counted on for 45 next year. That number out of a playoff player has some small depth value in a league like mine.

*

It took Sean Couturier 16 games of sitting at 29 goals before scoring his 30th, but now that the monkey is off his back he scored number 31 just two games later.

Nolan Patrick has 12 points in his last 19 games. The 19-year-old is finally finding his footing.

Alex Lyon gave up two quick goals early in the second and got pulled. The 25-year-old has virtually no chance of making his mark in the NHL as a part of this organization because they have three proven NHL goaltenders plus Carter Hart on the way. So he needs to make his mark while he can – the two Band-Aid Boys have made it possible to get this audition. He’s been okay in seven games, but not strong enough to make a lasting impression.

*

Derick Brassard has points in each of his last six contests.

Since the Penguins acquired Brassard, Jake Guentzel has 10 points in 13 games. That being said, he had six points in the three games leading up to the trade (so 16 in 16 in all) and his season was turning around anyway. But this move certainly freed up Guentzel, as has been alluded to here on several occasions.

Sidney Crosby is seven points away from reaching 90 for the first time in four years and he has six games to do it – so it’s in the bag. Funny how it’s still not enough to get him into the top seven or eight scorers. That’s how this year has been  – Vegas has added to the player pool of strong scorers and overall scoring is up seven or eight percent.

*

Lias Andersson and Filip Chytil have been called up by the New York Rangers. This is especially interesting in fantasy circles because the Rangers play four times this week. This is also the time of year where non-playoff teams start piling on ice time for their prospects to give them a taste during meaningless games. In my one league I had picked up Chris Tierney Sunday afternoon and dropped Adrian Kempe. An hour later I had to drop Tierney to make room for Andersson who could no longer sit in my minors. Wasted transaction. Anyway, Andersson has 14 points in 24 AHL games for Hartford while Chytil has 31 in 45. Read up on Andersson here and Chytil here.

*

That being said, those two are small potatoes compared to this guy. Eeli Tolvanen’s Jokerit team was eliminated from the KHL playoffs on the weekend and he can now sign with Nashville. He supposedly has one in place already, now we just need official word on the signing. Tolvanen can play as many as nine games this year – including playoff games – without burning the first year of that contract. My guess is that he will get into the lineup for several regular season games so the team can gauge whether or not he’s ready for playoff action and can make enough of a difference to burn that first year and give him a regular playoff roster spot. My second guess is that while he will be good enough to do that – I’m not so sure that they will. Traditionally, Nashville is cautious with their prospects. But I think he’ll make his mark in the regular season and make them think long and hard about it. His 19 goals and 36 points as a KHL rookie were the highest by any player under the age of 19 in that league’s history. He also had six goals in 11 KHL playoff games. Read our scouting report on Tolvanen here. He is the No.1 prospect on my Top 200 Fantasy Prospect Forwards list.

*

Continuing on with that theme, the Chicago Blackhawks signed their top prospect Dylan Sikura to a two-year ELC. Sikura just finished his senior year with Northeastern and tallied 54 points in 35 contests. He’s ranked 40th on my Prospects List. Read more on Sikura here.

Warren Foegele had a great training camp and has been an excellent AHL rookie so far for Charlotte (42 points in 65 games, with 26 goals). Carolina has called him up and he’ll likely make his NHL debut Monday. He’s ranked 86 on my prospects list and you can read our scouting report on him here.

Washington isn’t a team out of the playoffs, so when they signed prospect Shane Gersich on the weekend it wasn’t to play him and “see what they have”. He may get into the lineup once a playoff spot is clinched, but training camp is the time to keep an eye on him. His upside is capped. He had 37 points in 40 games a year ago, but that’s because his teammates were Tyson Jost, Brock Boeser and Tucker Poolman. With those three gone, Gersich slipped to 27 points. He’s earmarked for a future checking-line role. Read more on Gersich here.

CJ Suess was signed by the Jets. Although he had 43 points in 40 games for Minnesota State, he’s a bit of a long shot. Not only are the Jets deep with young forwards, but Suess himself is 24. He was drafted in 2014 as a 20-year-old. So he has a short window to make an impact, with little opportunity to do so. He was Minnesota State’s team captain the last two years.

*

With two more points Sunday, Viktor Arvidsson has 21 points in his last 18 games.

Here were Nashville’s line combos Sunday night:

#1

21.2%

ARVIDSSON,VIKTOR – FORSBERG,FILIP – JOHANSEN,RYAN

#2

18.8%

FISHER,MIKE – HARTNELL,SCOTT – SALOMAKI,MIIKKA

#3

16.4%

FIALA,KEVIN – SMITH,CRAIG – TURRIS,KYLE

#4

16.4%

BONINO,NICK – HARTMAN,RYAN – SISSONS,COLTON

            With Calle Jarnkrok and Austin Watson out with injuries, I’m looking at the above depth chart and wondering where Tolvanen slots in. A checking line would be useless, so perhaps he gets in there for Craig Smith on the second line, bumping Smith to the Fisher line and taking Salomaki or Hartnell out of the lineup.

*

Patrice Bergeron returned to the Boston lineup for the first time since before the trade deadline. So it was interesting to see the line combinations with Ryan Donato and Brian Gionta around.

#1

28.2%

BERGERON,PATRICE – MARCHAND,BRAD – PASTRNAK,DAVID

#2

22.1%

HEINEN,DANTON – NASH,RILEY – WINGELS,TOMMY

#3

21.5%

DONATO,RYAN – GIONTA,BRIAN – KREJCI,DAVID

#4

14.9%

ACCIARI,NOEL – KURALY,SEAN – SCHALLER,TIM

            But then…what does this tell us? Since David Backes, Rick Nash and Jake DeBrusk are out, we still can’t get a feel for what the playoff line combos will be.

What was most interesting is the fact that Ryan Donato was part of a four-man PP unit to go with that top line and Torey Krug.

With two more points Sunday, Brad Marchand has 80 in 60 games. His 1.33 points-per-game average is second in the NHL behind Nathan MacKinnon (1.37) and ahead of Connor McDavid, Nikita Kucherov and Evgeni Malkin. Remarkable. Earlier, I had stroked him off my Hart Trophy voting list of five players. Time to tap the UNDO button on that one.

*

Tyler Myers has just one point in his last 15 games. He ‘had’ been on track for a career high in points. He’s still getting solid secondary PP minutes, but he’s not producing there. Nearly half his total points came via the power play, so if he’s not getting it done with the man advantage then he’s not going to give you much production otherwise.

*

Embarrassing. Dallas has free-fallen out of a playoff spot by losing eight games in a row in mid- to late March. And that includes a loss to the Canucks Sunday. Not officially out yet, but…pretty much yeah. Two teams have 89 points right now and only one of them will get in – and Dallas has 84 with six games remaining. Anaheim tying the Oilers late Sunday night and winning in OT put another nail in that coffin, too.

*

Is Ty Rattie playing his way into an NHL job for next year? Often I would say no to this and I would say it quickly and easily. After all, he’s 25 now and has had his chance. Just another failed highly-touted prospect who is making a mark on a non-playoff team when games don’t mean anything. Usually, you’ll see that team re-sign him but also sign (or trade for) other players to fill the ranks on the wing, thereby forcing him to the press box or the minors. Or to a depth line and dismal production. In other words, my Jordan Weal example, above. But I suspect that this team could fire their GM in the summer. In which case, the philosophy changes. The focus should be on defensemen and if deals and signings are geared towards that, then maybe they count on Rattie lining up with McDavid. Why not? The Penguins did that with Conor Sheary and Sidney Crosby and it worked just fine. Draftable? If your league is deep enough, I think he’s worth a flier in the final round when hunches are played. Unless something massive happens to change things among Edmonton forwards in the summer.

