Tito Puente, Sr., (April 20, 1923 – May 31, 2000) was born Ernesto Antonio Puente, Jr., in Spanish Harlem in New York City. Also known as "El Rey" of the timbales and "The King of Latin Music" he was highly influential in the world of music and helped many young people become great musicians.
He also appeared in the "Who Shot Mr.Burns?" two part episode:
Lyrics to Tito's slanderous Mambo (about 8:30 minutes in): Wounds won't last long, but an insulting song Burns will always carry with him. So I'll settle my score, on the salsa floor with this vengeful Latin rhythm. Burns! Con el corazon de perro! Señor Burns! (Baa Ba Duh Ba Baaaa) El diablo con dinero! It may not surprise you, but all of us despise you. Please die and fry in hell, you rotten, rich old wretch! Adios viejo!
Captain McShanty's N'oh!-Fun-4-U Bureau of Censorship and Superfluous Roadsigns rating MF (notes: no yelling but caution for mild math-related cartoon violence).
Thanks to D and T for a sweet birthday concert! It was Killswitch Engage with The End, Throwdown, and Poison the Well (click the links for lists of upcoming shows and play/download some of their songs). Killswitch wasn't selling CDs (I hate it when bands don't sell their CDs at concerts, it puts a damper on my collection). So I got Poison the Well and The End's new CDs. I didn't know anything of them before now but the CDs are actually quite good. In truth the The End CD was a pity purchase because the guy was cute. Also they gave me a free sticker. Anyway, we had been sitting down mostly for the openers because it was hotter than the hubs of Hades in there (I miss winter). But we went down into the throng for Killswitch. They had so much energy and everyone was feeding off of it. The lead singer (Howard Jones) is so chipper. He and the crazy guitar player (Adam Dutkiewicz) play off eachother very well. I jumped up and down and hollered until I was hoarse. That's what it's all about man! Plus, we are managing to drag another one down into the fold with us (One of us! One of us!), so everybody wins. It was so hot and humid in there that everyone was soaked! It was nice to get outside at the end too, a guy was handing out free promotional CDs which had some good songs on them. Hurray!
This Music in History (mini): Holy Diver Ronnie James Dio's album Holy Diver, released in 1983, has been widely touted as his best work. A video game based on the title song was released in Japan for Nintendo in 1989 but curiously was never released in North America (I wonder how big Dio was over there?). Other video game appearances include the soundtrack to Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories and as one of the tracks on Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s. Other bands have covered the song with much less success than Killswitch, mostly in live-only performances, including Otyg, Sum 41, Sons of Butcher, Children of Bodom, and Tenacious D. Pat Boone had it on an album but it was with Dio so it doesn't count. KillswitchEngage's cover of Holy Diver first appears on the compilation album High Voltage!: A Brief History of Rock done for Kerrang! magazine. It was their first Billboard top 20 single. It was released as a single in 2007 and appears as a bonus track on the 2007 re-release of the As Daylight Dies album. Killswitch played this as their encore song at the concert (I think, either that or the last song before the encore. Help me out here guys). Which was sweet! The music videos for both versions of the song are hilarious. Killswitch gives comical props to Dio in their version but I'm pretty sure Dio's wasn't meant to be funny.
Artist: Killswitch Engage Album: As Daylight Dies (2007 re-release)
Artist: Dio Album: Holy Diver Year: 1983
These videos rated MF (Mom Friendly) by the Captain McShanty's N'oh!-Fun-4-U Bureau of Censorship and Superfluous Roadsigns (notes: a little bit of yelling in the Killswitch video but it's OK, extra points for whimsical fantasy based theme).
p.s. If you are curious here is Otyg's version of Holy Diver.
You may recall in a previous post I discussed viral videos. I mentioned the Obama girl video which has garnered widespread publicity and been featured in various media and TV shows (like on SNL). Well, U.S. Democratic candidate Mike Gravel decided to use this to his advantage, with hilarious results.
Captain McShanty's N'oh!-Fun-4-U Bureau of Censorship and Superfluous Roadsigns rating MF for Mom Friendly (notes: caution for sexually suggestive scenes containing politics).
