Lost Hits of the New Wave #20

"Baby's in the Mountains" by Peter Godwin

The last couple times I've talked about songs The Bride had not heard of and I had not heard of. Here's one neither of us had heard of, first heard on 1st Wave satellite radio, but apparently released in 1983.

Peter Godwin also fronted the band Metro and his "Criminal World," one of my fave Bowie songs, was covered by the Thin White Duke on Let's Dance.

The All Things Fun! New Comics Vidcast for the Week of 11-7-2012

The All Things Fun! New Comics Vidcast is shot live every week at All Things Fun! - the South Jersey/Philadelphia area's best comics and gaming store, located in West Berlin, NJ.

Co-hosts Ed (All Green Lantern) Evans, Allison (No Marvel Girl) Eckel, and Glenn (Batwing Again?) Walker discuss the new comics out this week in wicked high definition video, and also available on the YouTube. See it here!

Discussion featured in this week's special post hurricane episode includes: Action Comics #14, Green Arrow #14, Earth 2, the Batcave, Dial H #6, Rotworld, Green Lantern #14, Iron Man #1, Deadpool #1, Ed's Marvels including the final issue of Avengers Academy, Avengers #33, the final issue of Defenders, Life with Archie #24, Allison's kids comics, New Crusaders #3, Road to Oz #3 (of 6), Danger Girl GI Joe #3 (of 3), Freelancers #1, Transformers Regeneration One #85, The Shadow #7, Shadowman #1, Dejah Thoris, stiffies, and Ed's trades, toys, and manga.



Be sure to check out the crazy new All Things Fun! website, and the All Things Fun! Blogs, by Allison and Glenn, now featuring The Vidcast Drinking Game so you can play along at home, and ATF! on YouTube (don't forget to subscribe to the channel while you're there, and leave a comment or two on the Vidcast as well!).

And be back here every Wednesday (or Tuesdays at midnight) to watch the new broadcast, and thereafter throughout the week!

Remember, every time Glenn says 'awesome,' or Allison says 'mash-up,' take a shot!

Women 2 Women Concert

Please join us on Saturday November 10th @ 7PM at the Indian Chief Tavern (Route 70, Medford, NJ) for a evening to benefit Breast Cancer Awareness.

W2W is a grassroots advocacy movement to promote female artists by giving them a venue to showcase their talents. W2W (Women to Women) is a Concert Event series with a dual purpose. Each W2W Event not only will promote our local female Artists it will also promote a Woman’s Charity. 

Our 1st Event November 10th @ The Indian Chief, Rt70 Medford, NJ will be held to raise Breast Cancer Awareness along with proceeds benefiting Breast Cancer research for the American Cancer Society. More information about the American Cancer Society can be found on their website www.cancer.org ACS will be providing valuable information regarding Breast Cancer so be sure to check out all the pamphlets, booklets and literature at the event tables.

This event could not be successful without the support of our Rock n Roll community. There will be a $10 admission at the door/Door Sales only no advance tickets. Patrons will be admitted on a first come first serve basis, so arrive Promptly when doors open @ 7pm.

We have a wonderful group of generous and talented musicians who will be participating to make this event a success, but we need your help!! We will be holding Gift Basket Raffles and a 50/50 (Cash only) and each attendee will be eligible to win one of our great Door Prizes !!

Performers on November 10th include: Robin Parry, Kathi Cooley, Britt Zammer, Keli Vale, Janet Bufano, Jennifer Walker, Susan Lake, Tina Brand, Sandy Hall, Chris Hartline, Kate Bradshaw, and Rachel Evans.

Hope to see you there!!! - with Jeanne Mannix Evans.

Mind Slices by Kevin R. Tipple

Kevin R. Tipple is a dear friend, or at least as good a friend as one can have online. That said, he's a good man, a great book reviewer, a terrific writer, and a wonderful fount of writing knowledge. We've known each other for years, and have supported each other in various projects over that time. Now Kevin has released a short story collection, Mind Slices.

The collection offers a glimpse into the mind of the man. Having read sadly very little of his fiction before, I was a bit surprised. Kevin's got a bit of a weird streak, and I like it. His twists are unexpected and fun, as well as edgy. The man is a hell of a writer, I'm in awe.

Much of the collection is previously published elsewhere, but there's also quite a bit of new flash fiction that is quite good, and that's not a form I usually like. One of my favorite parts of the book is the individual introductions to each story. I first fell in love with short stories under the pen of Harlan Ellison, and this was one of his practices - and this brought me back.

All that said, I loved Mind Slices, and not just because Kevin's my friend. Seriously that has nothing to do with it. On the contrary, being a friend means I'd really give it to him if it sucked, but this was really good.

Mind Slices can be found on Amazon and on Smashwords, check it out, highly recommended.