Ethan Bear had his first NHL goal here:

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He also added an assist and has four points in 14 games. While I don’t see more than a 25-point year as a rookie next season, I do really like his long-term value with this team. The Oilers are dying for a puck-moving defenseman and he’s a very promising one. I assume they make a play for a game-breaker like John Carlson, though, if they can afford him. If only they didn’t have that Kris Russell contract…

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I’ve been asked when the Interactive Playoff Draft List will be available. This list, which was the first thing I ever started selling on this site way back in 2005, should be available by Thursday April 5. I have the structure in place and the players, I’m just going through it and tweaking expectations and filling in notes. I will update this list on April 7 and April 9, so you can re-download it. Not only does the Excel sheet have my own playoff list, but it also allows you to run your own scenarios and create as many different lists as you like – the player projections will auto-fill based on your playoff tree. I generally run two playoff scenarios and then bring both lists into my draft. Then, based on who is taken (and which teams have the most players available) when I make my second-round pick, I throw away one of the lists and just go with one. This way I’m not tied down to a certain scenario and just go with the best situation (of the two I ran) based on how the draft is going. You can pre-order the IPDL here. Only six of you bought the Ultimate Fantasy Pack because I had to pull it from the shop due to my cancer situation. A common question I’m asked is “is this included in the package I bought last summer?” Chances are you bought the Keeper League Pack, so no – it is not included in that. Unless you were one of those six who got in early before I could pull it, you bought the Keeper Pack. At the time, I didn’t know if I would be around or if I would have the ability to put together this Draft List so I couldn’t in good faith sell a package that included it.

That being said, I feel great, things are going great, and you can expect the Ultimate Fantasy Pack to return for 2018 and come out on sale in May!

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Announcement: I will be making this Draft List available FREE during all 2018 Montreal Canadiens playoff games.

(Sorry, saw that joke in social media, thought it was a marketing masterpiece! Had to share)

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Another thing I’ve been asked – will I have the free playoff box pools available again this year. The answer is: yes. Look for that in a week or so. You can follow the box pool Facebook Page for the announcement when that is out.

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Here are the latest 20 Fantasy Hockey Thoughts. See you next week!

    from All About Sports https://dobberhockey.com/hockey-rambling/ramblings-impact-of-a-new-family-on-production-also-the-kids-are-arriving-tolvanen-andersson-mar-26/

[breegullbeakreviews]

Summary: A decade ago Banjo and Kazooie had their first adventure in eight years. In a vehicle building quest the duo faced Grunty in a battle for the deed to Spiral Mountain. While I’ve looked at his game before five years ago, I did so without actually replaying the game. In celebration of 20 years of bears and birds battling witches it’s time to give this classic another look and experience it all over again.

Overall: Nuts & Bolts is not a 3D platformer, but by every other factor it’s a Banjo Kazooie game. There is no other game quite like it and in that regard alone it’d be worth playing, the fact that it’s a great game on top of that makes it a must play. At $40 day one it was a value. Bundle into Rare Replay its highway robbery,

Controls: Banjo Kazooie Nuts and Bolts is about vehicles as opposed to platforming. As a result of this all but Banjos standard jump, the ability to grab a ledge, and swim have been removed and the entire control scheme rebuilt from the ground up for the first Banjo game built from the ground up for dual sticks.

The left and right stick move Banjo and the camera respectively. A jumps, X attacks and dives when swimming, and B interacts. This includes talking and on the go vehicle customization. Y will hop into a vehicle and holding it while away from a vehicle will summon it near you if you aren’t in a challenge. RT will let you use the magic wrench to pick up objects and LT will let you rotate it based on the camera orientation. LB and RB let you cycle through what object you want to pick up. When not in a challenge holding up on the D-pad you’ll enter Mumbo’s motors, though this can also be accessed through the pause menu, which of course is the start button.

Now vehicle controls is what you’ll be using most of the time. Like a modern vehicle based game RT and LT are used to accelerate and brake/reverse respectively. While using a hover vehicle you can hold both triggers to hover. The left and right stick work just as they did while on foot. While we’re at it Y, up on the D-pad, and the Start button work just the same on foot as they do behind the wheel. A, X, and B all use your vehicles gadgets and attacks that don’t function on their own. You can cycle what each button is assigned to by using the other D-pad directions or via the pause menu. LB will allow you to look behind you and if part of your vehicle falls off it can be reattached by holding RB while it’s still close by.

Now vehicle customization has its own controls which are pretty easy to pick up. The left stick moves your cursor along the horizontal plane while you use LT and RT to move it up and down. You can rotate what you’re holding as long as it’s not attached to a seat with the D-pad.The system is based on a three dimensional grid of blocks. Hidden away but important to note is the ability to tweak certain aspects of parts using either RB or LB to bring up the parts info-panel. From here you can tweak more intricate things with certain parts like how wheels handle.

Gameplay: As I’ve stated this is a game about building vehicles. So what do you do with them? Well a lot actually. The core of the game will have you doing just about everything there is to do with a vehicle. Obviously you’ll be racing, but you’ll play sports, transport people and object, fight, and occasionally a few more unique tasks that twist the mechanics or controls. Occasionally you’ll be forced to work with a given vehicle as opposed to being given access to your imagination, but even then you can tweak what you’re given in the challenge since editing pauses the game clock. Even that can be used to create crazy solutions to problems.

If the gameplay has one short coming it’s the repetition. Wings and propellers are added to your tool kit pretty early on which leads to them being a solution to almost every problem via flight. A lot of challenges are races which is for most a major complaint. I do think this could have been avoided, but I don’t think it’s that bad. Difficulty ramps up at a reasonable pace and you never have multiple land, air, or sea races in a single act which helps to split them up. Tying certain part types to completing certain challenges or locking certain vehicle types could have curbed this simplified solution system. Even potentially locking off certain part types or vehicle types would have been a good idea and the DLC is proof. I think a dedicated Water and Flight world could have lessened the complaints about the lack of variety. Sure you can fly everywhere, but outside the rim of Nutty Acres and a single act of Jiggoseum, you don’t get a lot of room to play around with water based vehicles. Placing these worlds in the right order and locking certain part types behind challenges in them like wings and what not you could keep the super easy solutions off the table the first go round. Moving from the land to the sea to the ocean floor to the sky and finally mixing up all of these at once would be great, but I understand it would be hard to execute. As is this game had to drop a whole world to meet its launch date. It was also a $40 title so I assume the budget was tighter.

Worlds: Speaking of worlds, Banjo Kazooie Nuts & Bolts takes a less is more approach. Outside the Hub and the single act finale, there are only five worlds. Each of these has six acts except for the last which has five. If I can say one thing about all of these worlds is that they all feel fresh. How many games have a worlds with these themes? Tooie repeated a pirate world and you could even argue they did another snow and sewer level. Outside the farm theme which was used in Grunty’s Revenge on GBA, everything here is original in terms of concept.

Showdown Town: This is the hub world and it follows a different set of rules. Here in Showdown town you can’t choose your vehicle. Instead you are given a trolley equipped with four basic wheels, a small tray for carrying stuff, a seat, a small engine, and a small fuel tank with infinite fuel while used in Showdown town. Now this vehicle does get modified as you play. Each world baring Spiral Mountain has at least one Grunty challenge Act. Passing that challenge with at least a Jiggy rank will get you a part off of Grunty’s vehicle for your trolley as well as for your garage. These new parts will let you explore other parts of Showdown town. Once you have the high-grip wheels you can go everywhere, but the other parts will let you get to the other nooks and crannies.Instead you are given a trolley. It’s got a small tray for carrying things and a small engine and fuel tank. It’s good enough to get you around the un, but to get everywhere you’ll need to beat Grunty’s in each of the worlds.

