Nirvana Vs. Facebook

Behold, the cover of an album that changed a whole generation of kids......

In the big picture of modern rock, that was a pretty damn import album that came along and kicked the shit outta all the over produced, glamed up rock of the 80's. It had a different sound then anything that came before it, musically, lyrically & sonically. To go with something different, Nirvana chose to have a naked baby in a swimming pool chasing a dollar bill. The imagine certainly sticks with you. Here we are 20 years later, that album still plays just as well. And when you see that baby you instantly think of the album that defined a generation with Smells Like Teen Spirit, Come As you Are, Lithium among other great tracks.

Nirvana are releasing a 20th anniversary reissue of this iconic album, in doing so they posted the album cover on their Facebook page. One problem, the naked baby violates the terms of use according to Facebook. While it's true, FB deletes any sort of nudity on it's website and they have the administrative right to do so, in this scenario I think they were wrong. We're not talking about a pornographic photo posted by a user, we're talking about a piece of art. Perhaps in the early 90's retail stores had the right to censor or not carry the album because of cover, different times. But in this day, we've been desensitized to most shocking imagery and this isn't a perverse picture. It was fitting to go along with the lyrical theme of disenchanted youth, drowning as they try to seek living..... or whatever the hell the real meaning was, there's enough stories out there.

Regardless, I think this decision needs to be reversed. It was a FB page for fans of Nirvana. If you're a fan of the band you're already aware of the album cover, if you're not a fan of the band then what reason do you have to be on their fan page?

Facebook Vs. Google+

Very rarely do I do tech talk with computer related things as a lot of it is lost on me, but I use social networking enough to speak somewhat knowledgeable in this one.

I recently got invited to join Google+, if you are unfamiliar it's a new social networking site designed by Google & will likely rival Facebook. It's got quite the buzz behind it and is slowly catching on. This wouldn't be the first time we've seen the battle of social networks, remember Myspace or Hi5?

After getting the G+ invite I browsed it a little bit, seemed neat but didn't go on it too much. Then finally there was an iphone app for it, that's much more my style since that's where I use FB & Twitter the most. I will admit that I'm not dumping FB as of yet, but one of it's latest changes to their chat system has me thinking about it. FB chat has always been kinda messy, kicking you offline, making other people appear offline, not sending messages. But because I could now talk with all of my FB friends it pretty much killed off MSN Messenger.

But they've changed hands in providers or something as it's at an all time quality low. I can now only view a handful of people who are online and messages don't seem to send all that well. Given FB's history of making changes and not giving a damn about what it's users think, I'm not surprised by this. However, this time around there's a new kid in town, Google+. It only has a small following at this point, but I kinda feel this one is gonna take off and gonna give FB a run for it's money. For people who use Gmail, it'll integrate well with it! Puts everything in one place for you. It's outlook is similar to FB, but now you have circles. Circles of friends, acquaintances, co-workers. Now that NSFW post you wanna share with your friends and not with the boss is possible by selecting the groups of people you want to share things with.

I'm going to follow the progress of G+, I think it's got some good promise and it's only in the beta testing stage. If you get a chance check it out! G+ movie in the works? Maybe too soon......

OMG NEW RHCP!!!!

It's days like today that I know I love my job and wouldn't want to do anything else. The Red Hot Chili Peppers have a new album, I'm With You, coming out Aug 30th produced by Rick Rubin. We were expecting the first single "The Adventures of Rain Dance Maggie" to be officially released Monday afternoon. However it got leaked in some fashion tonight and I was the first person to play it in all of Canada at 10pm/AST!!

I found it to be a very cool song. It had that funkidelic rock sound we've come to expect out of RHCP, but with a new vibe. Between bassist Flea studying music in University for the last few years and new guitarist Josh Klinghoffer, there's enough reason for the sound to be different. But it's still RHCP. Going through the different guitarists they've had (Hillel Slovak, John Fusciante, Dave Navarro and now Josh) there's always been a unique sound to their albums, but it's always sounded like RHCP. Admittedly Josh has a guitar style of his own, he doesn't sound like he's trying to be any of the other guitarists that have played with the Peppers. It's not in your face flashy, it's tasteful & fitting for the band. And the production is just what I expect when Rick Ruban produces a kick ass record! Sonically, the man knows his shit!

