Monday, December 22, 2008

A Stryper Christmas !





If you want to make sure that you keep Christ in Christmas this year but still feel that you want to give gifts to certain well-deserving people then you may want to consider clicking over to Stryper's online store to find gifts that remember the Reason for the Season.

The mini guitars above caught my eye! They are 10" handcrafted replicas
and have straps and stands. Check out the detail and wood. That's real mahogany !
I thought the ornament had real class, too !


There are "Reason for the Season" T-shirts still available and much more
just click the link below !

http://www.stryper.com/ sorry about the wrong link, this one's right !

The Castle Lady will be rockin' the night away !

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Christmas Cha-Ching !




Now that we're well into the Christmas shopping season I'm sure you've received a few lists from your kids expounding on what they want for Christmas without the benefit of seeing the prices. As parents it's your job to do the footwork to find out what the final tally of the bill will be and pay through the nose for it.

I happened to spy a Penney's mini-catalog in with the ads in the newspaper on Sunday and my eyes popped out when I looked at the prices on merchandising items for Hannah Montana. I suppose it's your business to decide whether this enterprising teenager is a good role model for your preteen girl but I can't see spending the kind of money on her holiday fare- such as it is- for this superfluous and fleeting fad. ( I saw her show and interview on the AMAs and I'm wondering how they managed to make her look like she does in the pictures ! Good ole photoshop, huh? )
How's this for a whopping bill? First, there is her Toy Guitar. It comes with three preloaded songs and a headset so YOU don't have to listen to it and she doesn't have to learn to play. (Not that this guitar could actually be played mind you ! ) It is regularly sold for $ 49.99 but you're going to get the low price of $24.99! ( Remember- this thing is a piece of plastic junk made in Taiwan! )

Next we have the Karaoke which has two microphone inputs and you can plug it into a TV for the graphics and lyrics. The box itself is the tiniest Karaoke machine I've ever seen. They want 79.99 for it but don't forget it was originally priced at $169.99 ! Bah ! That's not IT either! She has a clothing line of mostly T-shirts and vests which will run up to at least $19.99 @ and there's a fetching little Cosmetics case which is shaped like a guitar for $16.99 (orig. 34.99 !)



Don't forget the barbie-sized Hannah Montana Doll for $16.99 (orig. 34.99 !)
....how about the charm bracelet for 11.99 ??? also sale priced !


The final total comes up to $250.90 if you buy each child about five items of her clothing line.. Mind you, this won't get her anywhere near the stage where Miley Cyrus does her little teen numbers such as Fly on the Wall but she can surely pretend at that cost. Either that or for the same amount of money you could get her some piano or singing lessons for about half a year and if she has any talent at all then your own daughter can start pulling in some bucks all her own. Imagine something like "Madison Radisson Gets a Life ". Well, you get the idea !


The Castle Lady with the latest and the lamest ! hee hee hee

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Stardom By Death


Just recently an upstart band Tickle Me Pink got a boost for exceptional notoriety- the 21st century way- their lead singer died on the same day as their national debut album "Madeline" was released. On August 3rd they gave a concert as openers to the bands Finch and Scary Kids Scaring Kids at Denver's Cervantes' Masterpiece Ballroom downtown. They have a replacement lead singer in Joey Barba (who is a Pantera fan, my era !) and a trendy sound which will keep them being heard on indy airwaves regardless of the fact that it is sudden tragedy which put them on the musical map.

The Denver gig was their homecoming gig so a Rocky Mountain News music journalist recently caught up to them to ask questions about where they're headed and how they were able to carry on. Even with most questions unanswered about the death of Johnny Schou they decided to forge on with the national tour that comes along with a debut album. If you check out the links at the end you can see what venues they've already played at and where they're headed next.

Songs such as the title track "Madeline" have taken on new and deeper meaning for the band which were initially difficult to sing at the onset of the tour are now helping them get through the tour on the emotional tide it's running. This is the tour that Bill Stevenson of The Descendants told them they'd never get through without air conditioning ! !

Mark Brown: The fans gave you an outpouring of support. Did that help ?

Sean: So, so much ! Especially initially when none of us had really gotten on our MySpace for a couple of days. It was the last thing we were thinking about. I finally logged on and there were literally thousands of comments and messages. It was overwhelming. I started bawling. Kids love our music. We need to press on. Johnny would want us to press on.

M.B.: How is the road right now ?

Sean: I was glad to leave. We had two weeks before we left and I couldn't go home. It was too weird for me. I was just staying with my parents and at a hotel. I never even went home. Getting out on the road was a relief. I can be productive. I'm sure when I get back for a couple of days I'll feel more comfortable now.

M.B.: How did you pick Joey Barba to play with the band ?

Sean: If there'd just been some random studio musician who'd come in to play with us, we wouldn't have done the tour. A lot of the songs on our record are pretty deep about life and death. I couldn't have been able to sing those lyrics onstage and look over and see some studio musician there in the place of Johnny. We're lucky that our good friend Joey Barba came out....he was good friends with Johnny and lived with us for a while.

M.B.: How hard was that decision ?

Sean: He went through this big emotional dilemma about what he should do. We wanted him to not feel obligated to the situation so we had a big ordeal. If Joey's not going to do this, we're not going to do this tour.... he came to the conclusion that he wanted to do it....there's something about having our unity with each other that makes it easier.

M.B.: After the tragedy, what were your thoughts ?