These nooks and crannies are what differentiates the Showdown town from the other worlds. Hidden about the hub are a staggering 900 musical notes (total value, not individual count), 58 Mumbo crates (I believe this count includes the Stop’n’swap ones), and multiple Jiggy dispensers. Unlike in previous games where simply earning the jiggies is enough, to add them to your total you’ll need to transport them from the world’s dispenser to the bank. The local cops will try and stop you though. The crates also need to be carried back to Mumbo’s Motors right next to the bank. These crates contain new parts as does hitting certain Jiggy totals. You can also buy parts from Humba Wumba along with prebuilt blueprints using Musical Notes.

Musical notes are bronze, silver, and gold valued at 1, 5 and 10 respectively. They’re hidden all over the place. Sadly there are two issues with them that carries over across all of the worlds. One is that how they’re hidden isn’t super consistent. Similar looking areas will sometimes only have Notes on one of that type of thing. So while one balcony might have them on the balcony, another might have them on the awning above instead while the others might be empty. The other problem is that the Notes are physical objects that can be knocked around. You can grab them with the magic wrench, but you can also knock them about with your wrench attack. While they’ll pop back to their spot if you return to the world after not collecting them, but this is really annoying. Particularly in the hub where you’ll actually be doing a lot of on foot platforming.

While most of Banjo and Kazooie’s moves are gone, you’ll need to jump around some of the structures in showdown town. There are two other collectible types in town. One is the Jinjos and Minjos. First you need to free the Jinjo by finding a switch nearby. Then you’ll need to get them back to their home while avoiding the police. This will net you some musical notes. After doing that a Minjo will show up somewhere in the area and taking it back to the cell will net you some more Notes. The last of the collectibles is the five Jiggy tampering switches. Each of these will instantly net you a Jiggy. No transportation required.

The Hub is also home to Klungo’s arcade, which I’ll cover later on as well as the police station. Talk to Pinkelet once, but never bribe the cops. It’s not worth it and due the limited number of Notes you could potentially be unable to get all of the parts and blueprints. Even Jiggies can be missed as five are bought off of Jolly Dodger in town. Oh and I almost forgot the stamina, speed, and strength upgrades from Boggy’s gym.

You’ll notice I haven’t talked about the layout of the hub. That’s because it’s sort of weird. It’s a hub world. At its center is a large hill with an even larger towering arcade machine atop it that marks L.O.G.’s game factory. You can climb up the winding side or head straight up with the high grip wheels. Those wheels will also do their best to keep you down. Until you get them or do some clever platforming you’ll be stuck in the area around the base of this massive structure. A lower alley area can also be explored as well. These two areas are host to the first two world entry ways. Once you can freely explore the rest of the map going clockwise from the alley area is the docks, the pier, the fancy high class part of town, and finally the lake front. Each of these areas feels distinct from the other areas while still feeling like part of a whole.

Shit I forgot about Jinjo bingo. It’s located on the pier and it’s a clever use of a new collectible. Jinjo challenges are also hid in each act and beating the challenge will get you a token of that Jinjo’s color. Over on the Bingo board you can place these tokens on spots of matching color. Completing vertical rows nets you parts while horizontal nets you some Notes. The longer the row the more notes and more valuable the parts.

Basically Showdown town is packed with content. I spent most of my 22 hours on the path to 100% completion was spent here doing all the things. It never feels like backtracking because it’s all done in bursts. It’s a great hub.

Nutty Acres: Nutty Acres is the game’s first proper world. It’s a farm settled on an island where the borders of the world itself are obviously fake. It’s an “outdoor” world where everything outdoorsy is artificial. The clouds in eh sky are giant cushions rotating around in the sky attached to a series of giant gears that also dot the border of the map. The grass is made of patches of green cloth and even the volcano and other mountainous areas are made of metal. The trees are made of bundles of curved wooden planks and bunches of green cloth balls. Absolutely all of it looks gorgeous. Of all the levels in the game they kicked it off with the most beautiful.

The map itself as I said is an island. While one or two islands exist off to the side, the maps focuses on the main land. You’ve got the Farm in the center, the hilly area where you’ll start in act one, the gated crop field with the hill with the tunnel, the beach area, the volcano, the swamp, the metal coliseum thing surrounding the lake, and lastly the big ass pile of crates. All of these get plenty of use.

Act 1 serves as the challenge tutorial for the game. It’s got a single challenge which outside this act is exclusive to when Grunty takes over the world for her challenge acts. It’s a simple get from point A to point B task that requires you to do it with the vehicle given. Things pick up with a race, a delivery mission, and the first rather open ended challenge in Act 2. Great Balls of Fire is the first challenge of two I came back to later to net the TT because it gets so much easier with new gadgets. The challenge tasks you with cooling down three burning rocks as fast as possible. Now you’re told you can do so by throwing them in the water, and that works. However pushing these rocks gets much easier later, and more importantly there is at least one other way to cool them off.

Act 3 is the first Grunty act and the goal is simply to make her drop the Nut she is escaping with, and again people got creative here. You can beat this challenge in under one second by bringing a pile of heavy blocks into the challenge and using the in game build menu to drop heavy blocks on Grunty while the timer has barely had time to start. Even without this awesome trick this is the first instance of vehicle combat in the game. Beating her here nets you some high grip wheels which are equate-able to the talon trot as they’ll let you tackle steep and slipper slopes. Act 4 lets you take off with a flight tutorial as well as two other challenges where creativity takes over. Vac o’ Nuts asks you to suck up coconuts. It does not say how so you’re open to do your own thing. Fighting Fit is a defensive challenge where you need to defend Mr Fit. You could combat all of the bad guys, or you could build protection around him.

Act 5 continues to push your options again. It lets you do a lot of tricks from the last act again. The highlight of act 5 is the return of Mr. Patch. Just like in Tooie you need to burst his patches to defeat him. Difference here is that he doesn’t attack. No instead Grunty calls in her army of robots to do that. That doesn’t make the challenge easy as Mr. Patch will rotate about in the air as you hit him, He can flip upside down and become a real pain to take out. Hard-Boiled Egg shares all of the options of Great Balls of Fire, but instead of cooling things down you’re heating things up.

Act 6 might be my favorite in the whole game. Here the river has dried up. This gives room for a new land race. You also get both an air and a sea race as well. One last challenge you can’t cheat is bringing the nuts to Mumbo and then the docks as fast as possible. My favorite challenge though and one that’s sadly not used again outside multiplayer is the Freewheel festival. Starting atop the volcano and without gadgets or any power, you are tasked with traveling a certain distance on just momentum. It’s so much fun to do and the fact that it’s barely used sucks because it’s a lot of fun.

LOGBOX 720: Welcome to the next generation of consoles. Well under the hood of one anyway. LOGBOX 720 takes place entirely inside a next-next-gen video game console. While obviously designed more for gameplay than practicality, the towering internals are filled with all sorts of technological looking things. The grape flavored cooling system – Whole bunch of wires, lights, and switches, and of course a bunch of spinning terrain in the form of game discs including Banjo Kazooie, Tooie, Viva Piñata, Grabbed by the Ghoulies, and Mr. Pants. The most fun bit has to be the various chips. The audio chip distorts the sound briefly when hit. The color chip distorts the color and so on. Each is cartoonishly designed. The Audio chip is a giant speaker and the color chip is a bunch of crayons.

If design wide this level has one flaw it’s that outside the very top and bottom it’s hard to tell exactly where you are. It’s supposed to look a little chaotic and that makes flying and driving around interesting in races, but navigating is a pain. The mini-map doesn’t handle verticality well. While the icons change to tell you if something is higher or lower having landmarks on top of each other doesn’t translate gracefully to a top down view.

Act 1 assumes you aren’t airborne yet. Otherwise they’d be super easy. Klungo tasks the duo to get the antenna up high as fast as possible. Since this is entirely based on height even a helicopter equipped to carry makes this challenge a breeze. The other challenge here is likely the first time you’ll be taxiing people around. Collect the employees and get them to the safe point. Act 2 features a race using an awful L.O.G.’s choice vehicle and the other tasks you to fly to various switches and switch them.

