Friday, January 26, 2024

2023 Musical Awesome Moments

Here, in no order other than they occur to me, are some of the most amazing musical experiences of 2023 that I experienced.

The Gypsy Moths at the Burren in Somerville I've been lucky enough to see the moths tear it up a bunch of times over the years. This is another great show in a long line of fantastic gigs. I haven't seen the moths do a bad set yet, and if I ever experience the Moths playing Time Ran Out live, I swear I will burst into tears. That is one sadly beautiful song for the ages. Give it a listen and get your tissues ready.

Quintron & Miss Pussycat in Rhode Island Quintron & Miss Pussycat in Rhode Island For years, many years, I've been trying to see this utterly unique band, but as they don't get to our area a lot and they weren't playing whenever I happened to be in New Orleans it just hadn't happened. Finally in 2023 I witnessed them. This endearing musical melange of mayhem and home made puppetry exceeded my expectations. They are a true musical gift. There is no one in the universe like them. Here's one of their tunes.

Los Tiki Phantoms & Messer Chups in New Hampshire Saw this tubular surf double bill at the Stone Church. A very unique venue. It is as it's name suggests, a church made of stone. The staff are fun with a total laid back vibe that I miss in the Boston clubs. Los Tiki Phantoms are masters of stage craft running all over the club, dancing, forming conga lines and human pyramids. Messer Chups are the Russian royalty of horror surf rock. They know how to lay it down. Here's some links to their stuff.



Personal top musical moments


This section is all about some of the highlights of the musical experiences I was involved in creating,





Wonder Valley Music Festival in 29 Palms CA


Our act, Static Apparitions played at this festival. Performing in the desert is a thrill. Seeing for miles in every direction as you play, is a trip. The desert has a truly intriguing beauty and feeling it radiate at me while I tortured sounds into creation is something I treasure. There were a lot of amazing acts at the festival not the least of which was Phog Masheeen. Here's a link to a recording we made of our set.

Phog Masheeen rule the infotainment music world





Recording in Becket MA

Sounds that can't be made, can be made at the Quarry in Becket MA. Tim Mungenast & our act Astro Al spent a few hours crafting sonic sculptures among rusted out relics to a broken past. The sounds from this place are like a distant lost time that never existed. The album might make it out in 2024. We'll have to see. Here's a link to some of our other stuff with the mighty Tim Mungenast.




Recording at Echo Bridge MA


It rained. It was beautiful. Amplissima played and recorded and I never wanted it to end, even though I was worn through physically. Spiritually, it was pure transcendence. An album from this session probably won't be out until 2025. Here's a link to some of our older stuff.




Performing at Evil Clown Headquarters in MA

Back in the late 90s I tried and tried to set up a live stream show and never made it succeeded. Fast forward to now and the mighty Evil Clown headquarters does it on a regular basis putting together wild ensembles spontaneously creating experimental music. I am very happy to be part of Neurodivergent which is one of the many rotating ensembles for Evil Clown. Check out our performance as Expanse (part of an ensemble we guested with) from 2023




Recording at Fort Warren on George's Island


Our act Static Apparitions act did an afternoon's worth of recording at this fort which is a park. The Powder Magazine on the island is home to one of the best reverb chambers imaginable. It lightly rained off and on throughout the day which made it more magical. Here's some of our other stuff.



There were dozens of other exciting music journeys, but the ones I've listed were the hugest stand outs.

I feel lucky.




Yours in Musical Memories,

Count Robot

Thursday, November 2, 2023

9/11 is Not a Holiday

 

9/11 is Not a Holiday

For a few years there was an outcry to make 9/11 a national holiday.

I am glad it never happened. 

Can you imagine what it would be like?

“What are your plans for 9/11? Grilling some burgers and drinking some beers!”

“No one beats our 9/11 deals!”

“Come on down to our store on 9/11 for some explosive savings!”

