The Music Banter Members' Journals Monthly Update Thread

[Trollheart]

It's perhaps appropriate that, as tomorrow marks the fourth year of my original journal (well, since my original original one in 2008, which was deleted) and also the second anniversary of this thread, a member who was coming to the same conclusions as I that April evening in 2011 and preparing to leave has decided instead to do what I did, and give it another go here. Hopefully he'll have reason to be glad he did. More about him later.

But now, as they say, on with the show.

Come with Anteater as he steers the ship steady as she goes on http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ravaganza.html and brings us to harbour at “Westocasty songs by artistes usually known for other styles”, and he ain't kidding, with bands like Suspyre, Daft Punk and Foreigner in the frame

then http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...-oblivion.html, speaking about his number one girl (can you guess who?) and also highlighting the phenomenon of REAL superheroes on the streets of America. Yeah, only in the Land of the Free...

Black Francis becomes the latest member to step outside of the confines of one journal, and in hsi new one he's looking at http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ms-nes-ps.html with Aerobiz Supersonic, Digimon 3 and a whole lot of other titles no doubt that I have never played, heard of or knew existed, having never ever possessed anything close to a games console. Video Wars between Ki and BF in the wind? Meanwhile in his regular journal, http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...l-journey.html he's still looking at that album from KAS Product.

Innerspaceboy only has the one journal, but does he pack a lot into it! This week in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...nnerspace.html there's the Innerspace Hot 100, Sherlock Holmes and the case of the ruinous RFI, and even the shadowy Illuminatus can be found lurking within those digital pages. What do you mean, they don't exist? Yeah. Sure they don't...

After a somewhat rocky start and a threat to exit quickly,and as hinted at in the intro, joenorwood77 has calmed down and done the sensible thing and opened a journal to promote his http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...band-week.html. He'll be listening to the entire discography of one band every week and choosing his top five tracks, and if you want to join him in his endeavours, or just read about how he does, you can catch him there.

Machine is reviewing Tyler the Creator's Cherry Bomb in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...-its-dumb.html

http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...de-sparks.html continues with A Woofer in tweeter's clothing, more than thirty years before Twitter!

Which rather quickly brings us around to me. Now, as mentioned in the intro tomorrow marks the fourth anniversary of http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...d-journal.html, my first ever journal (after the original version was deleted) and I'm trying to mark that by running some of the first sections I created in that journal. So this week we have a return for “The Secret life of the Album cover” and “Gobsmacked!”, the former featuring Rainbow's iconic album sleeve for Rising while the album that had me so bowled over is Sean Filkins with War and peace and other short stories. There's also an amalgamation of two sections, as I merge “Two sides of the same coin” and the long-absent “Gone solo in the game” and look at the often similar solo paths taken by two of prog rock's giants, Fish and Peter Gabriel. There's also room for the return of “The Hook”, with Aneka. Remember her? Yeah, thought not.

To Batty's intense annoyance, I begin my coverage of “The Apprentice” in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...-emporium.html, with episode one of the US and UK versions, and the Irish one to follow, while we're finishing up 1968 in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ive-metal.html with a look at the debut albums from Jethro Tull and Soft Machine, second efforts from The Nice and Procol Harum and .... the Pretty Things? Hmm. Yeah. Heading towards 1969 soon!

And we close with excitement reaching fever pitch as 1984's top three take shape in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...y-history.html, with Celtic Frost just outside at four, and Metallica taking the number three slot. Anyone like to lay any money on numbers two and one?


has to go to Batty, for his entertaining and informative expose of real-life superheroes, and also for his restraint in not mocking them too much at all. Excelsior!

Originally Posted by The Batlord

Among Us Walk the Superheroes!!!

They are not cosplayers. They are not hobbyists. They are not like you and me. These are men and women who take the law and their lives into their hands to suit up, with homemade uniforms and cellphones to call the real police, in order to fight crime. Just. Like. Batman. I bet you thought superheroes were confined to the pages of comic books; you would be wrong. There are indeed "real" ones walking the streets today, and I shall highlight the most hilar-I mean, notable individuals.

Mr. Xtreme

I think the name says it all. From his intimidating goggles, to his knick knack-covered body armor, this is clearly a man for whom the word "extreme" is not just an idea, but a way of life. Security guard and volunteer fire fighter by day, by night Mr. Xtreme patrols the streets of San Diego to discourage violent crime, and even participates in community outreach programs. Not a man to go by half measures, he has even established the so-called "Xtreme Justice League", with whose members he teams up for patrols and volunteer work. His identity and marital status remain a closely guarded secret.