Act 3 again is Grunty’s. She races Banjo around the top of the glubber tank. It’s a simple race made simpler if you’ve already nabbed a set of wings or even air cushions. Beating her here nets you floaters and a propeller for your trolley. Act 4 is interesting. It’s the most use you’ll get out of one of the games gadgets called the squirter. Two tasks will ask you to soak an object, though one of them is more open ended. An Air based race is quite fun in the cramped interior. You’ve got to defend the chips which is fun if just for forcing you to see those funny effects when they’re hit. The last task here is to build a heavy flying vehicle to press down several switches. I think it’d be more interesting if flight was off the table, but as is it’s an interesting concept.

Act 5 is again interesting. Both tasks are L.O.G.’s choice meaning success is based on mastery of vehicle handling. Due to a “glitch” the checkpoints in the race several feet above where they’re supposed to be which means Banjo needs to use an awkward tall vehicle to race along the winding path since flight is off the table. The next mission tasks you with safely delivering Bottles from up high to the Brain Chip before having to double back to the front to retrieve his laptop. The vehicle is pretty crappy and while there are loose propellers hiding about, I always miss them. Act 6 tasks you with some really odd challenges. The first requires you to carry the Glubber grape flavor tablet from the ground floor up and into its stand deep down in the tank. Flight is obviously the right choice for part one, but they can make the descent into the pool harder if poorly positioned. Lap Happy is a race that rewards control over speed. It’s hard and while I nailed it this play through, it’s only because now I know what I’m doing. Carrying Pinkelet around is not particular fun, nor is the strange task Mumbo gives you. Jolly’s task could be fun if it was score based instead of time.

Banjoland: I’m not going to act like Museum levels have never been done before. I am going to say that if just for this level, having this be a Banjo Kazooie game was important. Banjoland is a museum built of landmarks from the series all smashed together in a museum haphazardly. Everything from Mumbo’s Mountain’s Stonehenge to the giant Cheese Wedge from Cloud Cuckooland. The problem is that outside the models in the exhibits a lot of liberty has been taken with scale and even likeness. While I’m fine with the updates to the old cast that make up most of this game, the stuff pulled over is often unrecognizable. I understand scale needs to be changed for vehicles to make sense, and in some cases the incompetence is funny. The world’s whole shtick, hell the game’s whole shtick is that no one cares about Banjo and Kazooie anymore. The melted Snow Man from Freezeezy Peak and the torn apart Clanker are funny. Its stuff like Loggo which instead of being the character is a drastically out of scale model. It doesn’t feel intentionally incompetent like the best parts of the map.

So let’s talk about the map. The center piece is the melting Snowman. You can drive up his scarf from atop King Sandybutt’s Pyramid or up the torn apart tale of Clanker. Beneath the Snowman is a half tunnel at the edge of a large indoor lake featuring a few other famous landmarks like The Salty Hippo and a replica of Tanktup. Over on the other side is a hill which leads up to Stonehenge and the Golden Goliath along with inflatable Stonies for the Kickball tournament. On the way up there you’ll find 1/4th of Mad Monster Mansion and a replica of Cheato. On the way downhill back to Clanker is a Large Tree from Click Clock Wood along with Eyrie’s nest. There are some other notable landmarks and exhibits, but those are the main ones.

Act 1 kicks things off with a defense of Clanker’s eyes, a race, and something that lives on the border between a Taxi mission and a simple carry quest. The husband of the ice cube couple senselessly murdered in Tooie is back and he’s slid out of the Freezeezy peak section and needs to be pushed back before he melts. Pushing this living block of ice is L.O.G.’s Choice which means you can’t cheat and fly George back to the cold. Act 2 is pretty simple with just two challenges. One tasks you with scoring goals up at the Stonehenge. To make the balls appear however you need to hold down a switch. The challenge is open to interpretation as is the other one. All the trash fell out of the replica from Banjo Tooie and you need to pick it up.

Act 3 has one of the games more annoying L.O.G.’s choice challenges. The task is to pick up 3 characters and drop them off back at the museum entrance. Problem you aren’t driving a One bodied vehicle. In fact you don’t even get three passenger seats. What you get is a driver’s seat and two train cars attached via tow bars. Tow bars attach vehicles loosely by a single point on each vehicle. Now you can use more, but in this case it’s one to one. This flimsy connection means you need to account for the rear vehicles. The worst part of this challenge though is picking up the other passenger seat. You need to either stop and attach it or hope it connects on its own. It’s a nightmare. The rest of the act is easy with a simple water race and another round of switching Wrenches. Act 4 is Grunty’s domain. While the Museum is closed her goal is to bounce around causing “mayhem”. Mayhem is in quotes because she doesn’t actually destroy anything to my knowledge. This is more or less the mid boss as like with the final fight, the goal is simply to detach her seat from her vehicle. Beating her here nets you her springs for your Trolley.

Act 5 is pretty simple. Herding Sheep painted balls over to Loggo is open ended in how you tackle it. The other two challenges are L.O.G.’s choice races, the latter with the goal being to be at a certain speed at each checkpoint.

Act 6 changes up the map by freezing over the lake. As a result a lot of this act will be taking you to the frozen lake. The race across its surface is quite challenging even once you modify the L.O.G. given vehicle. Leveling Boggy’s Igloo is easy, but the return of Mr. Patch now without Patches and coated in chrome is quite a challenge. Mumbo tasks you to use a prebuilt Motorcycle to do a stunt show and Bottles has an air race. The most interesting challenge though is Sheep Golf. The goal is to get the Sheep ball from Stonehenge to Loggo in the least amount of hits possible. Of course what constitutes a hit is debatable.

Jiggosseum: In a game where challenges consist of tasks like racing and moving objects around large fields you sort of have to expect a level with a sports theme. The Jiggoseum is just that. Inside the ovular dome is a large mostly flat field surrounded by a race track, surrounded by the grand stands. There is also a food court down below and an elevated pathway up above, but most of the level is pretty bare. This lets the map be incredibly modular changing up to fit the challenges.

The map feels like its outdoors, but there is a glass ceiling that you’ll likely forget is there as most tasks keep things close to the ground. The modular nature of the stage helps in this regard. The elevated path can be flat out removed if need be along with closing off access to the food court. The sports ball shaped bumps can be removed to reveal dips and that’s just scratching the surface. The stage can even be flooded though sadly it rarely is.

Act 1 is home to what if memory serves me correctly the other challenge I needed to come back to. Unhappy Landings tasks you to propel yourself through the air a certain distance with your engines turned off after you take off. This is really just a matter of getting a strong enough engine. The one other challenge in this act tasks you to clear a platform as quickly as possible. Act 2 has a similar challenge but with a different rule set and object to knock about. This time it’s dominos, but once ones been hit your engines and gadgets are disabled leaving it all up to that powerful or well thought out worst swing. A rather lengthy race is also included here along with a pizza delivery mission.

Act 3 takes the race track and adds hurdles to jump over. Issue is that since this is open to the user’s imagination you can strap wings on and fly over them. The games Basketball challenge is all about lifting balls to the hoop that will rise as you score more. This challenge has been broken in a hilarious way through that is worth looking up. The final two challenges of Act 3 involve knocking balls flying and lifting them. To make things harder these are bowling balls.

Unlike the other worlds, Jiggoseum has two Grunty Acts. This is most likely the result of the dropped world called the Weird West. Not much is known about the content that was lost but jokes regarding the Sheep as cut content and comments by the Showdown town locals give some idea of where the entrances were and what some challenges would have been. So what challenges does Grunty have in store? Well in Act 4 she’s flooded the stadium and plays defense in Water Polo. In Act 5 you play keep away one billiard ball at a time. The former nets you a scuba seat and the latter a laser. The biggest letdown here is how little this giant tank of water is used. It’s the biggest body of water in the game in terms of depth and it’s used for just one challenge on its surface.

