Grunge Lite! (The Art Of The Cover Song)

I've always been a huge admirer of cover versions of songs, when done right. And while I can go into a lengthy debate over why certain covers work over others, or list off my top 10 covers of all time, or break down multiple covers of the same song (something I rather enjoyed doing on my short lived website Massive Hysteria - RIP), I have a very specific idea for this particular post. No it's not to lament about the 'Grunge Lite' compilation by Sara DeBell from '96. (Which, sadly, wasn't that great.) But close!

I'm fascinated by songs that we grew up once holding so dear to our hearts as really deep representations of our angst-ridden youth and then suddenly hearing them transformed into soft-spoken balled-esque reinterpretations. Often to accompany some upcoming movie trailer. And this gimmick works! Because it gets me every time!

I'm sitting in the theater waiting for some new movie to start a few weeks back, and up pops the trailer to the new Liam Neeson movie 'A Walk Among The Tombstones.' Looks alright enough, probably entertaining, but suddenly I'm drawn in, because I hear this beautiful melody of a song I know I'd heard before, and it takes me a moment for it to catch on. Why it's Soundgarden's 'Black Hole Sun,' but performed in a very intimate fashion with a single piano and female vocal track. It's gorgeous and mesmerizing and I immediately look for it on-line after coming home from the movie to discover it's by an artist named Nouela. I end up downloading this version below, along with a cover of 'The Sounds Of Silence' off her Bandcamp page.

Black Hole Sun by Nouela (from 'A Walk Among The Tombstones') (Trailer)


I love it. And afterwords I find this slightly more polished "band" version with SWANN that features a bit more instrumentation, which is the actual one used in the trailer. And it gets me thinking of other examples where either "grunge" songs are covered as ballads, or used for movie trailers. Well, it's not a grunge "hit" per se, but the other time where this struck me as an amazing way to present a song in a completely different context than the original version was for the 2009 'Last House On The Left' remake trailer, which features a cover of Guns N' Roses 'Sweet Child O' Mine' as performed by Taken By Trees. Switching the intent to factor into a parent's pain over the loss of their child gives this version a whole creepy new tone, even though I'm sure that's not what Taken By Trees probably intended with their version!

Sweet Child O' Mine by Taken by Trees (from Last House On The Left) (Trailer)


Well once I started down this rabbit role, I decided I might as well keep following this path to see what else I discover. Now, the first person to successfully do this sort of reinterpretation was actually Tori Amos when she did 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' for her EP 'Crucify', and at the height of Nirvana popularity no less! I do love her version. And there are literally dozens of great versions of this song out there (none of which match the power of the original, of course), but I recently discovered this mellow acoustic version by singer/songwriter Daniela Andrade, which is rather beautiful.

Smells Like Teen Spirit by Daniela Andrade


She's got several other various covers on her You Tube page, along with plenty of originals and they're all in that vein, so if you dig this cover, I encourage you to poke around and check out more of her stuff. Well, the more I got to thinking about the most popular songs of that era, I eventually remembered Smashing Pumpkins. Billy Corgan has such a unique and distinct voice. Surely no female musicians have covered any of their hits, right? Thankfully I was wrong! There's quite a few covers of 'Today,' but I rather liked this one by an artist named Terra Naomi, which is just her and her band performing it live in the back of their van while trekking to a gig.

Today by Terra Naomi


Now, Radiohead managed to just barely escape the "grunge" label by the skin of their teeth. 'Creep' was definitely considered an anthem of the latter half of that period in the mid to late 90's, but of course they were destined to evolve into something far more different and unique. (And are still evolving!) But rather than wade through a 100 different covers of 'Creep,' I went right for 'No Surprises,' the type of track that seems ideal for a female fronted reinterpretation and I found it courtesy of Regina Spektor.

No Surprises by Regina Spektor


In the same way that I initially found it difficult to think of anyone successfully covering Smashing Pumpkins because of Billy Corgan's voice, I wondered has anyone ever pulled off a Pearl Jam cover? Eddie Vedder's voice is very distinct, as well as easy to imitate, whether you're a Pearl Jam fan, karaoke enthusiast or one of the long line of Creed-esque rip-off bands. But I was really curious to find a female vocalist singing a Pearl Jam song. And so I went for my personal favorite (and one of their all time best) tracks 'Jeremy.' I found this very casual cover done at what seems like a party (hence the background noise towards the end) by this duo. I don't know their names. And perhaps I could do a more thorough job researching them, but the You Tube username is "eleauerreabe" and links back to several other covers with this guitarist.

The Great Heartbreak Of 2013-2014 (AKA It's My Mix & I'll Cry If I Want To)

Since the advent of mix tapes, the goal with them has always been to try to describe very complicated emotions you're feeling through the words and music of others. If you're trying to profess your love or admiration to a person, that's a complicated and thought-provoking thing to have to do! If you're trying to turn on a younger sibling, cousin or friend onto new music, especially when they're at an impressionable age, that's a huge responsibility! You have the power to change this young person's life through music. Same goes for band mates. Illustrating the type of music you'd like to make with others is a complex form of communication. And alas, there's the last type of mix - the one no one ever wants to make. The break-up mix.