You can find Kevin at his website, his blog, and on the Twitter as well.

Two Divas, A Dawg, and A Dude

Today's guest blogger Patti O'Brien is a fellow writer and dear friend from the South Jersey Writers Meetup group. She's been having trouble getting folks to come to her blog, so I told her I'd give her a spotlight here on Welcome to Hell. She's a terrific writer, check out her thoughts below on "American Idol."

*****

The premiere of the new season of "American Idol" (in mid-January 2013) may well be the most watched episode they’ve seen in years, and sadly, it won’t be due to the quality of the singers. The vocalizing on the first episodes is usually pretty dismal.

Nope, this year the singers will be secondary to what most viewers will be tuning in to see: the judges.

The feuds between Mariah Carey and Nicki Minaj are already infamous. I don’t actually know what they’ve been fighting about but it doesn’t matter; two pop divas are at odds, presumably over which is the top diva, Minaj already playing the age card and Mariah, well, playing the Mariah card. Who’s to say which will actually be able to accurately judge new talent? Sure, Mariah’s the top selling female pop artist of all time, but can she offer valuable advice to the hopefuls who’ll sing for her? Other than 'show a lot of boob, all the time, every single time you appear anywhere' of course.

Minaj is a performance artist with a loyal following, but can she mentor a contestant who needs serious vocalist guidance? Only time will tell, and that’s what we viewers, who may have wanted to swear off the show when the new judges were announced, will tune in for—what will they do, what will they say, what will they wear?

The other new judge, Keith Urban, is possibly known more for being Nicole’s husband than for his music. Oh, and he’s cute, so that’ll draw in some female viewers. Of course, county music fans - those same fans who voted for Scotty McCreery - may also tune in to a show that’s historically been thin in this area.

And how about Randy? He of the 'dawg' and 'dude' and 'I’m just not feelin’ it?' Randy spends most of his time name dropping; his favorite thing is to name the original artist and maybe an obscure session musician who played on the first release of the tune the vocalist has just 'made his own.' Other than drool over all warblers who share his heritage, I think Randy’s shown us all the tricks in his bag, but it’ll be nice to at least have one judge who knows how this thing works.

With all the changes the show’s gone through, it leaves me to ask myself which judge I think has been the best and which the worst. Let’s start with the worst, because that’s easier - Ellen. Please. The woman is so afraid of hurting someone’s feelings, she did nothing but praise or apologize: I’m sorry, it just wasn’t very good. But you’re so nice and pretty and wonderful and you’re a really good singer but for me, well, I’m sorry but I just didn’t love it. I’m sorry.

We get it, Ellen, you’re nice. But nice doesn’t butter the whole wheat toast on a rainy day in June, as my favorite judge might say. Yes, Steven Tyler, you were all that and a bag of crazy, but I loved you. You’d just as soon run up on stage and show ‘em how it’s done than sit there and listen, but you did offer opinions that were honest and usually on target, even if no one quite understood everything you said. You brought a certain panache to the show that the producers now need two crazies to bring.

And Simon? Well, you were harsh, obnoxious, full of yourself, wear nothing but undershirts, I mean, really, even plumbers wear shirts, Simon. Buy a button-up for the sake of all mankind, and learn to wear it with the buttons actually buttoned. You were mean and ornery, but you did make some good points.

Paula was sheer entertainment but on the few occasions when she was called on first, she could not put together a sentient sentence without first hearing what Randy or Simon had to say, then repeating it. But she, like J-Lo, looked pretty and was nice to the contestants; not as nice as Ellen, mind you, because Ellen’s kind of nice was gross. Sorry Ellen, I really am, but you sucked as a judge and you know it. Again, really sorry ‘bout that.

Someday, I’d like to see Ryan Seacrest in a judge’s chair. He’s heard everyone, knows the contestants better than the judges do, and must have a million opinions that nobody’s ever asked him to state. Well, I’m asking, Ryan: what the hell have you been thinking all these years? Maybe you should write a book; I’ll even ghostwrite it for you. We’ll call it “Dim the Lights,” and in it, you can tell us all the backstage gossip we crave.

So, when Idol debuts next year, I, for one, will be among the many who tune in to see how the new judges do. I don’t think I’ll like them too much, but I doubt they’ll be the worst. If you want to listen to some good 'judges' though, tune into "The Voice," featuring Christina Aguilera, Cee Lo Green, Blake Sheldon and Adam Levine. The format is different so they don’t judge, they fight over the singers they want for their teams, so it’s much more civil. And almost every one of the vocalists on that show are good, which makes the show already so much more watchable than "Idol."

Also, I am now in love with Adam Levine, or as I call him, Mr. Devine. But that’s another story.

*****

You can check Patti's blog Too Pooped to Pop here, and she's also on the Facebook and the Twitter. Friend her and follow her, it's worth it.