Did You Ever Notice in the Lack of Rock or Metal Super Bowl Halftime Shows?

I've certainly noticed that, in years past, rock and metal acts have not played the Super Bowl Halftime Shows. Lately, it's been mostly hip hop, rap, R&B. I'm not saying anything is wrong with R&B; in fact, R&B is how music essentially got its start. But, in years past, there were all sorts of rock and metal acts playing the halftime show. Now, it's mostly rap / hip hop, pop or R&B

Now it's Latin music. Which, again, I have no problem with. I do enjoy listening to Latin music. I do, however, have a concern with this year's choice of Bad Bunny having all of these requirements for people to be a part of his show. They have to be between 5'-6', they have to be thin and be able to wear at least 40 lbs of costume of gear. No thin person is going to be able to do that unless they are strong. And even if they are strong, they may not be thin. He also seems to be using this year's show as a platform for his political views. Politics have no place in music

Once upon a time, bands like Aerosmith, U2 and The Rolling Stones have played the Super Bowl Halftime Shows. Their high energy performances made the Super Bowl even better. When The Who played back in 2010, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes was only still in high school. This begs the question "What led to rock and metal not being the halftime shows?"

Insiders in the football industry state that there were various factors at play when it comes to choosing the right halftime show act. These factors include international appeal, artistic preferences. The Super Bowl is not just an American thing; it attracts millions of viewers worldwide and, as such, organizers of the event may choose to go with someone who has a broader global appeal

James Hetfield, guitarist and singer for metal band Metallica once said "I can't dance, I can't jump around. I'm not an acrobat, I'm not a variety show, you know? We are artists. We're a band. We love playing songs. We're not gonna fly through the air on a sparkly unicorn."

Dee Snider of metal band Twisted Sister also has something to say, venting his frustration. "Once again the great heavy music that rocks the stadiums week after week, game after game is completely ignored. I guess we don't shake our a-- enough!"

Even the absence of country music in recent years highlights the organizers' goal of having greater international appeal. Despite country music being widely popular in the US, it's been more than two decades since a country artist played the Super Bowl Halftime Show

Who selects the acts?

-It's typically a set of people convened by the NFL. Local representatives from the host city also play part in making the final decision. It can sometimes lead to controversy, as it did with Super Bowl 50. Carlos Santana said "I do feel compelled to point out to you that the halftime show should have included some of the local iconic bands that the world would have loved to see perform. Bands like Metallica, Steve Miller, Journey and yours truly. We would have rocked the halftime show and done the San Francisco Bay Area proud."

Musicians Lost in 2023

 2023 was a hard year for some. Of course, just getting through the COVID-19 pandemic was a tough one. With that pandemic firmly behind us, we can all relax a little. Of course, we think of all the people who perished from COVID-19. According to Loudwire.com, here are musicians we lost in 2023.

I do apologize if I don't list every one of them. There were a lot of them. That's why I've included the link so you can see all of them. I don't want this to be too long

Jeff Beck

-DOD: 1/10/2023

-He died just ten days into the new year from bacterial meningitis. He was only 78. His fame came from being not only a member of The Yardbirds, but his unique talents at jazz rock fusion. His career was long enough to produce 14 albums, 8 Grammy Awards. He was even a favorite collaborator of Ozzy Osbourne, Jon Bon Jovi and others

David Crosby

-DOD: 1/19/2023

-A member of iconic group Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, David Crosby died at age 81 on January 19, 2023. He was a founding member of 60s group The Byrds. Throughout his life, he suffered from various health issues, such as obesity, addiction, diabetes and liver problems. In 1994, he received a liver transplant, which was considered controversial due to his history with addiction

Tina Turner

-DOD: 5/24/2023

-This iconic legend was initially part of the R&B Ike Turner's Kings of Rhythm. Unfortunately, she suffered domestic abuse at Ike's hands. When she finally broke free of his abusive reign, she was able to rebuild herself up again to massive success. She struggled to gain a foothold as a solo artist until she released Private Dancer in 1983, containing the massive hit "What's Love Got to Do With It".

Gary Rossington

-DOD: 3/5/2023

-He was a founding member of legendary Southern rockers Lynyrd Skynyrd. He was one of the band members who survived the tragic crash that took vocalist Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines and his sister Cassie, who was a backing singer. He was part of the band from 1964-1977 and left, returning in 1987 for their reunion. He returned in 1991 and played until his death

Gordon Lightfoot

-DOD: 5/1/2023

-This iconic folk singer, behind hits such as "Carefree Highway", "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald", "If You Could Read My Mind", died in the hospital in Toronto. On the social media account for him, his family posted "Gordon died peacefully on Monday, May 1, 2023 at 7:30 pm at Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto. He died of natural causes. He was 84 years old. He is survived by his wife Kim Hasse, six children - Fred, Ingrid, Eric, Galen, Miles, and Meredith, as well as several grandchildren."