I don't want to delve too personally into my own situation or what exactly transpired to inspire the below playlist. But I will say that I was involved with a person, on and off for the majority of last year. Several months after we/she called it quits, I woke up to a text a few weeks back that read, "I saw you in a dream last night." The conversation that unfolded could've gone a number of ways, but it ended with her texting me in a 'by the way' kind of manner, "I'm engaged. I'm getting married."

I immediately retreated to my iTunes library to find solace. I started playing the Taking Back Sunday track "Your Own Disaster" from the Live From Orensanz CD over and over and over again. It's amazing how quickly our feelings can turn. When we part ways with someone for whatever reason, the least we can hope for is that we're thought of fondly. All the negatives are washed away and all that's left are the good times you shared with that person. In other words, you hope you're not forgotten. And yet, moments after that final text, I just kept thinking of the lyric, "just forget me. It's that simple." It's interesting how sometimes, in order to feel better about things, your mind starts working in fascinating, inexplicable ways. I, of course, started collecting a tally of songs to make me feel better about the whole situation. And much like any relationship/break-up itself, it's filled with contradictions, it's filled with doses of self loathing, anger, regret, romanticism, disappointment, etc. Here's what I put together on initial instinct.

The Great Heartbreak Of 2013-2014 Mix:

1. You Just Haven't Earned It Yet, Baby by The Smiths
2. Push by The Cure
3. Love Will Tear Us Apart by Joy Division
4. Why Bother? by Weezer
5. Someday by The Strokes
6. Wicked Game by Chris Isaak
7. Shout by Tears For Fears
8. Heartbreak Hotel by Elvis Presley
9. Landslide by Smashing Pumpkins
10. Stuck On You by Failure
11. I Remember You by Skid Row
12. Your Own Disaster by Taking Back Sunday (Live From Orensanz version)
13. Without You Here (Live) by Finch (from 'What It Is To Burn X')
14. So Long by Guster
15. They're Not Horses, They're Unicorns by Bayside
16. Jude Law And A Semester Abroad by Brand New
17. I Hate Everything About You by Three Days Grace

With a little bit more time to think about it, I would've added or used some different tracks, such as Roxette's "It Must Have Been Love" or EG Daily's "One Way Love (Better Off Dead)," but I already used that on my 80's mix. Maybe "Comfortable Liar" by Chevelle. But I always think that your initial reaction is the right one, so I'm sticking with this. And as you'll note, the tracks, lyrics and messages from this mix are just as mixed as most relationships tend to be. I blame myself at first with The Smith's "You Just Haven't Earned It Yet, Baby," and yet a few songs later, I'm declaring "Why Bother?" to the tune of Weezer. "You say you want to be by my side, darling your head's not right," from The Strokes "Someday" is again me taking the blame. Where in Tears For Fears "Shout," "I'd really love to break your heart." The Cure's "Push" is probably the most accurate of the bunch in terms my own situation. Or maybe "Wicked Game" is. I don't know. Things get a bit on the mean side towards the end, but like I said before, anger is a natural coping mechanism when it comes to a relationship that's run it's course. So gotta follow it through. Even if it means putting a song by Three Days Grace on a mix, something I thought I'd never, ever do.

Like I said, all of the above happened several weeks ago and I've been processing it all by listening to this mix I made. And I love it. It's a great collection of songs that currently encapsulate the varied range of emotions I've been going through. I'm good now. So back to the grind. But before I go, I'll leave you with another one I should have put on this mix. Coheed & Cambria's "A Favor House Atlantic," mainly for it's beautiful, melodic & catchy lyric, "Bye, Bye, beautiful. Don't bother to write..." So I'll include this really terrific acoustic version of that song here. And I'll say it once more...

Bye, bye, beautiful. Don't bother to write.

Nirvana Vs Pearl Jam (AKA Galluzzo Vs Maddrey... but, not really!)

Ha! My title for this blog post says it all. There is no real animosity or mud slinging involved in this very simple debate between myself and my collaborator/friend Joe Maddrey. However, it's taken on a life of its own whenever we mention it on our respective Facebook pages, so I felt the need to put into context here via our blogs.

So here's what happened...

Joe and I have been meeting up quite a bit lately, not only to map out the details of our proposed project together, but also just to get to know each other better. And usually, we do that through our discussions on music, bands, songs, mixes we've made for people and how they factor into some of our personal life experiences. You can learn a lot about someone solely based on what they put on a mix tape! And so at some point in one of our conversations, I'm sure I was talking about Nirvana as the undisputed greatest band of ever when I suddenly noticed in Joe's facial expression... that he didn't agree with me! So that's when I said, "Wait... you a Pearl Jam guy?" Initially, there was never a "Nirvana Vs Pearl Jam" discussion. It was more of a, "well, I like Nirvana. They're a great band, but growing up, Pearl Jam spoke to me more." Fair enough. We're all our own people with our own unique experiences so we see and hear things just a tad bit differently from each other. No biggie. Still like the dude.

