DVD Review - Canned Heat: Live at Montreux and Boogie With Canned Heat: The Canned Heat Story

by T. Michael Testi (Blogcritics.org , PhotographyToday, ATAEE)

If you are a fan of blues, especially the boogie blues that Canned Heat produces then you are in for a real treat with Canned Heat: Live at Montreux. This DVD is a recording of a concert that took place in 1973 and features the then line up of Bob "The Bear" Hite (Vocals, Harmonica, Bass), Ed Beyer (Piano), Henry Vestine (Guitar), Fito De La Parra (Drums), Richard Hite (bass) and James Shane (Guitar, Vocals).

The show begins with "On The Road Again" which highlights The Bear's great harmonica and bluesy vocals. The driving rhythms of Richard Hite and Fito De La Parra playing off the guitar work of Vestine and Shane give the band its power. And to make it boogie we have the piano work of Ed Beyer. This is really what Canned Heat is all about.

The next four songs feature Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown. This is a true bonus to the DVD to be able to watch Gatemouth at his best. Brown was a Louisiana/Texas blues musician who was a highly acclaimed musician on a wide variety of instruments including guitar, fiddle, mandolin and drums. In this performance it is just fascinating watching his play on the guitar and fiddle. Especially when he makes his guitar talk as he is mouthing the words. It is just amazing to see.

The sixth song, "Night Time Is The Right Time" highlights James Shane's vocals and guitar work. The remaining songs are vintage Canned Heat. It is pure enjoyment to watch.

The reason why Canned Heat has survived to this day is that they consistently reinvent themselves within the realm of blues boogie by the personnel of the moment and they let their personnel shine in the spotlight. It would have been easy for the Heat to fold after the death of co-founder Alan Wilson. Even easier to fold after the death of the icon Bob Hite, but Canned Heat still tours and puts out original material ("Friends in the Can"; 2003) after forty years in the business.

The other bonus of this package is the second DVD entitled Boogie With Canned Heat: The Canned Heat Story. This is a 140 minute documentary on the history of Canned Heat. It is told through the eyes of the drummer Fito De La Parra; the only remaining member of the group. De La Parra joined the band for the second album and has played on every album since then.

There is footage with John Lee Hooker from the time of "Hooker and Heat"; which subsequently gave Hooker his first album to make the charts. And also talks about the influence that Bob Hite had on the characters known as "The Blues Brothers".

The quality of both DVDs is very good as is the sound. Obviously, some of the footage on the documentary is not of high quality, but its importance is more of historical value. This is a must for anyone who loves the blues and even more important for those fans of Canned Heat.

Track Listing (Montreux 1973):On the Road AgainPlease Mr. Nixon w/ Clarence "Gatemouth" BrownWorried Life Blues w/ Clarence "Gatemouth" BrownOoh Poo Pah Doo w/ Clarence "Gatemouth" BrownFunky w/ Clarence "Gatemouth" BrownNight Time is the Right TimeLet's Work TogetherRock and Roll MusicLookin' for My RainbowMontreux Boogie (improvisation)

Music Review - The Sweet Escape by Gwen Stefani

by T. Michael Testi (Blogcritics.org , PhotographyToday, ATAEE)

The Sweet Escape is the second solo effort by the pop-rock singer Gwen Stefani. Released in December 2006, it is the follow-up album to the enormously successful 2004 release Love.Angel.Music.Baby. that sold 3.7 million copies.

How do you follow up that kind of success with a second effort? Chances are you don’t! What one needs to do is create a good solid album. Something that you want to make - The Sweet Escape is this kind of album.

Originally Stefani did not want to do another solo effort. In fact, she has been working out with No Doubt but she had some tracks leftover from the L.A.M.B. sessions that she wanted to release. She took the tracks, which include "Wonderful Life" and created a different style of CD then her last one.

There will be many who feel that she is moving too far off the road that created her success, but sometimes the lack of change is what keeps an artist from being who they are and becoming something that their fans think that they should be. It is easy for a follow up to be nothing more than a rehash of the same material that created the previous success, The Sweet Escape is not a redux.

The down side with creating a fresh start is that you will have many fans who will want to downgrade the performances and down grade the album. To give this album its do, one has to come to it on its own merits and not strictly compare it to L.A.M.B.

Does The Sweet Escape stand on its own? I think that it does. On the first track, “Wind it Up,” she yodels to The Sound of Music tune “The Lonely Goatherd” –which by the way is a strange little ditty that I really like. It is part excitement, part clunky and really addictive. It harks back the L.A.M.B. album but is still different.

“Early Winter” is a driving ballad that is a bit dark but hauntingly wonderful. “4 In The Morning” is in some ways like the song “Cool,” slow and upbeat. “Wonderful Life” has an upbeat driving style to it and great lyrics. “The Sweet Escape” is a bit sugary sweet but comes off well. Akon makes a guest appearance on the track.

