R.I.P. Steve Albini
Issue #90: The backbone of this country is the independent truck
Hi readers!
I don’t really have a whole hell of a lot to talk about this week. I’m giving this new look a try again though. Nobody has said that they don’t like it so far. Then again, nobody has said that they do like it either. So if you have any thoughts for or against, hit me up on social media or shoot me an email at otter272@gmail.com and let me know.
This week on Rebel Rock Radio our main topic was the new Disney+ Star Wars show Tales of the Empire. We also talked about what we did over the May the 4th weekend (and Free Comic Book Day), we briefly discussed the Acolyte trailer that came out with the re-release of The Phantom Menace and we played tunes from Billy the Kid, Stress Dolls, and MakeWar!
Here is some really sad news in the world of music. Tuesday, musician/producer Steve Albini died at the age of 61. More often than not, celebrity deaths don’t affect me all that much. Sometimes they do. This one was a gut punch. He was a huge influence to me as a musician. He engineered (he hated being called a producer) some really great albums for bands such as Pixies, Nirvana, Jesus Lizard, and many many more. One of the bands that he performed with, Big Black, is one of my all time favorite bands. He also had a band called Shellac that was similar to Big Black and was also really good. I never met the man personally although I would have liked to. His importance to the music world really cannot be understated. Music truly lost one of its most influential and important sons this week. Rest in Peace Steve!
Not nearly as sad but still a little disappointing is that my band Get Fired decided to call it a day. Sometimes a band just knows when it is time to fold up their tents and move on and this just happened to be that time for us. I will eventually start something else up I’m sure. In fact, a friend of mine and I have been talking about putting something together. Just talking right now. Nothing serious. I’ll keep you up to date on that if anything materializes.
Last week I forgot to talk about my favorite new releases that came out in April so now is as good a time as any. April was an interesting month for music releases. Interesting because, there were 3 albums that came out on April 5th that are very likely to end up in my top 10 for the year (possibly even top 5). Anyway, without further jibber jabber, here are my favorite music releases that came out in April:
F.O.D. - The Once a Virgin Club
John Moreland - Visitor
Bayside - There Are Worse Things Than Being Alive
The Blackburns - The Blackburns
Half Past Two - Talk Is Killing Me
Shit Present - Acting Tough
Melvins - Tarantula Heart
There was only one new music release on my radar this week. It was the new Hot Water Music album VOWS. I’ve only listened through it once so far but I like it.
There were 5 books that came out on my comic book pull list. They were Darth Vader #46, Batman #147, Geiger #2, Giant Size X-Men #1, and X-Men Forever #3.
I haven’t been doing a whole heck of a lot of reading lately other than comic books. I really need to find something worth reading.
Last weekend, I watched The Phantom Menace re-release in the theater. This movie really gets a lot more flack than it should. In my humble opinion, it is better than any of the sequel trilogy movies. It has its flaws sure. The thing about this movie is that, you gotta understand, up to the point of this film’s release, we had not had any new Star Wars movie content since 1983. I don’t count the special editions. We are talking almost 20 years since we had seen a new Star Wars movie in the theater. And by we I am talking about Star Wars fans. Maybe our expectations were a little high and that is why a lot of people didn’t like it. I liked it. I was living in Biloxi, Mississippi at the time and I went to the midnight release. This was when theaters still did midnight releases instead of just released movies a day (or sometimes two days) early. Anyway, I saw it at the midnight release and then wound up watching it (I think 4 more times in the theater). And that doesn’t count the 3D re-release that they did several years ago. The more time goes by, the higher in my ranking this film starts moving up.
Also in the theater, I watched an early screening of Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. Other than Dune 2, this was the movie that I was most looking forward to this year. It did not disappoint. I highly recommend it. Unless you are not a fan of the franchise. If that is the case, I am concerned for your movie taste. LOL! Just kidding. I really like the franchise. Both the old and the new. My least favorite of the series, however, is the one that Marky Mark was in and I don’t really count that as part of the franchise anyway.
In memory of Steve Albini, this week’s track of the week comes from his band Big Black. It comes from their 1987 album Songs About Fucking. Quite possibly my absolute favorite song from the band.
That’s it for this week kids. Have a great weekend and remember to BE MORE KIND!