I think shortly after this lunch meeting, and out of sheer morbid curiosity, Joe posted on his Facebook page the simple 4 word question.... Nirvana Vs Pearl Jam? And what sprung from that was a fun, healthy and impassioned debate on which band is better. With the exception of one or two jokers that answered "Alice In Chains!," the verdict was predominantly for Nirvana. I'm sure I maturely texted Joe something along the lines of "In your face! Told ya!" Or something to that effect. A few weeks had passed and I'd forgotten all about this, but we're sitting there having lunch and in the middle of our chat, he slowly goes into his bag and slides over a CD across the table to me. It reads "The Case For Pearl Jam."

I couldn't help but laugh and find it to be a tremendously gracious and thoughtful gesture. There was no case to be made! I liked Pearl Jam too! Just not as much as Nirvana and I didn't keep up with them as much post-"Versus." (I remember when "Vitology" came out, it was a huge, huge disappointment at the time. How dare a band in their position waste album space with a song like "Bugs" when these are the same guys that a few years earlier gave us "Ten?!") But I was excited, because even though I've purchased every single Pearl Jam album as they've come out, I'm not as well versed in their later catalog as I am in the first few years. Now, I didn't set any restrictions for Joe. He set them on himself. He opted for no "Ten" tracks. Although he cheated and closed with "Release" because "how could I not?" he rightfully argued. But it's a good collection of tracks that spans their whole career. Here's that track listing:

THE CASE FOR PEARL JAM:

1. Last Exit (Vitology)
2. Animal (VS)
3. Hold On (Lost Dogs Disc 1)
4. Blood (VS)
5. Not For You (Vitology)
6. In My Tree (No Code)
7. No Way (Yield)
8. Yellow Ledbetter (Lost Dogs Disc 1)
9. Given To Fly (Yield)
10. Light Years (Binaural)
11. Of The Girl (Binaural)
12. You Are (Riot Act)
13. Inside Job (Pearl Jam)
14. Amongst The Waves (Backspacer)
15. Pendulum (Lightning Bolt)
16. Release (Ten)

And it absolutely did it's job. There's no denying that there's a great band here, even minus the well known singles. And it got me curious to give those latter records another spin. The only thing I gave Joe crap about was using the "Lost Dogs" version of "Yellow Ledbetter," which fades out early as opposed to the full version as it appeared on the original "Even Flow" single. And I probably would've thrown in the song "In Hiding" from "Yield;" I consider it one of their underrated and best, but again, I'm no authority on Pearl Jam. Now, to be clear, Joe will be the first to admit that he also isn't an expert on their latter career. As is the case with the way most mixes are put together, he was going on instinct; including the tracks that stood out to him personally that he wanted to share. I only note this because when I excitedly showed the track listing to my buddy AJ, a big PJ buff, he was surprised at the lack of newer songs. I was equally surprised by the response from my own Facebook friends when I posted that above photo of his mix CD. I found it ironic that most of my friends were arguing for Pearl Jam as the better of the two bands! (While his were pro-Nirvana?!) I decided that it was only fair for me to craft the counter mix. It was time for me to make "The Case For Nirvana."


I jokingly told Joe I could probably make a mix of only Nirvana B-sides and it'd still be better than his Pearl Jam mix. He joked that all I can do is hand over "Nevermind" or else my case is already lost, which of course he only said because he knew it'd infuriate me. (Which it did.) The one thing we agreed on was no singles. I would put together a collection of songs that would encompass the entire band's history. I struggled with it for quite a while. I had weird early demos on there like "Pen Cap Chew," just because I thought it was cool. I tried desperately to find a spot for "Verse Chorus Verse" aka "Sappy" aka the hidden track on the No Alternative compilation and it just didn't jive with any of the other songs I picked. So after a lot of moving around tracks and testing it out, I got what I consider to be the perfect non-single Nirvana mix:

THE CASE FOR NIRVANA:

1. Breed (Nevermind)
2. Aneurysm (Incesticide)
3. Drain You (Nevermind)
4. School (Bleach)
5. Turnaround (Hormoaning/Incesticide)
6. Oh, The Guilt (The Jesus Lizard split)
7. Very Ape (In Utero)
8. Territorial Pissings (Nevermind)
9. Son Of A Gun (Hormoaning/Incesticide)
10. Negative Creep (Bleach)
11. Curmudgeon (Lithium single)
12. Milk It (In Utero)
13. Lounge Act (Nevermind)
14. Return Of The Rat (Fourteen Songs For Greg Sage & The Wipers)
15. Marigold (Heart Shaped Box single)
16. Spank Thru (Sub Pop 200)
17. Talk To Me (Europe 1991 bootleg)
18. On A Plain (Nevermind)
19. Something In The Way (BBC Session)
20. Opinion (With The Lights Out Disc 2)
21. Do Re Mi (With The Lights Out Disc 3)
22. You Know You're Right (Nirvana)