Don't think these things will happen? They already have. Look at the pathetic people running a online sport betting site who tried to co-opt 9/11. If you don't believe me, feel free to look it up, somehow betting on sports in honor of 9/11 is patriotic. A large retailer once stacked boxes of soda cans in the shape of the twin towers in “remembrance” of the day. A mattress company had a sale in “memory” of 9/11. Sadly I'm sure there are more examples of this exploitive behavior that are unknown to me.

It even happened days after the tragedy. There were signs on many Massachusetts local business proclaiming that we'll never forget while also hocking their merchandise.

While you're remembering the fallen, never forget to not sell their memories for profits.

If you really want to honor those who died, do something kind for someone, even a stranger, and not just on that one day every year, but every day.

Tuesday, January 3, 2023

Top 3 Musical Experiences of 2022

Usually I do my top 3 albums of the year. Honestly this year I can’t whittle the list down. With so many great albums out in 2022 I just can’t narrow the field down enough for it to make sense (Cat Temper, Porcupine Tree, Marillion, and so many more!). Plus, why keep doing the same list every year?

So this year, I give to you my top three musical experiences of the year presented in their own categories.


Show of the year

While I managed to see a lot of amazing concerts this year, the Gypsy Moths, Sonic Rock Solstice (Krankschaft, Zub Zub, etc.), Goblin, etc. there is one show that simply stunned me like no other and made me feel like a teenager again. That was Vanilla Fudge at the Bull Run in Shirley MA. Let me start by saying, they were not exactly like their albums, which makes me happy, because if you sound just like your records, why am I venturing out to see your show when I could just listen to you at home? Vanilla fudge while keeping their 60’s sound has also modernized it a bit by adding some prog and slight metal tones into their sound palette. The show was loud and visceral in the best sense. There was another show I saw in 2022 that I wanted to be loud and fierce, but it came off as too polished, Vanilla Fudge delivered the loud rock and roll that I wanted. A great first for me at this show was seeing/hearing a Leslie rotating speaker in action! For those curious folks who are unfamiliar with the Leslie, follow this link for more info https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leslie_speaker Hauling something as fragile and yet incredibly heavy as that speaker is a huge act of dedication to their sound. It really made a difference in their keyboard sound, giving it a rich tone. Carmine Appice performed a phenomenal drum solo. If I am lucky enough to get the chance to see them again, I will go!


Album of the year

This title goes to the band Smoke for their 2022 album Groupthink. Every song feels linked lyrically. The line “Worry no more your mind is not your own” appears in at least two of the songs. The blend of huge booming tones and the sole beautiful acoustic number all shine. The acoustic song, Supplication of Flame, has a somber heavy feel with growling bass notes sputtering below the acoustic guitar. The production blends raw power mixed just the right amount of slightly smoothed edges. This album came recommended to me by my friend Garry Lee. It’s not easy to count all the interesting music that Garry has hipped to me. I really want to hear more music from this band. I bet they would be tremendous live. Despite all the other great new albums that came out this year, this is the one I kept wanting to blast on the stereo the most.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4BZt4a6os8

https://thecultofsmoke.bandcamp.com/album/groupthink


Musical Moment

Usually I try to distance anything I do in the audio sphere from my top lists of the year, as it feels self-aggrandizing, and how can I judge anything I’m involved with impartially? Well, this year I can’t separate this out, so I won’t. My top musical experience occurred thusly; I was on stage at the Sonic Rock Festival for our second Astro Al set. During our song Come to Me I looked over at DNA girl while she was playing her guitar solo. Suddenly, the flying, wading through customs, all the planning, every seemingly endless practice, burning power supplies, all of that, led our musical journey to the stage in Bromsgrove UK and that culminating moment in a joyous convergence of pure bliss. The sounds of it in my mind and soul are never going to be emotionally captured on any recording except within me. No medium could archive the music my heart heard. The sounds that DNA Girl made on that Sunday afternoon are burned into me and will always be there whenever I need to experience them. That moment is pure transcendent spiritual electricity. It felt gorgeously endless and when it finally stopped, there were no regrets, just the knowledge that pure beauty was created on that stage and I felt it.


