BACK IN ACTION!

Were back in action folks! I've upgraded the site to Wordpress 2.8.5 and although it was a major pain in the ass - due to many of my existing Java scripts conflicting with the new platform - everything appears to be working much better than before. Most of the benefit from this upgrade is mine alone as I can now swiftly kick the spammer's asses with new tools at my disposal. Folks can once again register to join the website and commenting timeouts will be a little longer than before. The website management tools this thing has are sweet!

Also fixed are the annoying problems I was having with my MuZiX Jukebox. Now, If you click on the Jukebox located in the upper left column, the link will open up another tab with the Java script app for playing music. At this point I only have some choice selections from my current listening repertoire, but as I get it more together over here, I'll be sporting other genres for your listening pleasure. I've even tested my Christmas tunes page with the slide show from 2 years ago and even that thing's good to go for the day after Thanksgiving when I put up the holiday decorations.

So please, give the MoFiZiX MuZiX Jukebox a try and let me know what you think. Also please take a moment to register with the site so that at anytime in the future you can login and comment on my postings.

The Torture Never Stops...

Thank you folks for hanging in there until I got back. Last week was a minor hell for me but I'm glad to say that things worked out and it's time once again to get back to business at hand. The first thing I wanted to do when I got back was to update the jukebox with more of my favorite Zappa tunes. I've been going through the rest of the albums I had and realized that I hadn't even posted half of what I considered to be his most memorable performances... not to mention more of the stuff he did with Captain Beefheart (Don Van Vliet). I figured that since I was pulling out and dusting off the collection, I might as well do a thorough job of it, pull together all my favorites and throw it out there for your listening enjoyment. WOW, what a trip down memory lane! It'll probably take me a little while longer to get through it all so for now it's still a work in progress. As I go through each album, I'll continue to update the jukebox.



ENJOY!!!

And now we return to our regularly scheduled broadcast...

Thanks for hanging in there folks. What a nightmare! Putting my box back in working order was NOT how I planned on spending the past 3 days. Needless to say, once I got up and running with all the necessary programs, drivers, settings and utilities, I made clean Ghost images of my drives and burned them onto DVDs for backup. I'll be damned if I ever go through that again!

Now, back to what I was going to post 3 nights ago!

As I mentioned in an earlier post back a month or two ago when I upgraded my online muzix jukebox, I was planning on diversifying my music genre to reflect my past musical tastes. Although I currently favor Country music, I still love to listen to the sounds that carried me through my formative years. I started off listening to Sabbath, Floyd, Zeppelin, AC/DC, Tull, Van Halen, Motor Head, Kiss, Alice Cooper, etc. in the early to mid 70s, but just before the 80s, most of Rock was turning into the pretty boy - poser scene and I needed an alternative.

Heavy Metal was migrating into Death Metal and Punk and at the time - up until the late 80s - that would be the genre to which I found myself most aligned. Yup, I donned a leather jacket, combat boots, suspenders, my hair looked like I French kissed an electrified light socket, and I lived for skanking around in the mosh pit. It's a wonder I made it through those years! Ramones, Pistols, Buzzcocks, Kennedys, Misfits, Black Flag, C.O.C., D.R.I., etc. on one end and Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax, Motörhead, Megadeth, etc. on the other. IMHO, the Metal scene was just getting too obsessed with death and Satan worship. It didn't take me long to realize that I found absolutely no association or amusement in music so focused on killing myself, killing my girlfriend, killing my family, killing my dog, annihilating the world with nuclear weapons... you get the point. Punk was more like the poetry of being pissed off at real world bullshit. It was more about attitude than dogma.

By the mid 80s, the Punk/Metal scene peaked with the release of Suicidal Tendencies first album, "Speak English or Die" by Stormtroopers of Death - which was a pairing of Anthrax and Billy Milano from M.O.D., and the Circle Jerks. From that point on, the scene just slid right down into the sewer which doesn't say much as most of it was in the sewer to begin with. By the early 90s, the scene was completely dead. Most of the surviving bands became overly commercialized, extreme leftists, or overrated has-bens. Hardcore Punk became nothing more than Hardcore Hate and the softer side of the Punk scene became the mainstream Alternative genre we hear every day on commercial Rock radio.

Throughout the 90s, I found myself moving back to musical roots - for the lack of a better term. I was starting to listen to many other genres including Blues, Jazz, and even Classical. I even took a special interest in Chopin! Anyway, there was one artist that stood out among the rest as an absolute favorite who seemed to bring all of these musical styles together with a sort of creative mastery. I remember listening to his music back in the 70s and never learned to appreciate the complexity and genius of his creations. I always considered him one of the greatest guitarists that ever lived and after collecting over 40 of his albums and reading his autobiography, I can honestly say he is my favorite.