I'm really proud of this Nirvana mix. The opener for any mix always has to be your strongest case. And although it's not one of my all time favorite Nirvana tracks, I've decided that "Breed" is kind of the quintessential Nirvana song. It's fast, it's got a punk feel to it, it's heavy, it's melodic, it's catchy, it's energetic, it's powerful. It's all the things I love about them as a band. And I think if you're unfamiliar with their catalog, these above listed songs are a good way to weave in and out of their punk songs and pop songs. It's a good collection. Towards the end, I wanted to give a feel for where Nirvana was heading. So I kicked that section off by including the B-Side "Marigold," performed by Dave Grohl which gives a tiny glimpse at the humble beginnings of the Foo Fighters. There's a bootleg track titled "Talk To Me," which I believe was only performed once during this European tour and it most certainly would've been a single had they had the chance to record it in the studio. Then there's the last 2 tracks, the solo acoustic demo "Do Re Mi," which is interesting in that the next Nirvana record would've probably been a hybrid of REM meets their Unplugged performance. It would've been special and weird and in that direction that they started with "All Apologies."

Lastly, their final track ever "You Know You're Right." I remember the time this sucker finally hit radio was probably a good 10 years after it was originally recorded. The Queens Of The Stone Age just released their hit single "No One Knows" with Dave Grohl pounding furiously behind the drum kit. Also on the radio was the new rockin' Foo Fighters single "All My Life" from their record "One By One." And then out of nowhere, we finally got the long lost last Nirvana track and immediately, it showed everything that'd been missing from the "pop/rock" music scene in the decade since that band ended. It was intense, passionate and angry. And lyrically, it spelled out Kurt's fate, whether he intended it to or not. I love the song, but it also makes me terribly sad because as the last few notes pluck out to the progressively slowing drum beat, you know that that's it. That right there is the end of Nirvana.


I gave the mix to Joe and after a few listens, he signed off on the whole Nirvana Vs Pearl Jam thing via his own personal blog: maddrey.blogspot.com. Check it out right HERE. He makes a lot of valid point as to why each band resonates with each of us. I particularly like the theory he illustrates from Daniel Levitin, who essentially says that we're most impressionable at the age of 14 and hence, that's when our life long musical tastes truly emerge. For me, I was around 14 when Nirvana first broke big and it absolutely changed my feelings about music in general. Joe's a year behind me so he was 14 the following year when Pearl Jam broke. But I think Nirvana plays a more prominent role in my life in terms of how it changed me personally from that moment forward. As I briefly touched upon in my very first blog entry, I always had an interest in music, but I was constantly discouraged by every adult that I ever crossed paths with. It literally wasn't until I heard Nirvana and picked up a guitar and figured out the 4 main chords to "Smells Like Teen Spirit" that I realized "I can do this." Had it not been for Nirvana breaking at exactly that moment in time, who knows if I would've formed several bands and written 100 plus songs in that time since?

The biggest difference I find between Pearl Jam and Nirvana is the simplicity in the songs. Sure, Pearl Jam lyrics are amazing and the songs themselves are all compromised of really cool riffs and licks. But... hearing them for the first time, could I actually figure out how to play them? It'd take a lot of work. And that's not to say that I wouldn't want to try to put the work in, but people get easily discouraged when things are difficult for them at first. The fact that Nirvana songs are simple enough for you to figure out pretty easily I think factors greatly into their overall influence on people. My buddy Jon Holland worked for years at a Guitar Center store and he told me, "remember that scene in WAYNE'S WORLD where they're in the music shop and there's a sign that says 'No Stairway?' That's how we felt about 'Teen Spirit' because every kid would come in and play it!" And then I'd move on to "Come As You Are." It's just a few simple notes. Almost like a scale exercise. And "Lithium" and so on and so forth. Nirvana for me wasn't just accessible to how I was feeling (which was angry all the time), but I felt as if I could figure out how to play their music too. And in turn, make some of my own just like it.

There's no right or wrong to this debate. It's all personal preference. It's all our life experiences that add up to why we love the things we do. And the beautiful thing about the things we love is how they inspire us. I wanted to close this by showing you something that years later still inspires me. There's a terrific little documentary called "Classic Albums: Nirvana Nevermind." I believe this was part of a series of VH1 specials that took an in depth look at one hit album, and broke it down track by track. Below is a clip from it where recording engineer and "Nevermind" producer Butch Vig breaks down the recording of "In Bloom." You get to hear the bass & drum tracks on their own. You also get to hear Kurt's main vocal track isolated. Then paired up with Dave's harmonies. And it sounds amazing. And to me, I love that fact that 3 guys walked into a room and created what you hear in this video clip. That's it! No pitch shifting or voice correction or pro tools manipulation. Plain and simple, 3 guys in one room. It's inspiring. And if 3 dudes can go into a room and come up with something that great, well then anything is possible.