“Now That You Got It” is a song that, at first, I didn’t like, but the more I listened to it the more it grew on me. “Don’t get Twisted” is a great dance track though the lyrics are a bit strange. “U Started It” is fun but it takes some time to grow on you.

There are a few of tracks that, while they are not my favorite, are not bad. Those include “Orange County Girl,” which, while it has a good sound, just didn’t work as an OC rap song though I suspect many will disagree with me.

“Fluorescent” is just a little too much 80’s pop music. “Breakin’ Up,” while clever and starts off promising, just doesn’t finish and “Yummy,” which features Pharrell, has a good sound to it and is very catchy; the lyrics are a bit lacking. None of this would dissuade me from purchasing this album.

The grade I give this album is A- because of the effort needed to create an album that was different than her first. It would be easy to look at this CD and say this isn’t what I expected after Love.Angel.Music.Baby., but I admire an artist that puts it on the line and challenges both themselves as well as their listeners.

The tracks are listed below
Wind It Up
The Sweet Escape – Featuring AkonOrange County Girl
Early Winter
Now That You Got It
4 In The Morning
Yummy – featuring Pharrell
Fluorescent
Breakin' Up
Don't Get It Twisted
U Started It
Wonderful Life

Music Review: Deadsy - Phantasmagore

by T. Michael Testi (Blogcritics.org , PhotographyToday, ATAEE)

What do you get when you cross Greg Allman and Cher? You get the goth-metal sounds of Deadsy. Fronted by Elijah Blue Allman, Deadsy is pure sound in motion. With a low and dissonant tone, Elijah’s low baritone style, Dr Nner’s synths and Carlton’s Ztar (a guitar synthesizer) give the music a surreal quality.

According to the band, Deadsy is an institution that was developed to purify and primify the human solution of sound and vision. It is adamantly committed to the realization of a comprehensive conveyance of simplicity and complexity's synergistic unions - a sort of "simplexity" or "complicity," if you will. This institution is comprised of five separate entities: academia, leisure, horror, war and science-medicine.

This band is surviving on perseverance and instinct. In 1995, as they were about to release a self-titled debut album under the Electra/Sire label, Sire split with Electra and Deadsy was left on the shelf. After a series of false starts, the band finally signed with Korn’s Elementree record label and in 2003 released “Commencement." The album debuted in the top half of the Billboard 200 and sold more than 100,000 copies.

Now after four long years, Phantasmagore is finally released on the Immortal label. Does it live up to the commitment? Absolutely! This is goth-metal shred at its best!

“Razor Love,” with its dueling guitars and addictive beat, is great. “Babes in Abyss” is a fast rock song with a great chorus and guitar work. “Paint It Black” is simply awesome. They have taken the Stones cover and made it their own. Complete with harmonium, tambour and sarongi. I would buy the album for these three songs alone.

There are slow melodic tracks like “Better Than You Know,” traditional Deadsy with a Gary Numan-like finish, “Phantasmagore” – which has an '80s style opening with Blue’s menacing vocals, and “The Last Story Ever,” slow dark and haunting.

There are rocking tracks such as “Time” –- they use parts of Zepplin’s “Immigrant Song” — and “Asura,” with its solid rock style. “Book of Black Dreams” is not my favorite, but it still has moments.

Deadsy first started separating themselves from the crowd within the L.A club shows and the avant-garde staging which earned them word of mouth. Now with the release of Phantasmagore, their legions shall grow even more.

The tracks are: Razor Love
Carrying Over
Babes in Abyss
Paint It Back
Better than you know
Book of Black Dreams
Asura
The last story of ever
Phantasmagore
Time
Health & Theory

My biggest problem with the CD is the cover art which does not represent them very well. Furthermore, there are no liner notes, but since I generally purchase an album for the music I can ignore this oversight.

My final grade on this CD is a good solid A

Book Review - The Book Of JavaScript - 2nd Edition by Dave Thau

by T. Michael Testi (Blogcritics.org , PhotographyToday, ATAEE)

In his second go-around with The Book Of JavaScript, Dave Thau has knocked another one out of the park. The first book, published in January of 2000, while an incredibly good book, was showing its age. To say a lot has happened in the past seven years with regard to web development techniques would be an understatement. This book was long overdue.

For those who do not know, JavaScript is the technology that allows web pages to be dynamic, interactive and more flexible. There are other technologies such as CGI, VBScript and Flash, but these have limitations and are many times useful only in specific situations.

Make no mistake, this book is geared for the beginning user, but I think that there is also a lot for the more experienced user, as well as for those who are in need a refresher. The Book Of JavaScript is broken down into 18 chapters and 4 appendices. Major topics include: working with variables, browsers, rollovers, windows, timing, frames and image maps, validation, cookies and dynamic HTML. There is also over 150 pages that cover the new AJAX technology.

What I like about this book is that every topic is well written and covered in-depth. For example, in chapter seven, Thau explains about working with forms. He takes you from writing HTML forms, reading from the forms, writing to forms and triggering events from form elements. He goes into the use of the keyword “this” as well as using the “id” attribute and retrieving it using the JavaScript function getElementByID(). Each topic addressed and built upon in a logical progression.