Apparently there are more than just Hilary and Obama...who knew? Mike Gravel is cool because his parents were French Canadian immigrants. I think it is great when politicians not only have a sense of humour but are savy enough to use pop culture and alternative media to their advantage. Of course any Canadian politicians worth hearing about have all been on Rick Mercer and things but it's not just TV anymore. Maybe we need to see Stéphane Dion doing a politically relevant remake of the Soulja Boy dance? It's an if ya can't beat 'em, join 'em scenario, especially in the U.S. race where the populace gets 2-candidate tunnel vision. Off course the argument is that that takes us away from the actual political issues and makes it a popularity contest. But wait! That argument is stupid because it's already mostly about emotions and religious values anyway (see last two U.S. presidential elections), might as well make it about popular comedy and satire too. In a world where the majority of the public under the age of 35 get all their political info from the Daily Show I think it is for the best. At least then actual political issues might sneak in to the decision making process. Anyway, these series' of funny/sexy/political videos were brought to you by BarelyPolitical.com. They have a really funny promo clip here (continued on D12!? What!?).
p.s. I recently asked little CP about what was up with the massive popularity of that stupid Soulja Boy song and she said it was because of the dance. Can anyone say "Macarena"?
I screamed myself hoarse at this one boy. We showed up as Children of Bodom was playing (I got their CD) and then there was In Flames. Both of them were awesome but a curiously subdued crowd cheered for In Flames, there was no mosh pit or anything. Weird. It may have been the interesting mix of young'uns (due to the all ages rating) and old'uns (due to the Megadeth). Anyway, I also got a signed United Abominations CD so it was a pretty good haul for the collection this time. The only complaint I had with the concert was that it was difficult to hear Dave Mustaine most of the time. "À Tout le Monde" and "Sweating Bullets" were notable exceptions, which is good because I like those songs but bad because there were other songs I liked that I couldn't hear the lyrics.
Fun trivia to learn and know: Megadeth is the second most commercially successful metal band of all time, second only to Metallica. Dave Mustaine has a long standing hate on for Metallica due mostly to his unceremonious ousting from the band's ranks (because of his alcohol abuse) after just 2 years of membership. Within the year he founded Megadeth and signed with Combat Records. They then proceeded to release 21 albums (and some other singles and soundtracks and things) as Dave battled with various spates of drug addictions until he hurt his arm by sleeping on it funny while undergoing treatment for kidney stones and disbanded the band for a few years because he didn't really like those guys anyway and explored some other projects like remastering Megadeth's albums for Capitol Records and making his own brand of guitar only to become a born again Christian while undergoing physiotherapy for his hurt arm - *breathe*. He rebanded Megadeth with a new lineup in 2004 and in 2005, Dave launched "Gigantour", the travelling North American metal show named after a robot called "Gigantor" (from a favorite cartoon of his when he was wee). And that just about brings us up to date, history is fun. p.s. I suspect that very soon a video (or two) of the concert will show up on YouTube so I'll keep an eye out. Also, check out Gigantour prequil posts here and here. We ended up missing High on Fire and Job for a Cowboy but that's OK. Dave Mustaine called them "Job for a Cowgirl". Ha!
p.p.s. Remember to check out this old post by Madman about United Abominations.
The Phantom of the Opera's only stop in Saskatchewan and last stop in Canada. This was my first time seeing Phantom (I haven't even seen the movie), also it was my first live opera. Anywho, I thought it was delightful. I like the songs and it was a good story and it had neat sets. We were in the second balcony so I don't think we got the full effect of the falling chandelier but we saw the sneaky phantom when he was hiding above the stage and in the hanging angel thing. The picture to the left is of the spotlight that they were shining on the Hilton hotel (click to embiggen it).
Phantom of the Opera Artist: Nightwish Album: video from "End of an Era" live concert but an alternate version appears on the album "Century Child" Year: 2002
You created me, Mom so I guess you're to blame For the love that I feel just from hearing your name. You're as tender as corned beef and as warm as pastrami ... "I wuv my Mommy!"
Tito Puente, Sr., (April 20, 1923 – May 31, 2000) was born
Ernesto Antonio Puente, Jr., in Spanish Harlem in New York City. Also known as "El Rey" of the timbales and "The King of Latin Music" he was highly influential in the world of music and helped many young people become great musicians.