(The Origins of) My Epic 80's Movie Music Mix

So, my birthday had just passed a few weeks ago. And while most people humbly don't like to make a big deal out of it, I most definitely wanted to celebrate! If anything, to take my mind off the fact that I am feeling and getting older. Usually, I just want to do something small and geeky with some close friends, so this year I opted to encore what I'd done last year. Rent out the Jumpcut Cafe and screen a film print of one of my favorite movies with a small group of people. Last year's feature was 'BETTER OFF DEAD.' This year was 'BACK TO THE FUTURE,' mainly because when I asked my buddy Mike Williamson (who screens 16mm prints from his collection monthly at the Jumpcut for his Secret Sixteen event) he said, "well, what are you favorite movies of all time?" "TEEN WOLF and EVIL DEAD 2!" "Oh. Well I have BACK TO THE FUTURE and ARMY OF DARKNESS?" And while I'm sure ARMY OF DARKNESS would've been a lot of fun, I opted for BTTF because I hadn't seen it in ages and I wanted to keep my birthday 80's-centric. (Besides, there's always next year.)

I can't explain it, but I just have so much love for that time period. Sure, I primarily grew up as a teenager in the 90's, but that later half of the 80's from around 85-89 was when I became a hardcore movie fanatic and soaked in as many comedies and horror films of that era as I could. It was the golden age of the video store. It was also the golden age of HBO where you'd seen weird, oft-kilter movies like 'ONE CRAZY SUMMER' or 'MAKING MR. RIGHT' or 'JUST ONE OF THE GUYS' on a regular basis. The mere possibility of a discussion popping up these days that revolves around the movies I love of this period gets me ridiculously excited. Any chance I get to talk about Savage Steve Holland or Michael J. Fox or John Hughes, it makes me enthusiastically very happy.

Ever since FEARnet shut down earlier this year, I've been trying to find little things to do that make me happy. One hobby that has resurfaced from my teenage years is record shopping. About two years ago when my current roommate Brendan moved in, he brought along with him a really great turntable set-up. Once we were up and running, I arranged to have any vinyl I had left in New York shipped here and I continued my collection, primarily focusing on soundtracks because they're fairly easy to find, but also because they tend to be fairly inexpensive! I love soundtracks, especially for 80's movies because a lot of those tracks aren't available in any other medium. Not on iTunes or even CD's. And sometimes you'll hear a few notes of a song or catch a few lyrics and immediately be transported into the world of the movie it's from. And because of this, I made it a quest to track down as many 80's movie soundtracks as possible.



With my birthday fast approaching and not a whole lot on my plate to do, I decided to hook up my laptop to our turntable so that I could digitize a handful of these records that aren't available any other way by using a program called Audacity. (Which by the way, I used to record all the DEXTER & THE FOLLOWING podcasts.) I wanted to rock out to EG Daily's "One Way Love (Better Off Dead)" in my room or pump my fist up in the air to Mark Safan's "Win In The End" from the original TEEN WOLF soundtrack in my car! (I mean, have you ever listened to the actual words of that song? Freakin' amazingly written. Will include at the end of this post.*) And as I was in the process of doing this, I started to formulate a playlist in my head. I began assembling in my mind what the perfect mix tape would be for these particular songs. Essentially I wanted to listen back to a list of tunes that evoked my innocent and untainted love of all these movies I discovered in my formative years.

And so I began my epic 80's Movie Music Mix. As is the case with most mixes, I desperately argued with myself on what order would be the most appealing. Well, if I have "Eye of The Tiger" on there, I have to follow it up with "You're The Best," right? And if I'm putting a track from THE KARATE KID on there, I might as well go right into a track from THE KARATE KID 2 next! At one point, there was a good 4 or 5 song stretch that was so full of win, I started to get excited and feel like I should sign up and win a tournament or something. Hearing all these songs together made me smile and laugh, but also inspired me! And so, I wanted to share this feeling. I mean, that's the point of mixes to begin with, right? You want to be able to express yourself or share something you're experiencing that you can't describe in words. And so you use other peoples words and music to get that message across. I figured it would only cost me about $20 bucks to buy a spindle of blank CD-R's and a batch of envelope sleeves and one afternoon of my time to burn them all. I was going to do it. I was going to make by hand a shit-ton of mix CD's and hand it out to every friend I crossed paths with on my birthday.