Yours in auditory experiences,

Count Robot

Friday, December 16, 2022

Out of the Void

 Out of the Void


The void doesn’t win.

That’s what I think.

So what if there is a limitless void after all of this.

That doesn’t make us futile.

It doesn’t defy meaning.

We give meaning to the void just as it gives meaning to us.


copyright Paul Angelosanto

Monday, July 11, 2022

An interview with musician, writer, artist, Iftakhar Khan

An interview with musician, writer, artist, Iftakhar Khan
Iftakhar Khan is a musician with his psychedelic band Schroedinger's Cat.
Iftakhar Khan is also a writer with his online magazine the SpaceZine.
Here is an email interview with Iftakhar Khan.

1. What do you remember first attracted you towards music?
My parents had a big record collection also of artists that weren’t that time famous in Germany. I was born in 1966 and that time my dad and my Mom already been together some time and they listened to Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, the Stones and the Beatles, but my Dad also listened to Ravi Shankar and other Pakistani and Indian artists. I loved songs like Yesterday but also Paint it black. I wanted to learn original drums. But my parents were not amused. In 1976 they got divorced and I came to a boarding school which laid at the Lac Constance very close to Switzerland.

There were some people who already played guitar and other instruments and I first heard the American Band Kiss in my life. Via Kiss I came to Alice Cooper and Led Zeppelin, even though I knew Led Zeppelin before I knew Kiss lol. I only had no clue that Stairway to heaven was by Led Zeppelin lol, I used to hang around often with older schoolmates around. The ones in my age listened to Boney M, Abba, The Bay City Rollers and other stuff like this, it was that time short before the Discomusc wave started. As usual such things started in Germany often with a big delay. For example the Hippie movement was in America already turning into a commercial nightmare in Germany it had started there almost in the beginning of the seventies. After that school-I had left in 1977 I lived some time at my Mother’s place before I had moved in 1978 to my Dad. While living at my mother’s place I also went to a different school with school meals and so on and lessons in the afternoon and such crap. 

All my classmates except for two were minimum two years older than me. So I came in touch with Pink Floyd-the newer ones I only knew The dark side of the moon and Meddle before-ELP and so on. But as I always wanted to be different I told everyone that I only like Ludwig Van Beethoven. (one classmate was totally surprised when he found out fifteen years later that I was playing rockmusic lol and more surprised that I told him that all the bands he listened to that time were well-known to me :) )
then I moved to my Dad’s place as I had serious troubles with my Mom who couldn’t understand that I didn’t want to go back to that school as often I was bullied by the others.

In 1978 one day after my twelfth birthday I had found a guitar on a rubbish hill, with two broken mechanics. As I knew my Dad wouldn’t be amused I hid it in the barn of a friend and that tube radios of the sixties became my first amp. I had no clue what to play or how to tune it, we just wanted to produce some noize and for this it was perfect :) also here my friends were older so a lot of them taped Black Sabbath. ELP, King Crimson and other progressive bands for me, I also listened to public radio stations that time. The place where I lived-in the north end of the black forest- you could get two rock radio stations in the radio and so I often also taped complete radio shows. In Mono tho.
At this time I also found out how to tune a guitar and I also found out how to play chords. There was no internet so a lot of friends came around and showed what they could play and so I learned on one  side how to play guitar-on the other side I also learned a lot of things about the history of rock as the DJs that time often told stories along with the songs they had played.

I left the house of my Dad and came into some home for kids who were victims of violent parents. There I started to learn how to play the guitar properly, but more Classical and Flamenco and also the first gigs started within friends of course. Until Kozfest 1 in 2011 I had always fear to enter stages. 