After posting about the mystery musician last Friday, I realized that I may have given out a few too many good hints. My most frequent commenter here at the site, Iteki, guessed it right away.

The mystery musician is none other than...

Frank Zappa
1940 - 1993



Yes, he was pretty much anti-establishment and anti-religion, but he was also very pro-democracy, pro-capitalism, and pro-American! He was a true libertarian at heart and man could he play guitar!

So, in honor of my favorite artist, I have assembled a compilation of some of his best music and loaded it into the MoFiZiX MuZiX Jukebox. Please take some time, click on the jukebox icon in the upper left corner, listen for yourself and you'll understand what I'm talking about. If you think Zappa is all about Yellow Snow and Joe's Garage, then you are truly in for a surprise. I also encourage you pick up a copy of his autobiography "The Real Frank Zappa" and get yourself an in-depth look on one of the greatest musicians of all time.

Mystery Music Man

Ok folks, lets see if anyone out there can guess who this mystery musician is.

1. He was born in Baltimore, MD in Dec. 1940 and died in Los Angeles, CA in Dec. 1993.


2. He spoke before a Congressional sub-committee in his fight against the wife of then Senator Algore and the PMRC.


3. He was a pioneer in the transformation of the music industry to digital media and CDs and was the first to release a single on a mini 3 inch CD.


4. In July 1994 a Czech-discovered asteroid was named after him.


5. He was Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 2 years following his death and was the only artist to also be inducted into the Jazz Hall of Fame as well.


6. That same year a statue was erected in his honor in Lithuania in large part because he was hailed as a great proponent for democracy in many former Eastern Block countries.


7. Because his music was so complicated, he once had to make an entire orchestra pretend to play their instruments while he used a computer to enrapture the audience to standing ovations.


8. A stage accident left him with one of his legs shorter than the other.


9. During his career, he produced a total 60 hit albums and shelved hundreds of master tracks which he never released.


10. He was a staunch Libertarian.


11. ...and he was a home schooling parent.

New and Improved!

Wouldn't you know it; with all the insane crap going down in US government this past week, I've selfishly decided to ignore most of it and concentrate on upgrading one of the newest features here at my site. After lifting the idea for putting an mp3 player on my web site from the lovely headmistress SondraK, I quickly became bored with the format in which it was displayed. After searching around the net and working with several different alternatives, I settled on the only one I was able to fully customize to my site's theme.

Wimpy Player is a full featured mp3 player that integrates smoothly into your website with or without the need for managing database tables. All you need for the basic installation is a directory with some tunes and a minimum number of support files. As I have previously stated, I took advantage of the player's customizable abilities in order to modify the skin appearance - which is what has been taking me so long to complete this little project of mine.

Presently, the player is only configured and loaded up with my current favorite genre: Country, but don't fear folks, I'm also assembling a collection of other genres which I have enjoyed over past years. As you'll soon find, my past musical tastes are wide ranging from such delicate melodies as "Concerto For Piano And Orchestra No. 1 In E minor, Op.11 - Larghetto" by Fredrick Chopin to the incredible guitar wizardry of "Shut Up 'n Play Yer Guitar" by Frank Zappa to the gut pounding grind of "Born Entertainer" by Veruca Salt.

Coming from a past of Heavy Metal and Punk music, I'd say that my musical tastes have evolved quite dramatically. While not everyone will like what I put in my playlists, I hope that, if anything, it gives you a flavor for who I am as an individual with relation to the sounds that I felt have excited me and in some way's continue to do so. There will likely be some music that I believe may be offensive to a few virgin ears out there and as a precaution, such content will be preceded by some type of disclaimer in order to protect the innocent :)

Anyway, as I make selections from my extensive CD collection and format them for your listening pleasure, check back every now and then to see and listen to what I've added. Enjoy!

Mo Betta Muzik

In keeping up with the recent internet trend of merging multimedia into the realm of the blogosphere, I've decided to make a new addition to MoFiZiX Gr4FiX.





As of yesterday, I now feature a bunch of tunes I've purchased legally and showcased them in a Shockwave player playlist located at the bottom of the website. I would have put it on the side bar, but considering the amount of information offered by the player's script, I opted to place it down below so as to give the listener a clear visual of what some of my favorite songs are and the albums they come from.

My current favorite genre for at least the past several years has been Country music. It brings out my patriotic love for what's good and right in our nation. It also appeals to my roots and my upbringing in what used to be a close knit farming community. My folks were produce farmers in the well know Black Dirt region (onion country) in western Orange County, New York (approx. 2hrs NW of NYC). I now live about half an hour away in Montgomery, New York, home to the world famous Orange County Choppers ...but that's a subject better left for another time.