(Video removed)


Keep up the good work, Mr. Xtreme. We are xtremely proud of you.

Motor Mouth

Can you guess what Motor Mouth's special ability is? It's a stun gun. But first he'll try to talk his way out of a confrontation while patrolling nighttime San Fransisco, California with his team, the Northern California Protectorate -- part of a larger group that operates up and down the West Coast.

But he's not all talk -- remember, he has a stun gun. During 2010 riots caused by the verdict in a racially sensitive court case involving the shooting death of an unarmed African American man, Motor Mouth and his fellow super heroes bravely took to the streets of Oakland to try to maintain order.


(Video removed)


As you can see from his impressive physique, Motor Mouth's namesake is a versatile weapon. Keep on motoring, man.

Zetaman

Like any self respecting real life superhero, Zetaman does his share of late night patrols, but his real passion is community outreach. The thing that really sets him apart from his peers is that he has his own Youtube reality show, The Real Adventures of Zetaman, which documents his "adventures" (i.e. Toys for Tots kinda ****).


(Video removed)


Surely, a cartoon series will be soon to follow.

Nyx

... I'm sorry, what was I saying? Oh right, in a "field" dominated by men, Nyx is an exception. Operating out of New York, she concentrates her work on protecting the homeless. But where other superheroes are more open about their patrols, using their intimidation factor as a deterrent, Nyx prefers to operate in the shadows: “Like the night, I cannot be proven or disproven to certain degrees; and also much like the night, when morning comes, there will be no trace of me.”


(Video removed)


You know, I think those crazy, crazy, mother****ing crazy kids just might make it.

Phoenix Jones

I suppose that there would inevitably emerge an anti-hero in the real life superhero movement. Phoenix Jones is that man, along with his Rain City Superhero Movement. A professional MMA fighter in his civilian life, he has been arrested after using peppery spray against an assailant, and been involved in numerous other altercations which have given him a rather dubious reputation with the Seattle police.
(Video removed)
I don't know about you people, but knowing that heroes like these are out in the streets, protecting the innocent, makes me feel much safer to step outside my house. So, I salute you, oh Justice League wannabes of dubious mental capacity. Now, will one of you fall into a vat of toxic waste and get laser eye beams already?

So nobody got in touch and said “Do me! Do me!” Nobody contacted me about featuring their journal here either...

so I started looking through the section for one that might be interesting, and up popped herself.

I thought, yeah, this one deserves to be highlighted. What I read of it I really liked and though Steph didn't quite keep it up to date in the same way as others did and do, it's a real Urban case of quality trumping quantity. She may not write that much, but when Wolverinewolfweiselpigeon writes, people take notice. So we're going to start going through http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...-tripping.html as the latest of the

(I should note that I haven't spoken to WWWP, and so before I obtain permission from her to do so, I will not be featuring any extracts from her journal here, in case she would rather I did not.)

As ever, I will be doing this in two-month blocks each week, so with her journal opening in June of 2012 , and after an interesting introduction WWWP got down to business with “Music I found through Music Banter”, including Elliot Smith, The Olivia Tremor Control, Yo La Tengo (featuring the lady herself rendering a beautiful cover of one of their songs, and showing just how much talent she has: not just a pretty face, though she's certainly that too), Arab Strap and Mountain Goats.

Then there was a gap of a year. Yeah. Well, she said she was dealing with some stuff but wanted to relaunch the journal, and so coincidentally a year and a month later, July 2013 she started her themes, the first of which was Bikes, Beers and Brownies, and featured Wingnut Dishwasher Union, Badbadnotgood, R Stevie Moore, Cody ChestnuTT, then there was a slight break to talk about The Antlers' Hospice. I know how you feel Steph: that album ripped my heart out too, in a really good way. Stunning. This was followed by Belle and Sebastian, Why? (no, they're a band, dummy! Insert obligatory “Who's up next” joke here...) and Casiotone.

Finally we had one of the very best posts ever in all the time I've been here, her mini-short story “The Feeling Seller” before she embarked upon a track-by-track analysis of Lucius' The Lucius EP and that's where we leave it for this week. More next Sunday!

So tomorrow I begin what will be my fourth year posting in my main journal, and I must say it's been a blast. Hope to continually improve it over the next four years and more (what do you mean, the only way to improve it would be to shut it down? Who let Batty in here?) and who knows, maybe add a few more to my growing list of journals. Nah, only kidding. Or am I? Time will tell. Be afraid. Be very afraid. Maybe.

Till next week,
Toodles!