Schroedinger’s Cat started in Autumn 1988 in Italy, first as Crying Rain we changed the name into Schroedinger’s Cat on November 13th, 1988. In the beginning in Rome, we merged some genres into one so in the beginnings, were two more Jazzers, two more Bluesers with a big touch into Folk, too, and myself, a Folky and classical and Hard Rock-based musician. In the beginning, we had more than fifty gigs in Rome mostly and the nearby smaller cities which weren’t too much abroad. Thru the circumstances I had to return to Germany, and in the beginning of the nineties, I gave up looking for other members (I did quite a few  jam sessions with a lot of Germans these days) and I had started to record the first albums on my own. In 1995 I released a movie with Fractals, named Fractum for which I needed two years, after I saw some animated fractals in a new program on VHS-Videotape format. In 1998 I had a concept in my mind and found some guests for the Armageddon Rock series. The only album which is still available of this series, is Acid Flight and I still think it was one of the most psychedelic album of the early years. An Album on which my old friend Dragan Vulevik sang.

2. What artistic projects have you been working on recently?
 Well, I had a break between 2019 and 2022 where I haven’t recorded any new stuff except for the stuff I had played in the park which I filmed with a cam on a tripod. Recently if it means for example since the comeback in 2011, it is easy. Or not.  Ehm I think I have guested a lot of bands on electric sitar. I have started to learn how to play the sitar also like usual in autodidactic way in 1991. The Bulbul Tarang I have started in 2002 when I first saw one in India on my way back from Japan, where we had played six gigs. I was completely amazed by this instrument. Also by a Tanpura and by the Sitar too. I used to play them more as an effect to the normal music. As Schroedinger’s Cat was always a band where I tried new things. 

So I also moved in the end of the nineties for some months to Morocco to learn the basics of the mighty OUD.  I think these times were good ones. I love to learn. So since 2011 it started with Kozfest 1 where Aurora dedicated two songs to me on their first set and persuaded me to play with them in their second set on Sitar. I really tried everything not to lol as I said I had fear to enter stages. And I was not very convinced by my ability to play Sitar. Lately it was the right thing, within three months Schroedinger’s Cat was back. On the comeback gig in the southern end of the black forest I met some French friends I haven’t seen for ages and we formed together also a side-project named Alien Intelligence Vosges France, that was based on a joke I did at that party about aliens landed in the black forest and as the vosges are on the opposite side of river rhine I said ok for sure they landed also in France… that band split in 2017 after the last member except of myself , passed away. The lineup was solid but there are less recordings all members of this band also played with Schroedinger’s Cat even mostly the tourings over France and southern europe between 2012 and 2018. Parallel to this I also had an English lineup which were mostly members of the Spiral Navigators and also here we formed a side Project named The Liquid Space Druids. But here we had some recordings but all were live. Also an old more synth-based sideproject named *Spherical Noises * was revived , also another Project from the nineties named LavaSpaceDream, and I also decided to record some solo stuff as Lord Iain Hawk. Most of them were more instrumental except for Schroedinger’s Cat and my solo project Lord Iain Hawk. 

Actually, only Schroedinger’s Cat, Indian Kozmoz, Spherical Noises and a hidden project are still alive. All in all In had maybe 18 own bands in my life and guested so far Live and on albums maybe 60 more bands the most after 2011. (Aurora, Sendelica, The Spiral Navigators, Tanglemist, Tarana -just to mention a few) In 2019 I had another project which never got a name to do an album for the Hambacher Forest as a charity project. It never was finished because I had a big crash in 2020 and over 32Terabytes of files went to hell and only 24TB could be restored again. So I also decided to see it as a bad Omen and stopped it. You know which project I mean, eh? The one for A requiem for a forest? These last three years without music were bad years for me as a lot of friends, family members and band members have passed away, also before a lot of band members and so I needed that time to refill the inspiration chamber inside my mind. It is always hard when someone dies I had loved and I only play music with people I love I cannot open my heart to music while I am on the stage with people I do notlike).
Actually are more than 24 albums in Progress, but some are old ones I had never ever released for the one or other reason. ( I wasn’t satisfied with the mixing or the sound or the lyrics -whatever)
I also had some side projects with Sendelica named Dragon Hawkmoth and the Moongeezers and one that was called Trancedelikatz, which was also with Sendelica but more the jazzy parts of the session. And also another one named KatZenZahn which had been Sonic Trip Project and myself even that time two members of Sonic Trip Project also played with Schroedinger’s cat for some time (eight albums long) so you could say it was indeed half the cat and half STP. These projects happened when they visited me in my house and we played some music together. Before the Brexit often British bands were around on tour and often they have visited me for some curries and some wine and some jams and nice chats… Except for one who was a Brexiteer all are still welcome to come again.