Act 6 has one of the games hardest challenges, but it’s also super easy to get around its massive hurdle. Bear in a ball. Puts you in a rather bulky vehicle and has you do a checkpoint based time trial across the map with two twists. One is that the steering is reversed and the other is that if you knock down any of the dominos in your path you get a seconds added to your time for each. Now how can you get over this hurdle? Shrink the vehicle. Yeah apparently just modifying the vehicle breaks the reversed steering and even makes it just generally easier to avoid the dominos. There might be something I’m overlooking in how this trick is done, but I did the challenge flawlessly my first attempt. Another L.O.G.’s choice challenge tasks you to bring the flame (a special vehicle part) up to the torch in a flooded stadium. You start in the water and have to grab a pair of wheels on the way. I think possibly you could flip the propellers into a helicopter, but I never tried. You also get to play darts which is annoying if only because if you mess up late in the game you’ve wasted a lot of time. Two final clearing the platform challenges wrap up this world. One tasks you to destroy various types of giant dice and the other to Sumo wrestle with Pinkelet.

Terrarium of Terror: The penultimate level, ultimate if you don’t want to count a single act Spiral Mountain is a fully space themed garden in space. The map consists of numerous large glass orbs filled with different alien plant life. These plants are used to create platforms and obstacles to race around. If this map has one major issue it’s that navigating it is a pain. Since everything is connected by tunnels you don’t have a lot of options for getting from one room to another.

Act 1 starts with part one of Klungo’s story arc for this world. You need to transport a seed while keeping it wet. The other challenge is to use a vehicle powered by sails to climb the central flower. This might be the games least inspired challenge. Act 2 is packed though. In the sequel to Klungo’s last challenge you need to push the floatberries into the water. Blubber challenges you to an air and land race. Jolly has a taxi mission. Humba Wumba has you push trash out of the air lock. Pikelet has you battle a giant germ with a crappy vehicle, and Boggy has two challenges which is poked fun at. One is to lift a heavy object up high and another is literally the Saucer of Peril from Tooie. Yes there isn’t really any build up to this, but it fits the level.

Act 3 has you delivering giants cookies and tea to the characters as well as another race up the central flower. Klungo’s story continues with you harvesting his Floatberries for him and placing them in the juicer. Another challenge has you kill a bunch of Gruntbots and finally you’ll be carrying one of the Tooie Aliens back to his family. Act 4 has Klungo take a break from his arc. Here you need to save the mud monsters by getting them out of the water. Captain Blubber has you push a bunch of Grunt bots out of the air lock while Humba Wumba has you clean up the stragglers who are riding around in little cars. Pikelet has you race in an all-terrain race. Land, air, and underwater. It’s all here and sadly it’s one of a kind.

Oddly things end with Act 5. Grunty turns inviable and you need to find and eliminate her. Kind of a shame really. It’s not a particularly good challenge and it kind of leaves this world on a sour note. What you get for besting the Witch one last time is a horn for your vehicle. It does indeed have a use in Showdown Town.

Spiral Mountain: The final bout. Despite having only two challenges, one is weighted quite heavily. L.O.G. tasks you to build a single vehicle that can complete six challenges back to back. Staying in the moving circle for 12 seconds, tossing the eye from the Grunty statue into the dumpster by Banjo’s house, a checkpoint race around spiral mountain on both air, land, and sea, shooting a bunch of targets, delivering three honeycombs to the top of Spiral Mountain, and lastly clearing an area of vegetable cubes. In-between each challenge you’ll be asked a bit of trivia with right answers lowering your time by 5 seconds each. This was a pretty fun challenge. Getting each respective ranking, Note, Jiggy, and Trophy Thomas, will earn you six times the normal amount.

The final bout with Grunty has you battle her five different vehicles in one single vehicle of your choice. She’ll fly, float, and even turn invisible. That being said this challenge is super easy. You just toss on all of your fire power on a plane and charge at the witch. You only get the normal rewards for this bout, but upon beating Grunty to final cut scene rolls along with the credits.

Spiral Mountain is a faithful recreation from the other games. It’s a little more worse for wear then it has been, but it’s still just a more modern take on the same old map. Like in Banjoland, there are museum style markers at certain locations. The one thing I can’t overlook is getting out of bounds. It’s doable on every map with the turrets, but I’m fonder of doing it with the wrench and some wiggling. Either way if you get out of bounds and fly down below Banjo’s house you can find the facade used to have Grunty in L.O.G.’s factory during that last cut scene.

Test-o-Track: Most of what I can say about this map is from back in the day since I never really went here at all. Test-o-Track is a place to test out your vehicles before you take them into the challenges. It’s got lots of terrain types and a small pool. It’ll talk more about this for sure when I cover L.O.G.’s lost challenges later on.

Music: While Grant Kirkhope left Rare during this games development, his fingerprints are still all over this game’s score. All of the tracks pull from previous Banjo games and even some from Donkey Kong 64. Yes it’s not entirely original, but it’s still high quality and the fact that it’s orchestrally recorded is a huge plus. It gives it a different sound.

Characters: While the cast is super small, it works well enough. The most popular characters made it back, I just wish they reused less and had more characters for each world. Sure the Tooie aliens are in the Terrarium, but why aren’t they giving the challenges? I know the joke is budget cuts, but that joke only works so far. What’s here is well written and while none of the new characters match up to the old cast, they’re welcome addtions.

Hero Klungo Sssavesss Teh World: I’m actually starting writing the review right here. A throw away joke as you beat Klungo for the last time in Banjo Tooie has him state that he’s going to go make his own game. Well here it is. Hero Klungo Sssavesss Teh World is an auto scrolling 8-bit 2D platformer where all you have to do is jump. You play as Klungo who is carrying the world in his hands and the goal is to reach the other end of the level. There are five levels. The first three introduce each obstacle type by themselves. First holes, then enemies, and finally varied terrain. The fourth level combines these all together and the last is a boss fight.

Now why in the hell did I start here? Well because in the decade since its release this game this game still holds up. Not as a good gam per say, but as a sort of parody of the coming Indie game craze. Keep in mind that this game launched the same year as Braid, Spelunky, and more that started the trend on home consoles. Klungo’s game is intentionally built to be bad. It “crashes” randomly and is super simplistic, but it’s all part of the charm. All you get for completing these five levels is Musical notes and an achievement, but they are fun to play through regardless.

Stop’n’Swop: And last but not least it’s Stop’n’Swap time. Each item from Banjo Kazooie makes a part crate pop up in Showdown town with a unique accessory. Some are tied behind some of the Trolley upgrades, but all are entirely optional. They’re cool little knickknacks to pop on your vehicle to show off online. Oh and speaking of which…

Multiplayer: I have no idea if the online is still up, but you can still play offline. The multiplayer component has players compete in challenges in either set vehicles or whatever they can think up, and it’s an experience that I have as much nostalgia for as I do the original Banjo Kazooie. I’d come home from school every day and hop on with a buddy from school and some friends I met on the Xbox forums. We’d spend hours just goofing off in the Test-o-Track. Occasionally we’d hop into a challenge or two, but just being able to goof off and share your creations was a blast. If the servers are still up it’s worth finding a friends to check it out with.

[jpweb12]

45 Catastrophic Failures in Graphic Design That Will Make You Laugh

As we all know, a visual design’s purpose, regardless if it’s logos designs, outdoor signage, ads design or website designs, their job is to give off the same energy you would want people to receive when you describe the company or the organization they represent.

That being said, it’s quite surprising that there are actually people that are willing, and more importantly, more daring to post a logo design in the price range of $100. Some of them even show enough disrespect to the creative community to low down the prices until $50/design. But the worst part of this story is not just the low prices some customers tend to set, but also the fact that many designers accept them. Beyond this, it looks like no one thinks it’s almost a fact that only graphic designs failures will come out of that venture.   