Chapter 13 takes us in to the world of dynamic HTML or DHTML. He explains clearly what it is, why it is useful, and shows websites that make use of it. He explains how to use JavaScript to manipulate divs to make DHTML. Understanding that DHTML too big of a topic to cover here, he goes into it enough to give you the basics for use with AJAX.

The next two chapters are devoted to Asynchronous JavaScript and XML or AJAX. This is the new technology that allows web pages to act more like desktop applications. By the use of DHTML and the ability to download and display information, we can now present screens to the user that do not have the familiar submit and wait cycle.

At the end of each chapter is a summary and an assignment for you to practice your new skills. Instead of a companion CD, there is a companion website for this book. It contains all of the examples used in the book as well as freeware for use with JavaScript.

The author, Dave Thau, has been creating internet applications since 1993. He has taught programming to hundreds of artists, engineers and children. He is currently working toward a Ph. D in computer science at the University of California, Davis.

I find that this book is a very easy read. It is easy to understand and use. If you are new to JavaScript, if you want to refresh skills, The Book Of JavaScript is a great place to get you up to speed.

Audio Book Review - Brother Odd by Dean Koontz – Read by David Aaron Baker

by T. Michael Testi (Blogcritics.org , PhotographyToday, ATAEE)

Odd Thomas returns! This time he is not in the desert town of Pico Mundo, rather he is high in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. In this third installment of what has become the Odd Thomas series, we find him in reclusion at St. Bartholomew's Abbey where he has gone for solace and seclusion. While waiting for an oncoming snow storm – this is the first time that he has seen snow – he encounters bodachs. These are the dark entities that precede cataclysmic events and feed on the impending doom of others. The last time he encountered them, 19 people died. What are they doing at a monastery that caters to handicapped children?

“Loop me in, odd one” are the words spoken by a young girl who is in a deep sleep. These are word that Odd has not heard since the death of his girlfriend Stormy Llewellyn. It sends a chill down his spine.

By the time Brother Timothy is found to be missing, the snow is falling heavily and outside help is not available. The question is not about if something will happen, the question is when and how bad will it be this time. It will be up to Odd to solve the mystery and save the abbey. Odd is about to embark on a journey of mystery, wonder and sheer suspense that surpasses all that has come before.

For those who are unfamiliar with Odd Thomas, he sees dead people and other spirits known as bodachs. Normally, Odd lives in a little desert town known as Pico Mundo where he is employed as a fry cook, but has chosen to live at the abbey to help overcome the grief he has for his deceased girlfriend and the burden he set on himself that he could not save more people at mall.

The dead people that Odd Thomas sees are ones who can’t quite make it to the other side. One of the reoccurring ghosts is Elvis, who sometimes cries, sometimes tries to make Odd laugh but is always trying to resolve the sadness he has for disappointing his mother. Although Odd can see the ghosts, he can not hear them.

In the first book, Stormy died and Odd believed that after a lifetime of service to humanity, that he would one day be reunited in the after life with her. As in his prior books, Odd Thomas places his life danger to protect others. In this case it is to protect the young children housed abbey, most are handicapped and are incapable of living a normal life.

Brother Odd is more of a return to the first book, Odd Thomas which was published in 2003. Forever Odd, published in 2005 was a darker tale and much more introspective than this one. In Brother Odd, Koontz returns with a strong supporting cast including Brother Knuckles who was a mob enforcer, before finding his new calling. There is Sister Angela who has a “periwinkle blue stare” as well as Boo, a snow-colored hound who loves inclement weather.

This is Koontz at his finest. There is a wry sense of humor that runs like multiple threads throughout the story. As with his earlier books in the Odd Thomas series it is easy to find your self immersed in the development of the characters. They are loose, individual and really come alive with their rich dialog. The plot takes you along at an ever increasing pace moving faster and faster toward… Well, you wouldn’t want me to spoil it would you?

Odd Thomas has become one of the best serial fictional characters ever created. His calm demeanor and his dedication to his fellow souls in – both living and not - brings his personality to life. He is not pretentious and is always willing to undertake the challenges that life places in his path.

This unabridged audio version is performed by David Aaron Baker. An actor who has appeared on Broadway and on film, he has narrated all three audio versions of the Odd Thomas series. In this one Baker has slipped back in to the voice of Odd as smoothly as sliding into fuzzy slippers on a Christmas morning. His ability to weave in and out of the different characters makes this a wonder to listen to. I hope that he continues to bring Odd Thomas to life in the spoken word as Dean Koontz brings him to life on the page.

If I had one complaint with the story it is that it is too short. This is one of those rare moments that at the end, you don't want to be done. Even more, you can’t wait to go back. I hope that we will be going back soon!

I highly recommend Brother Odd. If you have never read (or listened to) an Odd Thomas story, get all three. You will not be disappointed.