Sean: We didn't wanna go on the road. We needed to take some time. Then we thought for a while about what Johnny would want us to be doing and really evaluated our own lives individually. We came to the conclusion we needed to do this in Johnny's honor. Every song we play off this record- he helped write it- we're sharing a piece of him with everyone. Now we have so much more purpose, to where it makes it a little easier to play.

Now they have to make it through without Johnny but the band remains optimistic

but still very emotional...


The Castle Lady sends lots of love your way!

http://www.ticklemepinkrock.com/ for more news and official blog




Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Beck is Back on the Scene !



Last week Beck released a new CD under the title Modern Guilt and according to what I've read it's an eclectic (as always !) collection of ten songs. For those who haven't been paying attention Beck broke into the hit "parade" with his song Loser in 1994. I personally don't remember that particular song but I was thoroughly impressed with the song that made it to movie soundtrack fame Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometime, with Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. It wasn't the theme song to the movie but it should've been.

Well, ever since his Grammy-winning hit in 1994 he has been putting out product that is always fresh sounding and definitely ground-breaking in some fashion. No one knew what to expect with this new album and that is a great place to be for any artist. Trust me !

For more info check out these links:



Your ever illustrious Castle Lady.. bises to you !

Friday, March 28, 2008

The First Woman Rocker



Does anybody remember the song "Let's Have a Party" or "Honey Bop"? I first heard the rockabilly classic ( Let's Have a Party )in the 1989 movie Dead Poet's Society which starred Robin Williams as an English teacher in a boarding school. It's the best example of a typical rockabilly song from its era. Wanda Jackson recorded this tune and I have never heard anyone else's version of it, although another version which Elvis Presley recorded first, exists. If you've never heard the song I urge you to check it out to hear it for yourself.

Wanda Jackson was the rockabilly queen and she had no real competitors in her genre- not of the female variety in any case. Her first hit was in Japan in 1958 with Fujiyama Mama. She had a uniquely aggressive approach to her music which was unheard of at the time of her popularity. She had as much power and class as any of the "old" guys like Gene Vincent, Dorsey and Johnny Burnette, Eddie Cochran or Buddy Holly. Her first huge hit was Let's Have a Party which featured a band belonging to Gene Vincent called The Blue Caps in 1960. None of her hits made the top twenty but she continued to record clear up to 1979 with a Greatest Hits album. She eventually went into gospel and country music but never achieved quite as much notoriety with that music as in her beginnings.

Born in Maud, Oklahoma on October 20, 1937 to an amateur musician ( her father, Tom) both her mother and father encouraged her to sing from an early age. In 1952 she won a local talent contest and was awarded a fifteen minute daily show on KLPR which was in Oklahoma City. She then got a thirty minute slot radio show (at the tender age of fifteen) which she kept through her high school years and by 1953 she started recording with Decca Records. Her first hit was You Can't Have My Love a duet she sang with Hank Thompson's bandleader, Billy Gray. In 1956 she signed on with Hank Thompson's swing band, Brazos Valley Boys and eventually signed with Capitol Records after her career was well under way.

Some tunes to look for would be Right or Wrong, In the Middle of a Heartache in addition to the previously mentioned tunes. There are others such as Mean Mean Man, Slippin and Slidin, Hot Dog! That Made Him Mad, Try a Little Kindness and many more you can Google. In the 70s and 80s she toured internationally and has re-recorded several of her hits in German, Dutch and Japanese to great success.

Jackson toured constantly during her career and was nominated for a Grammy twice. She married an IBM programmer, Wendall Goodman in 1961, and surprisingly he gave up his job in order to manage Wanda's career. After she released her gospel album in 1972 her secular career cooled but she claimed that it saved her marriage!

During the 80s Rockabilly had a resurgence in Europe with The Stray Cats and others and Jackson's major influence to several country artists who wanted to take advantage of the new found popularity received new attention as a rockabilly singer. As a result she was invited by many female artists to tour Europe in which she took part. Rosie Flores released a rockabilly album titled Rockabilly Filly in 1995 and invited Jackson to record several of the tunes with her. They embarked on a major U.S. tour together later that year.



Discography


1960- Rockin' with Wanda (Capitol)

1966- Wanda Jackson Sings Country Blues

1972- Praise the Lord

1974- Country Gospel (Word)

1979- Greatest Hits (Capitol)

2000- Queen of Rockabilly (Ace ) import

Single "Let's Have a Party" made it to #37 on the charts 1960

Single "Right or Wrong" made it to #29 in 1961

Single "In the Middle of a Heartache" made it to #27 in 1961


All Rights
Evelyn M. Wallace

March 28, 2008

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

James Blunt's Reemergence




You'll remember him from his brilliant but simple debut with "You're Beautiful" from 2005 which gave him strong radio rotation for a half year. This modest Brit who came from London, now lives his down days in Ibiza, Spain and is getting ready to start a world tour on the strength of a new CD "All the Lost Souls". In an interview with Cosmo recently he revealed that he felt a woman's most attractive feature is her mind. This 30 year old is one smart cookie. XD


From reading the interview I came to a few conclusions about him. One is that he's very shy with people so his visual recognition has forced him out of his shell and that he's a very strong (and rare, let's face it! ) romantic with the opposite sex and certainly doesn't make money an issue. He does have a girlfriend, though. He's also quite aware of how short life is and he makes the most of it by filling his time as much as possible.


My last observation is that he strives for satisfaction in what he does so he'll probably never put out a bad album and if he couldn't make his living as a musician anymore he'd make sure whatever he does would make an impact for positive change in the world.

Coming at 'ya with blunt affection!

The Castle Lady

All rights reserved 2008
Evelyn M. Wallace