Somehow, I think the designers who take these shameful jobs can’t be fully blamed; quite frankly, I think they just don’t know any better or they didn’t look at the design from all perspectives. For the most part, the people accepting these disrespectful jobs are either young designers, at the beginning of their career or less skilled starving designers on their last money with no solid clients in sight. Or a person who knows to play a little bit with the design software and after getting no responses from other “so called designer” has decided to take the design work into his / her own hands and consider he/she did a very good job.         

Obvious, this treatment of graphic design will lead, without any doubt, to the inevitable lower graphic design standards set for this creative profession. With a key creative field being disregarded every day, a client base for this field with an “ignorance is a bliss” mindset, and plenty of people claiming falsely to be graphic designers, what is there for real professional creatives to do?

Well, maybe take a note from the satire TV shows and celebrate some of the greatest design failures. We spent so much time celebrating how good some designs can be, and appreciating the real skills and talent that are showcased there, and we forget talking about graphic design failures. And we can see a lot.

That’s why in this article, you will see an array of awful designs. Some of them will make you laugh, other of them will make you to ask yourself “What was in the designer’s mind?”

1. The Eat

Everyone likes to eat, but I think the designer of this cup is the only who knows it’s about a cat!

2. Website stock photo failure

Did you see The Invisible Man movie? This could be a new way for making him visible for others! Nothing else to add, just a note for the designers: always double or even triple check your stock photos!

3. ChURrch

  I can’t figure out if it’s only de designer fault, but I think a proofreader is missing here!

4. Apprenticeships

 If you are looking for an apprentice, this doesn’t really mean anything. But if your target is a bunch of people looking for app rentals or ice ships or ice on ships, this design could have a sense.

5. Arlington Pediatric Center

I just checked their website and I saw they have changed their logo to something more appropriate for a medical center. It’s no longer a pedophilic center. But it seems they save something with crabs and bears. A new failure? Or just marketing strategy?  

6. Mont-Sat

  No one should be jealous on his happiness :D. He’s just Mr. satellite!

7. Unfortunate reflection

Who wants this??? The best example for checking the end result before playing with reflection!

8. Zombie apocalypse

Do you imagine how could it be? Bad designs might just send us into the zombie apocalypse!  

9. Cannibalism of cats

As I remember, cannibalism is forbidden even in the cat community.

10. Kundawara Pharmacy

There’s no need explanation why Kundawara Pharmacy’s logo gained such widespread public attention.☺ We just wonder what services are offered behind of these doors.

11. Institute of Oriental Studies

The designer who created this logo thought it was the best representation for what the Oriental Studies mean ☺  

12. Mama’s baking

Maybe the designer’s intention was to start a fire down there? Ok, maybe in Greece, where this café is located, this doesn’t seem weird. Just maybe….

13. Maple Syrup

It seems no one noticed the suggestive nature of the sign for over a decade.

14. Mega Flicks

After reading this logo, many customers might think twice before entering into a MegaFlicks store.  Lesson to learn: chose fonts carefully.

15. Rape Nuts

Rape Nuts? Grape Huts? Rape Guts? I think the copy was doing well before the designer decided to get some style with letters.     

16. Super Bowl

Who needs an elbow, anyway? This happens when the designer doesn’t pay too much attention….

17. Don’t be happy

Good designs promote happiness and encourage you to set aside your worries. The bad designs do the exact opposite.

18. Poo

Everyone does it, but hopefully not on the table ☺\

19. Chewable vitamins

Everyone wants healthy skin, hair and nails. But I don’t think anyone likes to chew them.

20. Therapist? Rapist?

Yeah, sure, “rapists” and “therapists” are the same thing….. Think and design again…. With a better font. Or at least a little bit more attention. This image reminds me a lot of a different “therapies” design fail. 

21. Virtual Reality

I really don’t think it’s necessary to make VR technology more whimsical than it already is.

22. Bone Goal

I don’t think the whole team should share the same “bone” goal…

23. Yves Levesque

It looked ok in Photoshop, right? This happens when the car wraps are designed without making real simulations.

24. Factory Farts

No family can live with factory farts. But this headline is a huge mistake.

25. Lesson about bones

Definitely, this is not the lesson about bones you meant to be teaching.

26. You Are Alone

Pink on pink is really undercutting your message. Someone should learn about contrast in graphic design.

27. Wedding Invitation

Many people consider marriage being a prison. But I don’t think someone should be left hanging on their wedding day. ☺

28. Sauces or car clean products?

These sauces look like car clean products. I don’t think this is the vibe the designer wanted to be.

29. Fashion Fart

For sure, this wasn’t the intention of the designer, but still.. 

30. Unbelievable Transformation

When you work so hard, you change even the ethnicity…

31. Sasa Lele

I love Sasa Lele ☺!. Especially when it has 50% discount!

32. Buy 3, get 2

It seems this designer is also the best marketer in the world ☺))!  

33. Children’s Menu

Yes, I’ll take one Child Rib, please, along with a Child Burger! And for drink…….

34. Plastic Surgery

Maybe this women should start tell little white lies after her plastic surgery!

35. Exit poll

Apparently zero is a little bit less than 34, but it’s much bigger than 22 ☺. Someone should learn to make some infographics.

36. Men’s Boxer

Another example of unrealistic body expectation for men….

37. Love, Morriage, Bobby?

Who is Bobby? Does he know who will come up?

38. Ndeeisgihgbnocrehnotoedr

  For sure, the designer’s intention was to be different, but, does anyone understand anything?

39. Doughboys

Maybe this restaurant offers pizza, salad and panini, but their logo says something else. I won’t mention what, yet it’s not too difficult to see for yourself.

40. Clinica Dental

Dental clinic or “full-service” practitioner? I think the patients of this clinic have already figured out ☺.

41. Year Of The Monkey

This poster was created for celebrating Year of the Monkey. But as humans, we have to ask: Which monkey?   

42.Junior Jazz Dance Classes

This happens when the designer doesn’t pay too much attention to the negative space. Wonder if it’s a junior dancer center or something else?

43. The computer doctor

Just wonder why and how. Just view the mouse from the logo and pass your own judgment.

44. Corona

Clearly, this man doesn’t have any arms. But… would he be the man of the future?

45. Bureau of Health Promotion Taiwan

When you’ve gone too far, I think it’s better to step back and take a closer look. Am I right?  

  Read More at 45 Catastrophic Failures in Graphic Design That Will Make You Laugh

from IT Feed https://webdesignledger.com/5-catastrophic-failures-in-graphic-design/

[regulardomainname]