I also do Animations and often I use them for older cat albums for Youtube or I do videos for other artists, but also a lot of 3D arts , mostly with the program Bryce 7.1. and I also work actually on a video about water in filming the little streams in this village-we have seven small ones here. Ok small ones under normal circumstances in 2018 they were really big when my area was hit by a flood disaster. But it is more short clips I merge into each with a little delay so they run into the next. The soundtrack I will compose when the film is finished, even I am not sure if I should ask others if they would be interested to do the soundtrack still not sure about this. I also wrote a book about England-more a funny one how to survive there if you weren’t born there… the proofreading is finished but still trying to sort the pictures for it. It will be published when I have completed the pictures for it in an issue of maximum 25 pieces as books (hardware) and as PDF. It is the sixth book I have written in my life.

And I also run once a year the Progressive-Spacerock Zine SpaceZine, but in English only. Meanwhile I don’t write all on my own anymore as I also found two other writers who love to write articles or interviews. The actual one is in progress, but still waiting for the hardware as I do it with a program that runs only under windows 7 and I cannot afford one for windows 10 and the PC had some hardware troubles. Thru the Shenzhen lockdown it was nearly impossible to get parts which I needed for this, even I was sure they still had the stuff in stock.
Sometimes I also draw crazy animals or shapes and forms on the walls of my house in the inside like for example the butterfly with a broken wing inside my studio.

3. Which artistic medium is most fulfilling for you?
A tricky question as my polyneuropathy and my arthrosis inside my thumb joints prevent me of doing the things I really love for example playing music – especially for the mighty Sitar and the Celtic Harp but I still think it is still music but also to create arts in 3D and also writing and filming things or creating videos I think music is on rank 1, then arts, then filming and animations, then writing books and then last not least the SpaceZine. My health prevent me of playing more music so often I stick in writing or creating arts. Actually I plan to start drawing. 

4.What are some of your favorite creations?
I think the videos I did once for Sonic Trip Project were not the worst of all. I only took them down as normally the deal was I send them to them that they can upload them on their own, what they never did.
Of the Schroedinger’s Cat albums- 333 up to now (July 2022) I think the Hexalogy World of Lovecraft are good ones, also the first trilogy of the double trilogy (hexalogy) of Floating. Some of the Atomic Sun -series were also not the worst, also not for some of the Magick Rainbow World series (especially the albums Fireworlds which were dedicated to my son who passed away too early, and Iceworlds, which had been dedicated to all my band members and friends who went too early home to the stars. In the past, present and future times) and also not some of the Universal Elements series. With the other projects I like also the stuff I did solo some years back, mostly only guitar and vocals, but they are gone now and I won’t record them again or re-release them. The lyrics were more critical to my government and how it is to live at the edge of society. Germany will never ever let you live as an artist, if you play your own stuff without covering famous songs of other artists. I also love two of my books I wrote in the last five years. One was with lyrics and the story behind them and one is not really finished now and it is about England, the way to survive there if you weren’t born there. Watch my space it is named Stop Moaning – The habits of the hobbits a lot of people heard I wrote this book and unfriended me on Facebook without knowing anything about it. I always said it is disgusting but in reality it is more a funny way to have a deeper view to England and some of their worst habits. It was more written to sort Brexit but originally it wasn’t about Brexit in the first time, but the original script also went to hell with these crashes in 2020 so I had to write it new and meanwhile, Brexit happened and not to pull some of these topics into it, would have been wasted inspiration. 