In addition to Country, I also like some of just about everything else except that I cannot tolerate Rap, Hip-Hop, Disco and/or Urban Beat. As I learn more about how to categorize the playlists for the Shockwave player, I'll expand my collection. Looking at the current selection you might be a little surprised to find one song that stands out from the rest. It's been a favorite of mine since I was a kid and saw it played in an old cartoon. The song was originally done Al Jolson and Cab Calloway in early 1936 in the movie "The Singing Kid" and later that year was adapted to cartoon by the famous "Merrie Melodies" director Tex Avery.

The cartoon capitalized on what was already a hugely successful song at the time and also wove together with it a storyline loosely based on Jolson's famous movie "The Jazz Singer" which just so happened to be a storyline loosely based on Al Jolson's struggle and rise to fame itself. It's quite an interesting piece of history and if it wasn't for the racist segregationist D.W. Griffith's box office smash "Rise of a Nation" twenty years earlier which helped birthed the black rights movement known as the NAACP, there might exist more public respect and admiration today for what was then the earth shattering talent of the great black-faced minstrel Al Jolson. Here first is the cartoon I so loved so much growing up and below that is a clip from the original motion picture "The Singing Kid". Enjoy!

Cab Calloway and Al Jolson
Uploaded by redhotjazz

Other thing are better left forgotten...

Am I the only one who noticed the MSM literally obsessed in absolute grief to the point of orgasm (if there ever could be such a thing) on the 25th anniversary of John Lennon’s death yesterday? The whole day was awash with up to the minute reports on ALL THE PEOPLE flocking Strawberry Fields in Central Park to commemorate the loss of someone they felt was one of history’s greatest humanitarians. Yet, just two days ago, as we commemorated the 64th anniversary of a sneak attack on our country’s soil which resulted in the death of over 2400 Americans, 1200 severely wounded, 18 ships and 200 aircraft destroyed and the start of what would be a brutal 4 year war against the iron-willed Japanese Empire, the MSM was hard pressed to make any mention of it at all.

It doesn’t take a degree in rocket science to figure out the obvious direction of their partiality.

Obviously, if you ask people what they thought of John Lennon, most would likely proclaim him to be a true visionary of world peace and brotherly love, an outstanding example of human compassion. To me, the man was nothing more than a useless hippie song writer that made millions of dollars off huge corporate recording contracts, selling radical messages aimed at promoting communist ideology. What? You think I’m nuts? Ok, let’s look at the theme song for the modern peace movement, shall we?

Imagine

By John Lennon

Imagine there's no heaven,
(atheism – God is non-existent)
It's easy if you try,
No hell below us,
(In other words we are/make our own hell)
Above us only sky,
(only believe in what you can see)
Imagine all the people
living for today...
(instead of for the future)

Imagine there's no countries,
(globalization – one world government)
It isn’t hard to do,
Nothing to kill or die for,
(…or believe in or stand up for either)
No religion too,
(back to atheism)
Imagine all the people
living life in peace...
(utopianist pacifism)

Imagine no possessions,
(no private ownership)
I wonder if you can,
No need for greed or hunger,
(unless you are a communist dictator)
A brotherhood of man,
(humanist utopianism)
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...
(“From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs” – Karl Marx)

You may say I’m a dreamer,
(yes, resulting from your years of drug abuse)
But I’m not the only one,
(I know! Millions of other have also been deceived by the empty lies of communism)
I hope some day you'll join us,
(no thanx! for me capitalist democracy = true freedom)
And the world will live as one.
(back to globalism blah, blah, blah…)

Sorry folks, but if you don’t see that this sort of daydream drivel is nothing more than a page right out of the Communist Manifesto, then you are just the kind of idiot needed to build the ranks of the modern communist movement. Even a hard line commie dictator like Fidel Castro came to that realization - albeit 20 years after the singer’s death. If this one song isn’t enough to convince you of what I’m talking about, go take a hard and objective look at some of the other songs he wrote.

"Revolution No. 9"
"Working Class Hero"
"Back in the USSR"
"Attica State"
"Angela" (about Angela Davis – Google it)
"Piggies"
"Power to the People" (need I say more?)

You know, I’ve long been a believer of the phrase; “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t force him to drink.” Well, be that as it may – and being that I am such a caring and compassionate individual - I would love to help clue you in on reality by reminding you that the road to hell is paved with good intentions, but if you’re busy buying into the bullshit being propagated by the John Lennons of this world, then you probably don’t believe in hell in the first place. So what’s the use?!