45 Catastrophic Failures in Graphic Design That Will Make You Laugh

As we all know, a visual design’s purpose, regardless if it’s logos designs, outdoor signage, ads design or website designs, their job is to give off the same energy you would want people to receive when you describe the company or the organization they represent. That being said, it’s quite surprising that there are actually people that are willing, and more importantly, more daring to post a logo design in the price range of $100. Some of them even show enough disrespect to the creative community to low down the prices until $50/design. But the worst part of this story is not just the low prices some customers tend to set, but also the fact that many designers accept them. Beyond this, it looks like no one thinks it’s almost a fact that only graphic designs failures will come out of that venture.    Somehow, I think the designers who take these shameful jobs can’t be fully blamed; quite frankly, I think they just don’t know any better or they didn’t look at the design from all perspectives. For the most part, the people accepting these disrespectful jobs are either young designers, at the beginning of their career or less skilled starving designers on their last money with no solid clients in sight. Or a person who knows to play a little bit with the design software and after getting no responses from other “so called designer” has decided to take the design work into his / her own hands and consider he/she did a very good job.          Obvious, this treatment of graphic design will lead, without any doubt, to the inevitable lower graphic design standards set for this creative profession. With a key creative field being disregarded every day, a client base for this field with an “ignorance is a bliss” mindset, and plenty of people claiming falsely to be graphic designers, what is there for real professional creatives to do? Well, maybe take a note from the satire TV shows and celebrate some of the greatest design failures. We spent so much time celebrating how good some designs can be, and appreciating the real skills and talent that are showcased there, and we forget talking about graphic design failures. And we can see a lot. That’s why in this article, you will see an array of awful designs. Some of them will make you laugh, other of them will make you to ask yourself “What was in the designer’s mind?” 1. The Eat Everyone likes to eat, but I think the designer of this cup is the only who knows it’s about a cat! 2. Website stock photo failure Did you see The Invisible Man movie? This could be a new way for making him visible for others! Nothing else to add, just a note for the designers: always double or even triple check your stock photos! 3. ChURrch   I can’t figure out if it’s only de designer fault, but I think a proofreader is missing here! 4. Apprenticeships  If you are looking for an apprentice, this doesn’t really mean anything. But if your target is a bunch of people looking for app rentals or ice ships or ice on ships, this design could have a sense. 5. Arlington Pediatric Center I just checked their website and I saw they have changed their logo to something more appropriate for a medical center. It’s no longer a pedophilic center. But it seems they save something with crabs and bears. A new failure? Or just marketing strategy?   6. Mont-Sat   No one should be jealous on his happiness :D. He’s just Mr. satellite! 7. Unfortunate reflection Who wants this??? The best example for checking the end result before playing with reflection! 8. Zombie apocalypse Do you imagine how could it be? Bad designs might just send us into the zombie apocalypse!   9. Cannibalism of cats As I remember, cannibalism is forbidden even in the cat community. 10. Kundawara Pharmacy There’s no need explanation why Kundawara Pharmacy’s logo gained such widespread public attention.☺ We just wonder what services are offered behind of these doors. 11. Institute of Oriental Studies The designer who created this logo thought it was the best representation for what the Oriental Studies mean ☺   12. Mama’s baking Maybe the designer’s intention was to start a fire down there? Ok, maybe in Greece, where this café is located, this doesn’t seem weird. Just maybe…. 13. Maple Syrup It seems no one noticed the suggestive nature of the sign for over a decade. 14. Mega Flicks After reading this logo, many customers might think twice before entering into a MegaFlicks store.  Lesson to learn: chose fonts carefully. 15. Rape Nuts Rape Nuts? Grape Huts? Rape Guts? I think the copy was doing well before the designer decided to get some style with letters.      16. Super Bowl Who needs an elbow, anyway? This happens when the designer doesn’t pay too much attention…. 17. Don’t be happy Good designs promote happiness and encourage you to set aside your worries. The bad designs do the exact opposite. 18. Poo Everyone does it, but hopefully not on the table ☺\ 19. Chewable vitamins Everyone wants healthy skin, hair and nails. But I don’t think anyone likes to chew them. 20. Therapist? Rapist? Yeah, sure, “rapists” and “therapists” are the same thing….. Think and design again…. With a better font. Or at least a little bit more attention. This image reminds me a lot of a different “therapies” design fail.  21. Virtual Reality I really don’t think it’s necessary to make VR technology more whimsical than it already is. 22. Bone Goal I don’t think the whole team should share the same “bone” goal… 23. Yves Levesque It looked ok in Photoshop, right? This happens when the car wraps are designed without making real simulations. 24. Factory Farts No family can live with factory farts. But this headline is a huge mistake. 25. Lesson about bones Definitely, this is not the lesson about bones you meant to be teaching. 26. You Are Alone Pink on pink is really undercutting your message. Someone should learn about contrast in graphic design. 27. Wedding Invitation Many people consider marriage being a prison. But I don’t think someone should be left hanging on their wedding day. ☺ 28. Sauces or car clean products? These sauces look like car clean products. I don’t think this is the vibe the designer wanted to be. 29. Fashion Fart For sure, this wasn’t the intention of the designer, but still..  30. Unbelievable Transformation When you work so hard, you change even the ethnicity… 31. Sasa Lele I love Sasa Lele ☺!. Especially when it has 50% discount! 32. Buy 3, get 2 It seems this designer is also the best marketer in the world ☺))!   33. Children’s Menu Yes, I’ll take one Child Rib, please, along with a Child Burger! And for drink……. 34. Plastic Surgery Maybe this women should start tell little white lies after her plastic surgery! 35. Exit poll Apparently zero is a little bit less than 34, but it’s much bigger than 22 ☺. Someone should learn to make some infographics. 36. Men’s Boxer Another example of unrealistic body expectation for men…. 37. Love, Morriage, Bobby? Who is Bobby? Does he know who will come up? 38. Ndeeisgihgbnocrehnotoedr   For sure, the designer’s intention was to be different, but, does anyone understand anything? 39. Doughboys Maybe this restaurant offers pizza, salad and panini, but their logo says something else. I won’t mention what, yet it’s not too difficult to see for yourself. 40. Clinica Dental Dental clinic or “full-service” practitioner? I think the patients of this clinic have already figured out ☺. 41. Year Of The Monkey This poster was created for celebrating Year of the Monkey. But as humans, we have to ask: Which monkey?    42.Junior Jazz Dance Classes This happens when the designer doesn’t pay too much attention to the negative space. Wonder if it’s a junior dancer center or something else? 43. The computer doctor Just wonder why and how. Just view the mouse from the logo and pass your own judgment. 44. Corona Clearly, this man doesn’t have any arms. But… would he be the man of the future? 45. Bureau of Health Promotion Taiwan When you’ve gone too far, I think it’s better to step back and take a closer look. Am I right?     Read More at 45 Catastrophic Failures in Graphic Design That Will Make You Laugh http://dlvr.it/PWKjVz www.regulardomainname.com

[alexbandfan]

INTERVIEW – ALEX BAND OF THE CALLING

JUNE 15, 2018

The twists and turns of life can easily break someone down, but through hope and determination anything is possible. Growing up in Hollywood, California, Alex Band knew he wanted to be a musician from a very young age, and by the age of 15 landed a record deal with RCA Records. Eager to make his move, it would not be until 5 years after his signing that his music would finally get a chance to shine, and shine it would when his band The Calling hit the airwaves with their single “Wherever You Will Go.” The lead single off their platinum-selling debut album, Camino Palmero, the song set records as a number 1 hit single on the Billboard charts, earning The Calling one of the biggest Alternative Rock radio songs of the 2000s.

Following up with their sophomore album, Two, in 2004, the future was promising for The Calling, but sadly there were some bumps in the road, leading to the band’s dissolvement. Fortunately the story does not end there because Alex Band has continued to fulfill his musical passion since, and now after many years, brings The Calling back, hopefully for good. Set to tour, and yes, release new music, the next chapter is still being written for Band and The Calling. Excited for the future, Band recently took the time to chat about the twists and turns over the years, his undying love for music, plans for The Calling, plus more.

CrypticRock.com – You have been involved in music professionally for nearly 2 decades. From the tremendous commercial success of The Calling to your solo career, you have certainly accomplished a great deal. First, briefly tell us, what has your experience been like dedicating your life to music?

Alex Band – What a question. First and foremost, it has been what I was born to do – it’s all I know and it’s all I’ve ever done, I just followed this natural path. I look at it as life, it is nothing I would ever stop or not continuing doing, even if there was no one left to listen. This is a wacky, crazy business, growing up in Hollywood and in the movie industry, it makes that very tame. It’s the business of an art, and when that happens, it can become very frustrating. For every amazing, incredible, life-changing moment I’ve had, I’ve had equal moments of crazy struggles, things you wouldn’t even believe. Getting on the stage and performing songs and seeing what 200 or 10,000 people sing back, there is nothing like that. It’s all worth it for me. I have been handed an insane hand in this card game, especially in the past 10 years. It’s crazy, but I am very optimistic right now and looking forward to what is about to come.

CrypticRock.com – It seems like it has been a very exciting ride, ups and downs.

Alex Band – Oh yea, it’s never boring. I will give it that. There have been lots of ups and a lot of downs.

CrypticRock.com – Understood. The Calling’s 2001 debut album, Camino Palmero, topped charts around the world, attained gold and platinum status, and really left an impression on the Alternative Rock scene. Being your debut album, was the success at all overwhelming and what were those times like for the band?