5. In your fantasy, which artist, living or dead, would you most want to make an album with?
I’m realist so I would tell you with which alive artists I would like to make an album . With Paul Sax and Sonja Kristina Linwood, both of Curved Air, John Simms and Maxine Marten, both of Clear Blue Sky, With Pete of Sendelica (even I did this already), with Nik Turner, with an old friend of mine Michael Vuckovac of Aubrey’s Dance, with Gregg McKella of Paradise 9 and also with  Nik Nimbus, The Ex drummer of Here and Now & Paradise 9 and last not least with Garry Masters of The Magic Mushroom Band; of my ex-band members I still would like to work with there are some like Rob Tarana or with Daniela and Rainer Neeff – both of the Pancakes. And with Thomas Schmerda and Wuschel of Moloko Plus and Deutsch-Nepal. In my deepest Fantasy with Jean d’Auberlaque. And with Bernd Hock, who is a very old friend of mine I know now nearly 40 years. I just have to add all are brilliant musicians. Often I do not work with German musicians. Them and myself are often not compatible. It is seldom enough that you find German musicians inside my bands but actually I have a Lady in the band (Antje *the ant* Ihm) who plays often the drums and adds also guitar, synths, flutes, voices and other instruments.

6. Which artist, living or dead, would you most like to interview for the Spacezine?
That is easy :) Donald Buck Dharma Roeser, Eric Bloom, Syd Barrett, Dave Gilmour, Roger Waters, Pete Bingham, Lutz Rahn, Tim Jones, Jean d’Auberlaque, Jimi Hendrix, Robert Plant, Donovan, Sonja Kristina, Arthur Brown, Nik Nimbus, Keith Bailey, Gregg McKella, Stephen Smith, Detlev Schmidtchen, Frank Bornemann, Vince Cory; at least there are lots of more but I have decided to stop the SpaceZine after issue 4.2. Even tho I have interviewed Nik already, I would like to do it again.

Nik Turner, Deke Leonard, Bernd Kistenmacher, Dave Anderson , Edgar and Steve Broughton, Chris Karrer and Dieter Servas I have interviewed already, even most of them except for Nik not for the SpaceZine.

Of the graphical Artists I would like to interview Steven Barber, Ed Unitsky, Roger Dean and H.R.Giger. Of the authors are also quite a few but I would like to interview Michael Moorcock one day.

Tuesday, July 5, 2022

An interview with artist, writer, and musician Sheila Foley

 

Hello! Here we have an interview conducted via email with artist, musician, writer, Sheila Foley.

Sheila is the founder of the Stoneham Writers Group. Full disclosure I am a member.

Without further ado here we go:


 You work across multiple artistic disciplines, which is your favorite? Which is the most challenging and why?


First, thanks for considering my work blog-worthy.  Yes, I practice a number of art forms, or dabble in some of them. Visual art became my career. From teaching the subject to illustrating books and magazines, to creating commissioned fine art and live painting at weddings and events, art has been my bread and butter.  I'd love more time to actually paint what I want rather than try to please a client, but it's always helpful to be compensated for your work.


What artistic genre appeals to me most?  I think it depends on the day, my mood, and what I want or need to say.  Some things are best expressed visually.  Others need words or music to speak their truth.


Why do I feel the need to do “art”?  I could probably write a book to answer that question.  And still not explain it sufficiently.  I guess it boils down to the fact that the arts are the only way to go deep. To express thought, make other people think or feel or question. Inspire, amuse.  A million reasons. And in sharing this “art” I discover more about myself as well.  What makes me tick and possibly why.


When and why did you first start writing? What do you hope to accomplish as a writer?