THE FINAL TRACK LISTING IS AS FOLLOWS:

1. The Power Of Love by Huey Lewis & The News (BACK TO THE FUTURE - 1985)
2. Back To School by Jude Cole (BACK TO SCHOOL - 1986)
3. They're So Incredible by Revenge (REVENGE OF THE NERDS - 1984)
4. One Way Love (Better Off Dead) by EG Daily (BETTER OFF DEAD - 1985)
5. Win In The End by Mark Safan (TEEN WOLF - 1985)
6. Eye Of The Tiger by Survivor (ROCKY III - 1982)
7. You're The Best by Joe Espisito (THE KARATE KID - 1984)
8. Glory Of Love by Peter Cetera (THE KARATE KID PART 2 - 1986)
9. La Bamba by Los Lobos (LA BAMBA - 1987)
10. (Don't You) Forget About Me by Simple Minds (THE BREAKFAST CLUB - 1985)
11. In Your Eyes by Peter Gabriel (SAY ANYTHING - 1989)
12. What Does It Take by Honeymoon Suite (ONE CRAZY SUMMER - 1986)
13. Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now by Starship (MANNEQUIN - 1987)
14. St. Elmo's Fire (Man In Motion) by John Parr (ST. ELMO'S FIRE - 1985)
15. Meet Me Half Way by Kenny Loggins (OVER THE TOP - 1987)
16. Put A Little Love In Your Heart by Al Green & Annie Lennox (SCROOGED - 1988)
17. Dead Man's Party by Oingo Boingo (BACK TO SCHOOL - 1986)
18. Batdance by Prince (BATMAN - 1989)



I'm fairly content that I was able to squeeze the above selected tracks onto a 74 minute blank CD. I'm proud of the flow and feel of the whole thing. Sure, I messed around with it a lot. In retrospect, I might not have doubled up on 2 tracks from BACK TO SCHOOL, but I was just so in love with the idea of Dead Man's Party back to back with Batdance (the obvious closer) that I couldn't resist. I also had a few other oddities in my initial version such as Dan Aykroyd & Tom Hanks rap performance of "City Of Crime" from DRAGNET (1987) and The Fat Boy's "Baby, You're A Rich Man" from DISORDERLIES (1987), but that's what iTunes playlists are for! On iTunes, your mixes can be as long as you like. And so, I handed out that above stack to all my friends on my birthday, and they all reacted with surprise but also appreciation. "Wait... it's YOUR birthday. Shouldn't we be getting you something???" Nah, I wanted to share something that would spread positive vibes and have people think of me in that way.

And it worked beautifully! A few days later, my buddy Andrew Kasch and his wife Annette had given birth to their first baby daughter and he posted a pic stating that her first listen on the way home from the hospital was my 80's Movie Music Mix. My Killer POV co-host Elric texted me a few days later to say the mix was "cinematic sweetness." After posting about it on Facebook, a handful on non-local friends started asking about it, and I couldn't help myself! I made a few additional copies and started mailing them out to people. My friend Christina in Florida told me she got a little teary-eyed when "Put A Little Love In Your Heart" popped up towards the end because of how much she loves SCROOGED. (Me too! It's my Christmas Eve tradition!) And so, mission accomplished.

One of the beautiful things about making mixes and sharing music is that you have the power to touch people. Make them feel good. Spread positive vibes. Inspire and encourage them through words & music and in this case, the love everyone around my age shares with these particular movies. Think about it, that stack of CD's up above didn't even exist in any way, shape or form a few weeks ago. And now I've spread them not only across my local friends here in Los Angeles, but across the darned United States as well! So if you have the opportunity and time to share something that means something to you with the people you care about, just do it. It's worth it. It makes a difference. After all, that's the power of love...



*I was down to zero
Still an unsung hero
Waiting for my ship to come to shore

I stood empty handed
Like a seagull stranded
Watching all the other seagulls soar

I was slowly losing hope
Twisting frayed ends of the rope
In a suicidal fantasy

I was going to extremes
Losing sight of all my dreams again
I never thought I'd win

I was blinded by the pain
Running wild through the rain
In a parody of extacy

I was inches from the edge
Fingers clinging to the ledge again
I never thought I'd win

Win in the end
I'm gonna win in the end
Win in the end
I'm gonna win in the end

Got to keep my cool
I am not the fool
Everyone expects to play me for

I could change the pattern
Steal a ring from Saturn
Forge myself into a man-of-war

I am equal to the task
I won't hide behind the mask
What you see is what you'll get from me

I am stronger than they think
They can force me to the brink again
But now I know I'll win

Win in the end
I'm gonna win in the end
Win in the end
I'm gonna win in the end

I will steal the thunder
Rolling out from under
Every cloud that's clashing in the sky

Like a true defender
I will not surrender
Why should I lie down for them and die?

I am equal to the task
I won't hide behind the mask
What you see is what you'll get from me

I am stronger than they think
They can force me to the brink again
But now I know I'll win

Win in the end
I'm gonna win in the end
Win in the end
I'm gonna win in the end

Introduction For Fellow Freaks & Mix Makers!

Greetings! Welcome! And a hey now!