Alex Band – For me, it was actually kind of like it was now. I had been signed with a lot of those songs written already, actually, 6 years prior to that album coming out. There was this insanely long amount of time of arguing, anticipation, and trying to get noticed by the guy who signed us. The typical story of pushed in 100 different directions to create one sounding thing, but then coming full circle to what I was and what I had first met him with songs like “Wherever You Will Go,” which I wrote when I was 16. There wasn’t a band, I hired people. The person with me in those early times was my songwriting partner. That in itself is a whole other crazy explanation.

They were very exciting times nonetheless because of the insane amount of anticipation. The struggle that went just to get the album out, then it dawned on me, 19-20 years old, when that album came out, I started working my ass off. There was 8 months straight, touring around America doing radio before that first song broke. It was a lot of work and a long time coming, but the true battle is once the music is out there, that’s the true work. At the time I was just thrilled! They all thought I was crazy at the record label because I was the perfect kid for a band because I wanted to do every press thing and everything possible. It was exciting, I was excited, and I wanted to make it happen. It almost didn’t happen, that is actually a story I never told. But it did happen, it became a hit.

RCA

RCA

CrypticRock.com – Wow, sounds like a wild ride. That debut album was anchored by the number 1 hit single “Wherever You Will Go.” It broke records remaining at the top of the charts for a long, extensive periods of time, and is considered one of the defining Alternative Rock tunes of the early 2000s. That all said, do you personally connect with the song as much as fans do?

Alex Band – I became connected to it because of how it changed people’s live, because of how expansive it was, because of how it reached parts of the world I have never been to. Be able to go to 100 plus countries and meet these people who were changed in some way or just enjoyed listening to my music was the wildest thing ever.

That song for me was 1 of the 200 songs I had written. I knew it was a good song and a single contender amongst the songs on the record in the label’s mind. It was a very personal song when it was written, but I had no idea until it all happened. I think the biggest accolade for me was on the Billboard Charts, it was the number one song of the last decade for adult top 40. That is crazy to think, of all the songs that were played in the last 10 years. More recently, it made the number 3 song of all Billboard history, again, Billboard started in the ’80s, so we are missing a huge chunk of music. But still, the number 3 song of the last 30 years, that kind of stuff is nuts to think about and comprehend.

The quick answer, it was a song to me that was not at all what it became until I experienced that. Like I said, it was only through all of that I became more fond of the song and performing. Which is a good thing because I have performed it a zillion times. (Laughs)

CrypticRock.com – It really is an amazing story. The Calling followed up with Two in 2004. While the album was not as successful commercially, it showed a level of maturity from the band as songwriters. All these years later, what are your thoughts on Two?

Alex Band – I’m bias, but the following record, I thought was really strong. “Our Lives,” not only was featured in the Olympics in 2004, it opened the Oscars in 2005. The song was number 1 in tons of countries around the world. I lived it, so I know, it was a complete business plug pulled on the project. There was a cash flow plug pulled on the project in the midst of that record which led to the demise. I know that for a fact, it’s a sad thing, because it would have gone much further. Things happen, it is what it is, I have moved on.

I then stupidly said, I will just do a solo thing. That wasn’t the stupid part, the stupid part was I signed with the same person I did as a kid who made me wait those 5 years. He did it again, which was crazy. The whole exact same thing happened again where I we went full circle where I made this album which was the original material I first brought to him in 2006. Anyway, it’s a crazy story that I won’t go into detail about. The important thing is I have always wanted to make more albums and be The Calling. I certainly have stopped playing shows, I have been all over the world and played shows, but I have needed a few things in life to come together to able to make it possible again to be The Calling. Which relieves a huge stress which makes it possible for me to do what I already did, just without a lot of heartache and drama in the background at the same time. That is why I am very excited, I get to to be The Calling again.

RCA

RCA

CrypticRock.com – It certainly seems to have been a long road travelled. It is exciting for fans to see The Calling back in full force.

Alex Band – It’s kind of scary, because you’re kind of starting over. We are out to do a tour around the US, just a few dates on the coast. Then we have massive shows in Brazil and Europe, we just came from Australia where we sold out. It’s very exciting that fans of The Calling are still around, it’s a good thing!

CrypticRock.com – It is a very good thing. With you doing this North American run of shows, can fans expect a new The Calling record?

Alex Band – Absolutely. I’ve spent the last 10 years making it. I recorded over 2 1/2 albums worth of songs, full production recordings, and I narrowed that down to an album. Again, I’m bias, but going off opinions of people in the industry who I trust and who are very big people in the industry that say it’s a phenomenal record and it’s going to blow people away. I am very proud to be able to get it out there. It is in kind of the beginning stages, but the record is done.  

CrypticRock.com – That is wonderful news. Do you have a timetable of an expected release?

Alex Band – Right now, I need to decide which label ultimately I am going with. I am in the lucky position to be able to choose that. Ultimately, that then will of course dictate the dates of release and what not. It’s a very different business, very different than when I caught the last moment when I came out of the music business as it always was. These days, you work 10 times harder to get 10 times less. It doesn’t stop me for a second, but there is also a much smaller window getting lucky, there is luck involved. It’s not just a great song ended up being a hit song. I have a good time around me at this point, but to answer the question, the goal right now is to get a record release date. We are just going ahead and starting playing, why not get people’s reaction and play some of these new songs? Play all the old songs too of course live, just start doing that in the moment since we don’t need to make a record right now.

AMB/EMI

Killer Tracks

CrypticRock.com – This is all something to look forward to. Beyond music, you are also involved in several causes to help raise awareness for diseases such as Parkinson’s. Do you have anything new going on in association with these causes?

Alex Band – I don’t. I like it to happen naturally and Donate Life is doing organ donation awareness, they are really making a dent on it. The numbers of lives we have saved in America from my fanbase alone, working on that with Donate Life was huge. I really pushed that for a number of years. Then you have of course with Parkinson’s, I have worked with that.

I think naturally with this new record coming out, and us touring, something will come of it. I know the things I am passionate about, of course I always love to help if I can. If people listen to you and you are in that powerful position enough to help other people, that is the best part of it. I am not sure what that’s going to be at this point.

CrypticRock.com – We will see what happens, it seems like positive things are coming together, as stated.

Alex Band – Yes. The last few years have been rough. Just being healthy is a blessing that a lot of us take for granted. I went through a couple of things that were really scary, I am really happy to be here. I am happy to be healthy and to be about to go do what I have wanted to do, and loved to do, and honestly have been missing from my life. It’s that dear to me and it’s been a lot of work to get this point to be able to at least try that journey and see what happens.

CrypticRock.com – Fans have waited for it, so the reaction should be a good one.

Alex Band – I hope so. Of course I have to believe in myself, I beat on myself, I’m hoping. If there is one thing I know, the same people who were touched by “Wherever You Will Go” or The Calling’s music in general, are going to find themselves with this record in a continuous level, if that makes sense. I am interested to see how disillusioned I am. (Laughs)

CrypticRock.com – The determination is paying off! Last question. CrypticRock also covers Horror and Sci-Fi films. Growing up the son of a Horror filmmaker, if you are a fan of either genre, what are some of your favorites and why?

Alex Band – Yea, of course. My first memory is literally of a giant bear monster ripping a girl’s shirt off and eating her breast. (Laughs) I was on the set of my dad’s movies, I truly grew up in them, and he has made a lot of them. I have always been a fan. There are definitely a couple of films from the ’80s of my dad’s that are classics and I enjoyed.

I don’t know these days what a B-movie is. It was always direct to video, but I am out of touch with that world these days. Favorites for me, Trancers (1985), Re-animator (1985), Ghoulies (1984) was awesome, Troll (1986). It is crazy how many movies my dad made as a kid, which had all these no name actors/actresses who became huge stars later.

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