I am so pumped for this album now! Definitely keeping a copy of that track for myself while I wait for the release date. We're gonna play the song all weekend on Live 105, so you'll get your fix of new Peppers that's for sure. Just for a little something else, here's the single art work. Cheers!

Death Valley Driver

Death Valley Driver are from PEI, they won Clash of The Bands & get to open Rock The Hill featuring Metallica tomorrow! I spoke to their singer Dan on tonight's Live Underground, here's the full interview.

For more info on Death Valley Driver go to http://www.facebook.com/DeathValleyDriverPEI

Punked or Just High?

So lately there's been some weird requests on the Live 105 twitter page, http://twitter.com/Live105Loud. A few times each day this past week people have requested Britney Spears. I dunno if it's a joke, like we're being punked by someone, or if they're high. I'm thinking Britney don't fit in with with Modern Rock like Arcade Fire, Sum 41, Foster the People & some heavier alternative music we play by Nirvana, Alice In Chains, Seether, A Day To Remember, Arctic Monkeys, Disturbed and such. Not to mention Metallica or any of the bands featured on Louder with Scotty Mars. So I have to assume it's a joke or there are some terribly misinformed people as to what we play on Live 105.

But in response, I thought I'd find some Britney covers that I don't find too bad. Can't say I'll ever play them fully on the air, but they're amusing none the less.

First Up, A Static Lullaby with Toxic. Stick it out for the screaming chorus.

Next up, it says Children of Bodem and it does sound like them, but I'm not 100% sure. Either way, a very heavy Opps! I Did It Again, synced to the original video no less!.

Here's one that was brought to my attention on our FB page. Gimmie More by Machine Supremacy.

Finally, this one isn't metal, but it's done tastefully & the first time I hear it I was surprised as hell by it. From Rock Star: INXS, here's Marty Casey with Hit Me Baby One More Time.

Hope you enjoyed and if you ever ask me to play Britney on Live 105, I will quickly say NO!

Tattoo Culture

I was reading a story today about a woman who got her first tattoo at 99, she's now 101 and has gotten a few more. Sorta proves the theory that getting inked is addictive. I got my first tattoo in Feb of 2010, I'm now up to 4. In a little over a year I've gone from none to 4 and thinking about getting more. It's kinda crazy, but at the same time I love all my tats and they all have meaning to me. Lets go through them, shall we?

This was my first tattoo, I got it in Feb 2010. I got the idea for this one from a pendant necklace my grandmother gave me. It was a tribal sun with strength written on the back. It's meaning is in a spiritual sense of the sun giving our Earth strength, but it's also a sentimental reminder of my grandmother.

My second; Peace & Love, two things I believe strongly in. I know the Dove can be a popular tattoo, but I thought it represented my beliefs best. I got this in July of 2010. My first tattoo I thought long and hard about, this one I had the idea and got the tattoo within a few weeks.

My third is a Fender Jaguar Bass Guitar with Passion written in it. I've been playing bass with various bands since I picked the instrument up in the fall of 2000, this is an actual bass I own & it represents my passion for music. I'm a music geek; I love listening & playing, reading all about different things my fav bands did while writing & recording some of my fav songs. I got this started in August of 2010 and had it finished a month later.

This is my latest tattoo, it's a picture of my dog Sparky. I had grown up with this dog & loved her very much. She had to get put down this past winter, she was nearly 15, had bad vision/hearing & mobility problems among other things. I decided to get her face along with a quote from Neil Young's "Long May You Run" as a way to always remember her. I got this in March of this year.

I'm sure there's more to come, I find certain things happen in life that inspire a decision to get another tattoo. These events & symbols are important to me and have brought me to where I am now. I suppose in a way, years from now they will all tell a story, although I don't expect to be totally covered I will likely get a few more as time goes by. The point of all this was that it doesn't matter your age or how many tattoos you have, so long as they mean something. I've seen many tattoos on people that are the equivilent to a cheesy one hit wonder on the charts. Sure it's cool now, but in 5, 10 or more years will it be? I'm confident the choices I've made will stand the test of time like a good album.... will yours?