If you're here reading this blog, then I'm guessing that you may know me from one of my multiple previous creative endeavors. Perhaps from my 10 plus years as a writer/ web-journalist in the horror industry for Icons Of Fright (my co-creation with Michael Cucinotta), or as contributor to Shock Till You Drop, Fangoria or Gorezone magazine; former web coordinator over at the now deceased FEARnet; or as producer/ sound engineer from one of my podcast productions like the official DEXTER podcast 'Dexter: Wrap Up' or 'The Following official podcast,' or maybe even from the GeekNation produced weekly horror talk show Killer POV. Or perhaps you caught my passion project documentary THE PSYCHO LEGACY on DVD! Or God-forbid, you may even remember my stints as the frontman in the bands Pretty Polly or The Great Below. (Bless you if you do remember either/or, let alone know them.)

Or maybe you stumbled onto this link via a google search or something and are thinking, "who the hell is this asshole and why the hell does he think anyone would give a shit about his opinion on anything? Especially music! Hell, look at the shameless vanity displayed in the very first paragraph of his blog! It reads like a goddamn resume!" This is not true. I am constantly full of shame. And I am also currently jobless, so if you're a employer, please read my first paragraph as a resume.

Anyways, over the course of the last several months, my life has undergone some dramatic changes. And as I continue to wade through all these past events and try to piece together what it all means, I've rediscovered my love & passion for music again. Here's the brief synopsis on my life as it pertains to the influence of music and why it suddenly seems so relevant and fresh once more. As far back as I can remember, I've always felt extremely connected to music. I tried to sing along, karaoke-style to Michael Jackson and Prince records as an infant. As I got older, I had an inkling that I may have an ear for music, so I decided I wanted to learn an instrument. My first try was the violin in elementary school. All I recall about the violin was that the music teachers would never let me play with a bow. Instead I had to pluck along while others in my class advanced ahead of me with their damned bows. So I quit that pretty quickly. Next up, I signed up for trombone as I headed into middle school. It was me and one other kid in the band that played this particular instrument. I think I forgot my stupid mouth piece once or twice & hence because of this, I was immediately kicked out. The irony being that the other kid would also repeatedly forget his mouth piece on purpose in the hopes he'd be kicked out, but since he was the only trombone player in the band, they kept him around. Then I had a chorus class. I was stoked. Surely singing along to those Michael Jackson and Prince records was finally going to pay off, right?! Nope. Dr. Clarke took one listen to my voice and insisted I stay buried in the back of the class as part of the background vocals group.



That's a whole lot of rambling, I know. But the point is, my entire life, every "adult" I've ever met has tried to prevent me from following my natural instinct towards music. Or at least none of them helped nourish my desire to create my own music. Cut to several years later, my cousins Silvi & Marcello were not only pivotal in my movie tastes (these two forced me to sit through a double feature of 'A Nightmare On Elm Street' and 'Better Off Dead,' unaware of the little monster they had just created!) but they set me on the path of my ever-growing music tastes. First Silvi introduced me to tons and tons of "hair metal" bands. Sure, most of them were kinda cheesy, but I did kinda think Def Leppard rocked. And then Marcello was like, "no, no, no. You need to listen to Metallica!" And what'd ya know? This was a period in my young life where bullying and name calling had become a regular occurrence and hence I was suddenly very, very angry all the time. Metallica and bands like that seemed ideal. But it wasn't until around 91 when I first heard Nirvana that I decided, you know what? All those people that told me I shouldn't be playing instruments? Well, this band is telling me I CAN do that. And that's exactly what I did. I formed a band with my childhood best friend Steven DeJoseph. We went under many different names in those early days. Silly things like 'Mistrust' and 'Splatapillar' and 'DeeLusion,' but finally after watching A Clockwork Orange one afternoon, we settled on 'Pretty Polly.'



The reason I even bring any of this up is just to give a little perspective of how long it took me to finally accept how important music was to me and that I didn't care what anyone else that rejected me along the way thought of that. Once Pretty Polly was formed, I kept at it for a solid 10 years. All the way through my teens, and through community college and well into my adulthood and beyond. And while I'm proud of a lot of the experiences and times I've had with the musicians I shared either stage or rehearsal space with, I got to a point around 2004 where I was sick of it. I'd seen every aspect of the music industry. I had worked as an artist for 2 Tower Records locations on Long Island for over 7 years. I'd met and played with tons of bands, most of them unpleasant and arrogant that went on to find a lot of success. Even our band was constantly ridiculed and insulted because we weren't "hardcore" enough and sounded too much like "Nirvana." (Which I now think is actually a cool thing.) I'd worked with reps from indie labels, reps from major labels, played countless band showcases with multiple bands and it all left a very sour taste in my mouth. I was over it. It sucked. And I didn't enjoy making or even listening to music anymore. And so I retreating into something that made me happy. My love of cinema. In particular horror cinema. And I co-created Icons Of Fright for no other reason than I wanted to be happy again and talk about something that was pure, unfiltered and untainted from my childhood. My love of horror.