I started writing in junior high school (in the dark ages before middle school was invented).  I had two good English teachers. They taught me to appreciate poetry and literature.  In eighth grade I was that kid who loved writing assignments and looked forward to feedback.  We were rare. In high school I  had another great English teacher who called songwriters poets. Now we're talkin'.  


Since being a visual artist was almost born in me, I had never thought of being a writer.  One February in the early 80s, I was upset that I didn't have a date for Valentine’s Day.  Even worse, that holiday was so overblown in magazine ads and on TV.  Just to get my anger out, I put pen to paper. For fun I sent the few sad paragraphs to the Boston Globe.  The gall!


I had no idea how to submit a piece of writing. No surprise, it was rejected outright. Then I tried the Boston Herald.  They replied that it would be published on the Op-Ed page.  I didn't know what Op-Ed meant, but sure. Imagine my surprise, and delight!  People even responded to my piece by writing letters to the editor. Weird.


Shortly after that, I started writing short stories and even a novel (unfinished still).  I joined writers groups, wrote articles for magazines and newspapers.  Small time local stuff. Minimal pay, but I enjoyed it.


When and why did you begin playing music?


As for music, I took guitar lessons as a teen.  I learned to read music and to play basic chords. My teacher told me I'd be the next Joan Baez, probably because I had long straight hair, not as dark as hers though.  I didn't keep up with the guitar much after college but I discovered the penny whistle or tin whistle.  It's an incredibly easy instrument.  And so portable.  I played it for my own amusement back then, never with anyone else.  I took up violin in 2002. Much too old! I was working (volunteering) at an arts center and the violin instructor needed one more student for her class to run. Oh my, was that a difficult instrument!  It still is, but definitely worth the effort. I'm still a hack but I discovered Celtic music and there's no turning back. I'm addicted.


Whistler is your favorite painter. Who are some of your other favorites? How do you think they influenced you?


My artistic influences are numerous.

Visual art:  James McNeill Whistler is my art hero.  Then there's John Singer Sargent, Winslow Homer, Howard Pyle, NC Wyeth. I tend to learn from any art I see, but these were the top influencers.


Writers/Poets: Robert Frost is far ahead of the pack here. He says so much with few words. Henry David Thoreau is also wonderful but I discovered him later. I've been a Frost fan since high school. Hmm, maybe locals who write about nature and deeper truths are my faves.  I like F. Scott Fitzgerald, especially Gatsby, but I can't say his writing has influenced or informed mine.


Musicians: Too many to mention but my fiddle hero is Jay Ungar. I still think Joan Baez has a compelling female voice. My first guitar love was Glen Campbell.  I saw him in concert way back when he had a TV show.  Great performer. So yes, folk music, rootsy stuff, historical, Celtic. Anything you can get together with people and play.  Music is more communal than the other art forms. I LOVE playing music with people.  It's my absolute favorite thing to do.



What's next for Sheila Foley?

What's next?  We shall see. Whatever it is probably won't be too grandiose. I've turned into a less is more type.

Sunday, May 22, 2022

 Cat Out of Hell


It's no big surprise that the incredibly purlfic Cat Temper would be back with a new album. It's not out yet but here's the bandcamp link to where it will be popping up. Yes, I was lucky enough to get a sneak peak into the musical cat awesome!

What is a surprise is that it is most likely now my second favorite Cat Temper album! Just behind Henry. Considering how many meowtastic albums Cat Temper has, that is no small paw job. 

Yes, if you hate cat puns, stop reading right meow.

Cat Out of Hell is already a top contender for my favorite albums of 2022. I really dig the way Cat Temper distills the best 80's sounds into a fun mix of up beat instrumental madness. This should be the soundtrack to Stranger Things! This should be the soundtrack to every arcade.

There's also a felinetastic video for the song Purradise by The Dashboard Light 

The video is a lot of fun and if it doesn't hit your 80s sweet spot right away check out the end with an Atari/Twin Peaks fun fest!

Cat Temper is the best temper!

Cat Temper furrever!


Yours in pawesome tunes,

Count Robot