A Belated Christmas Present: “Tim Burton’s Nightmare before Christmas - The Film, The Art, The Vision”

To begin with, Tim Burton’s Nightmare before Christmas: The Film, The Art, The Vision is a great book that shows all the artistic stuffs behind the birth of the greatest and the most artistic Christmas movie ever made, Nightmare before Christmas. I won’t give detailed information about the story of the film because I believe most—if not all—of you already know about it. (Well, if you don’t know yet, you can read it here.)

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Greatest Christmas Songs (For Any Kind of Christmas You Like)

I couldn’t remember anymore, when was the last time I felt the-so-called Christmas Spirit. However, I still embrace the “soul” of Christmas songs (well, at least some of them). And I’m sure, though I don’t want to bet on it, that I’m not the only one to feel that way

To tell the truth, the mood I have from those songs is far from anything religious. But I gotta say that those songs do present an-almost-spiritual experience... What spirit?! ...Err…Vodka everyone!

1. Charlotte Church - God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

Description: A Christmas in Gotham City.
Intended Audience: Anyone who has watched and loved Tim Burton’s Batman Return, and still wanna celebrate Christmas.
(Editor’s note: Is this your idea of MERRY?)

2. Brian Setzer Orchestra - Jingle Bells

I would like some “spiritual” eggnog at my Christmas party, and I guess this’ll be a matching background song.

3. Jackson Five - Little Drummer Boy

Little Michael Jackson’s has one of the purest voice I’ve ever heard. He made this simple song sounds terrific. And he did prove that you don’t have to sing difficult melody scale to sound great.

4. Jeff Beck - Amazing Grace

Is this a Christmas song or an anti-slavery song? Whatever… I got this version from Merry Axemas compilation anyway, and I really love the song. (Well, that’s reasonable enough.)

5. Ted Nugent – Deck The Halls

Hell Yeah! It kicks! It’s great! It’s far better than Mariah Carey’s version!

There. Those are my Christmas carols this year...and last year...and maybe next years....
Hope you'll enjoy them too.
(To download the song, just click the artist's picture.)

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Dying Has Never Been This Exciting (Free Download "Machine of Death" Ebook and Podcast)

What’s the only fate shared by the entire humanity? Yup, it’s death. And since we’re all going to die, it won’t be a far-too-incorrect premise that life is the process of dying itself, right? You see, most people do know that to live means to be dying, but since they couldn’t see the other end of that process—the mysterious death—life has become something of a day-to-day, all-too-ordinary journey (physically, mentally, spiritually, economically, etc). How about that fate of death? Not to worry. We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.

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It Takes Some Old(er) Guys to Rock These Days

(Performance in Metro, Chicago. August 9,2009)

Thanks God, not every rocker is Pete Towhshend, who wish to “die before I get old.” By the way, even Townshend does not die before he got old, doesn’t he? Well, leave him be. For now, what we’re going to see is Them Crooked Vultures, an (elderly) men band. Come on, with the members’ age ranges from of 37 to 64, elderly men band wouldn’t be too impolite of a description for them, right? It is the “Rock ‘n’ Roll Dream Team” every rock music lover could ever dream of these days, with Dave Grohl (Nirvana, Foo Fighters, Probot), Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age—QOTSA), and John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin) (plus a semi-permanent additional Alain Johannes, an avid rocking guitarist nonetheless).

So, what’s so great with this Them Crooked Vultures? You see, I never want to sound like “the old days were better” but seeing the music scenes and events nowadays—when so many try to look sexy, smart, and overly conscious—I guessed the only step worth taking is backward. But then, these guys came. Actually this nascent project began in mid 2009, but I listened to their first self-titled debut album in mid 2010. (It’s not about who got it first, right?)

In the scale of 1 to 5, I’ll give their first album, Them Crooked Vultures, 4 stars; four and a half for their live performances. It has the raw-sheer-queer guitar sound and melodic vocals of Josh Homme, similar to QOTSA (It’s his tone-color, Dude). Yeah, I know. I love that Homme’s bluntly sharp distortion sound. Dave Grohl—never saw him having these many toms and cymbals on his drum set—is still as damn pounding as he’s ever been on a drum. And talking about Grohl, that says a lot. John Paul Jones, in this latest band of his or in the legendary Zeppelin, always has the role of the cool groove keeper. As a former member of a band that defined modern Rock ‘n’ Roll, sure he knows how to rock. Always keeps the base line precise, plays as cool and groovy as needed to; and despite the fact of once being the god of the other band members, he seems to enjoy playing alongside the other members. And last but surely not least is Alain Johannes. He may not look like it—he looks like an Italian mobster in his suite—but when he plays with a slider on his guitar…So raw…awesome!

Guess it will be too much to say Them Crooked Vultures is the culmination of rock ‘n’ roll; with each members represents different era of rock: 70’s rock golden age (Led Zeppelin), 90’s grunge and alternative (Nirvana), and late 90s’–early 2000 stoner rock. But they do bring refreshment when other options—better ones or at least as good—are so scarce. So, the easiest apparent conclusion is: They rock!

(*) Here’s a download link for their debut album and some of their life performance by my pick. I’m not the one who intentionally uploads these materials on the internet. I merely found them and share them for whoever might need them for whatever purpose. (*)

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