Ironically, it's now 10 years after that and I feel exactly the same way about the horror genre. It's no longer as fun for me or untouched or pure or unfiltered as it had been all those years back. If anything, as I've learned, every facet of your life at some point reverts right back to high school. Where you're constantly having to prove you're the "cool" kid and let everyone know all the cool people and things you're up to. Eh, I'm too old for that shit. And so inadvertently, I've slowly rediscovered my love of music again. And there's a few reasons for that.

For starters, my parents sold my childhood home in Long Island, NY earlier this year. I trekked back to NY in February of 2014 to help pack and sort through my old stuff. I boxed whatever I could and shipped it to myself in Los Angeles. Then in April, I lost my full time job. It's a bummer, but FEARnet (my dream job) was folded into Chiller as part of some merger and all FEARnet employees were let go. With a ton of free time on my hands, I started delving into those boxes and I found piles and piles of old photographs, demo cassettes, live VHS tapes and was reminded of some amazing people, experiences and times. Listening to rehearsals I hadn't heard in almost 20 years suddenly reminded me of the albums I was just discovering from Sub Pop at that time, or the upcoming shows I was excited to catch in town. Or the high school buddies I attempted to write songs with. That feeling of discovering something new and sharing it with someone in the hopes to turn them onto it too is unparalleled. It's magic.

Simultaneous to all this, I started discussing the possibilities of collaborating with a fellow filmmaker named Joe Maddrey on a new documentary project. I could not be more proud of 'The Psycho Legacy,' but it took 3 years of my life. I sacrificed relationships to finish it. I lost friendships along the way. I made a lot of rookie mistakes. And while I'm happy with what finally went out there into the world, it took a bit of my soul with it. I vowed not to do another doc again unless it was something I could truly get passionate and excited about. And I think Joe and I have concocted something amazing, based on our mutual love of music. (More on that soon! Promise!) I wanted to share with you guys the two books that have set me on this current path.

THE FREAK TABLE by Gavin Hignight



This one was written by my very talented co-worker from FEARnet Gavin Hignight. He gave it to me just as we were closing shop over there and I devoured it rather quickly during the early days on my unemployment. It's a semi-autobiographical novel loosely based on Gavin's high school experiences in the early 90's and what struck me immediately about it was how raw, pure and honest it is. It pulled a lot of mixed emotions out of me that I haven't felt since those high school years. I guess because I had such a difficult time as a fellow "freak" in those days, that now as an adult, I've tried my best to block out that whole period of time from my memory. But that also means I've been blocking out a lot of feelings and thoughts that initially inspired me to be creative. There's no more potent time for a person than when they're in high school and they fall in love with someone for the first time. Or when they discover a band that changes their whole outlook on everything. Or their friendships suddenly mutate and new "cliques" are formed. You look at death in a completely different light when you're experiencing it close to you at that stage in life. Reading this book opened the floodgates to how it felt to me to be a teenager again. And as hellish a time as that was for me, there were things I forgot about. Like the fact that I'd come home from school and write a new song just about every other day. I never even thought about it back then! Words and lyrics and music were practically second nature because I was relying strictly on instinct. On feelings. On pure emotion. The older we get, we can't help but over analyze every little thing. Hell, I used to draw all the time and dream of being a cartoonist one day! I'd forgotten all that. This book was the catalyst that led me to open up that old box with photographs in my closet that had been sitting there collecting dust for a few months. If you were friends with the skaters or goth kids or the other weirdos that sat at "the freak table," then I think you'll appreciate the memories and emotions this book evokes. Watch a video intro about the book from Gavin right HERE. Buy the book on Amazon right here.

LOVE IS A MIX TAPE: LIFE AND LOSS, ONE SONG AT A TIME by Rob Sheffield



This was actually the first of many recommendations I got from Joe and I absolutely loved it. Robert Sheffield is/was a contributing editor to Rolling Stone magazine and has written a handful of music oriented books, but this one in particular is a literal love letter to his relationship to the love of his life Renee, whom he lost very abruptly into their early marriage together. Each chapter opens with a scan of the front of a mix tape and the track listing is intended as both a time stamp and soundtrack to the memories he's about to divulge. Obviously, as I'm of a different age group, I don't recognize every single track listed, but I know enough of them. (Whole lot of Pavement!) And that's besides the point. What's beautiful about music and mixes in general is that you can totally relate and understand the vibe that a person is trying to express themselves with solely based on how they talk about the songs. The book is sad, it's bittersweet, it's heartbreaking at times, but also hilarious at other times. And it's a true celebration of love. And the love of music. You can buy it on Amazon right here.

I will explain a bit more how these books and some of the topics and stories I plan on writing about here in the future tie into the project Joe and I are cooking up, but that'll have to wait for later entries. If you're still reading and made it this far, I thank you! This is the outlet I needed and I hope it connects to someone, anyone. If even for a moment. 'Til the next one, I encourage you to come as you are...