markjamesmurphy.com: April 2008

(Zappa)

Frank Zappa is one of the departed that I miss the most. Here's a fascinating interview clip conducted in the U.K. in 1984. Politically, right now, Barack Obama is embroiled in a snafu in which he must distance himself from his pastor/mentor because Wright made some controversial statements about AIDS being a manufactured and racially targeted disease. This clip shows Frank's views on the subject, as stated 24 years ago.

(Cracked.com)

8 (Pointless) Laws All Comic Book Movies Follow

"#7. The Sequels Must Have Multiple Villains - For the first film, the franchise always whips out the most prominent villain in the hero's rogue gallery. They don't have a choice, millions are at stake and if you go with a lesser villain there may not be any sequels at all. Unfortunately, this means that you're going with a decreasing grade of villain for the rest of the series. "

(The Onion)

Wildly Popular 'Iron Man' Trailer To Be Adapted Into Full-Length Film

(Alan White)

Parallels: The Music Of YES I'm not even sure how to convey all the things I want to say in this post. How do I even begin? How can I sum up an experience this fantastic?

I had the best night of my life, just the other night. It was Thursday, April third 2008.

You see, I'm a huge fan of the music of YES. Last year, I went to some shows by Parallels: The Music Of YES. They're the stuff of YES dreams - a new group of passionate virtuosos on a deep, fervent soul mission to keep prog rock alive.

I documented these shows here:

http://markjamesmurphy.blogspot.com/2007/11/parallels-parallels-music-of-yes-i-had.html
http://markjamesmurphy.blogspot.com/2007/11/parallels-parallels-music-of-yes-played.html
http://markjamesmurphy.blogspot.com/2007/12/parallels-parallels-music-of-yes-heres.html

The band had left me gobsmacked. Something welled up deep inside of me. You see, I used to do a lot of music stuff, twenty years ago. I've played hundreds of gigs on the east coast with some extraordinary musicians - real bread-and-butter wedding and club type stuff with a band called Undercover.

As it turned out, Parallels had been looking for a backing vocalist for quite some time. I made a demo and eventually auditioned for the slot. Long story short, now I'm singing with them. Although, since I still can't believe it, I consider the present to be a trial period, a time to step up to the plate and prove myself over time. A special guest vocalist, if you will.

Thursday, April 3rd 2008 was to be my first show singing backups in the band. The show was only 5-6 weeks away. To get ready would entail reaching deep within myself and seeing if I had the stuff. Remember, these are five virtuosos who had a three year head start. Bang, go, the marathon is on, hope you can even see the pack in the distance...(long distance runaround? *groan* sorry)

Here's the kicker - the evening of the show rolled around, and ALAN WHITE, THE REAL DRUMMER OF YES, IS AT THE SHOW. HE GOT UP AND PLAYED THREE SONGS WITH US.

At a certain point in the show, I think I actually left my body. It was transcendent.