Settling into my 2nd day of my well deserved 4 day weekend…   All is quiet in the house.  We just finished having breaky and everyone in the living room is watching “What Not To Wear” marathon.

There’s talk of getting a holiday tree in an hour or so.  All I wanna do is lay around and take cat naps on the couch.

Hope everyone enjoyed thanksgiving.  Here’s a photo of the Chivo working up a sweat over the grill last night.

Ok… so the blog updates have been pretty sparse these days.  I’ve been busy all week…  I did however get to put another podcast in the can.  This one highlights the Chivo.

Hit the tab above and enjoy.

.aCr.

When Jaime told me the other day that he scored a copy of Chinese Democracy…  I was sorta awestruck because a.) Jaime doesn’t care for GnR  and b.)  despite pretty firm reports that the album would be coming out at the end of November, I’m not going to believe it until I actually hold it in my hands.

My appreciation for Guns N’ Roses goes all the way back to when I caught Welcome to the Jungle (video) on Headbangers Ball.  Their video was nothing like the other things they had in rotation… more importantly their song felt authentic.  At the time I didn’t really know enough about music to understand or catch all of their influences.  What I did know however was that they were contemporary and I could claim them as mine.   Just as my uncles could claim Led Zeppelin as theirs. 

As the years went on G n R’s went on to become one of the biggest (if not the biggest) band in the world. The release of Use Your Illusion I and II influenced me to go out and get a CD player actually.  

After that release… a lot happened in the musical landscape.  I went into high school and my ear for music got a little more sophisticated.

I’ve been struggling with the idea of getting the next GnR’s album since 1992.  I knew then that anything they would release wouldn’t be anything like the bands I had been growing into in my early teens.

I’ve been sitting around all morning trying to remember when I had first heard of Chinese Democracy.   I think I was in College… I recall doing a random web search one night and I ran across a website called “here today and gone to hell” an un-official band website that cataloged any and every news report during the 1990′s.

It was there that I learned that the line up had changed… that Axl had reportedly lost his fucking mind, that the album had gone through so many changes that there was no telling what it would ultimately come out sounding like.

I’ve been going to that website for nearly 10+ years.  I can’t even begin to imagine what they must feel like knowing that the album will be coming out in 7 days.

But I digress….

Despite numerous leaks and sound snippets made available on the net in recent years : I’ve always managed to keep myself from listening to any of it.  I wanted to give the record a fair listen, so I made a promise to myself to not hear it until I got my hands on an official release.

What I have in hand may not the official release…  the track-listing appears to be out of order and I’m missing a few tracks according to the tracklistings I’ve seen on the net..

The Album

So here are some quick thoughts on the record.   Let me first say that I’m quite surprised that the band has committed to calling the album Chinese Democracy.  It’s not uncommon for projects to undertake a name… but there’s no fucking way a project could last this long and it surface with the same name.   When I first heard the term “Chinese Democracy” I assumed that it may have something to do with the song “Civil War” from Use Your Illusion II.

The album art is pretty intriguing. It’s not a far departure from other GNR albums tho’.  Pressings of GnR albums usually have he album title long the right sleeve of the record.   I look forward to hearing the story behind the photo of the bike and where it was taken.

The first track I heard off of the album is called “Better”…  it has sturdy rock number with an infusion of electronic influences.  

The song (and first single) Chinese Democracy is the second track I’ve listened on the album.  It isn’t particularly good in my opinion… and it weighs in at 5:01.  I’m 10 minutes and 13 seconds into Chinese Democracy and I’m beginning to wonder if Axl is held up somewhere on a Suicide watch, in the event that word gets back to him that this was indeed a bad idea.  It’s just occurred to me that this song has been on Radio for Weeks and this is the first time I’ve ever listened to it.

I just took a peek at the time stamps and it looks like the average song weight is a good 4 minutes and heavy change.

Madagascar

So I’m 5 or so songs into the leaked copy and I just ran across an interesting track titled Madagascar.  There’s a lot of stuff going on in it…  I wouldn’t call it “good” but it seems to fall inline (if not define) the theme of the record.

40 minutes later…

OK.  So I’m gonna sum it up nicely for you.  Chinese Democracy sounds like a soundtrack to an Anime.  The album is rife with clunkers and there really isn’t anything on here that ties this incarnation of GnR to the one that disbanded in the early 90′s.

I was hoping that the album would be made up of songs like “Coma” from Use Your Illusion I.  

I’ve just pulled the plug on the Chinese Democracy listening party.  It’s truly that bad

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By admission… I’m hopping onto this Television Series very late. I wasn’t really to sure what the show was about but I knew that both Bill Simmons (sports guy) and Kevin Smith (Silent Bob) were really into the show.

I know that the creator of the show had something to do with the Soprano’s so I assumed it had a something to do with the mob.

When I later found out that it had to do with Marketing/Advertisement in nYc in the 1960′s my curiosity peaked.

I’m only three episodes into the first season and I’m quite certain that I’ll be adding the rest of the Season discs to my Netflix queue this evening.

As bad as this may sound… I’m hoping that they can square away cameo’s by the following people.

1.) Morrissey
2.) Jason Gnewikow (formerly of the Promise Ring) – who sorta reminds me of Peter Cambel. I haven’t seen what Jason looks like in nearly 8 years but given what he does – I think it would be an awesome nod.

If you’re reading this and you haven’t bothered to get out and vote today… drop everything you’re fucking doing and go vote.

Seriously.

I’ve casted my vote for this guy.

Had a chance to catch Kevin Smith’s latest movie : Zack and Miri Make a Porno over the weekend.

If you’re sitting on the fence about this movie – don’t. It’s a great comedy and you’re cheating yourself if you don’t see this before it gets to DVD.

My only complaint is the soundtrack tho’. Kevin Smith soundtracks are never particularly great… and this one plays it safe again. It just seemed strange to hear the band LIVE in the middle of the movie.

So I’m signing on this evening with a bit of a heavy heart… Got word this afternoon that Robert (Fox) Inman – had passed away over the weekend at a scooter rally I had hoped to attend just outside of Houston Texas.

I first met Robert Fox @ Sandblast 2… then ran into him at a number or rallies all over Texas.

He was quite easy to spot at rallies because he was rarely ever found without a camera in hand.

The best part about the Monday after local rallies, is logging onto scoot.net to see his work.

A friend of his posted this photo of him doing what he loved most. You’ll be missed dearly Robert. It was truly a privilege.

Prior to heading off to work – I zipped around my neighborhood with my Captain Chaos garb on. Here’s some of the footage:

Look at the cape go!

You gotta love the squeal-laugh I let out after the flash.