Wayne Swinny

-DOD: 3/22/2023

-A guitarist for the band Saliva, the band had been out on tour, supporting their recently released single "High on Me". He had been rushed to the hospital, where he was in the ICU for a brain hemorrhage. Unfortunately, he succumbed to the brain hemorrhage. He played on 11 studio albums of Saliva

Tony Bennett

-DOD: 7/21/2023

-This legendary crooner died in New York at the age of 96. He had been battling Alzheimer's Disease, but despite that, he still wrote and recorded music. He even recorded music with pop singer Lady Gaga. His career experienced a halt in success in the 80s, but his success returned with the advent of a session on MTV Unplugged. This helped introduce him to a new generation of fans. Later on, he recorded a full album of big band, jazz type music that he's known for with Lady Gaga, who said she thoroughly enjoyed doing that album with him

Robbie Robertson

-DOD: 8/9/2023

-As a founding member of The Band, he died at the age of 80. At the time of his death, he was surrounded by family. Just before he passed, he had been working on a score for the Martin Scorsese-directed film Killers of the Flower Moon. The Band started out backing Bob Dylan in the 1960s, but forged out on their own, calling themselves The Band. One of their most well known songs is "The Weight" among others

Jimmy Buffett

-DOD: 9/1/2023

-Every one of his concerts was a giant party. The vibe at his concerts was that of one big party. He had been battling a type of skin cancer called Merkle cell skin cancer. He lost his battle on September 1, 2023. Some of his most famous songs include "Cheeseburger in Paradise", Margaritaville", "Come Monday". Because his grandfather used to take him sailing, he gained experiences involving the ocean and sailing, which figured into his music

Steve Harwell

-DOD: 9/4/2023

-The front man for 90s group Smash Mouth, succumbed to liver failure at his Boise, Idaho home. He had entered hospice prior to his death. He was only 56 at the time of his death. Smash Mouth was known for songs like "Walking On the Sun", "All Star" and their cover of The Monkees' classic "I'm a Believer", which appeared on the soundtrack for the film Shrek.

Hiroshi "Heath" Morie

-DOD: 10/29/2023

-The bass player for X Japan, he was diagnosed with cancer. At the time of discovery, it was already in advanced stages. He joined X Japan in 1992 and appeared on two of their albums - 1993's Art of Life and 1996's Dahlia. The band split up in 1997. He replaced the band's old bassist, Taiji, who played bass for the band in 1985. When X Japan reunited in 2007, Heath was one of the members present, alongside drummer/pianist Yoshiki, singer Toshi and guitarist Pata

Denny Laine

-DOD: 12/5/2023

-This musician was one of the founders of The Moody Blues and Wings. He died on December5, 2023 from issues related to intestinal lung disease. He helped form The Moody Blues in 1964 and stayed with them until 1966. When he left the band, Justin Hayward stepped in to sing, taking the band in a more symphonic rock direction. 1971 seen him joining forces with former Beatles member Paul McCartney in the band Wings. The band broke up 10 years later, though. Despite the breakup of Wings, Laine continued releasing solo songs and album. His official last studio album was in 2008, The Blue Musician

Robbie Bachman

-DOD: 1/12/2023

-Drummer for iconic band Bachman Turner Overdrive, he died at age 69. His brother and bandmate Randy Bachman reported his death. This band churned out iconic songs such as "You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet", "Takin' Care of Business", "Let It Ride" in the 1970s

45 Years Ago, Ike & Tina Turner Call It Quits

After spending a chunk of her life being in an abusive relationship with Ike Turner, Miss Tina Turner calls it quits and kicks him to the curb to pursue her own solo career, which has since then grown beautifully

It was Tina herself who made the decision to leave a marriage that was only going to end one way-her death. This decision came to her while on tour with her husband in Dallas in 1976. Their relationship had been, to say one word, abusive. Physically, emotionally, financially. She filed for divorce on July 27, 1976. The reason: "Irreconcilable differences". In a 1981 People interview, Turner recalls "Maybe I was brainwashed. I was afraid of him, and I cared what happened to him. And I knew that if I left, there was no one to sing."

Ike and Tina met in St. Louis in the 1950s, when Tina had showed up at one of his concerts. After hearing her amazing vocals, he had her join the band and be the singer-at age 17. He renamed the band the Ike & Tina Turner Review to highlight her and soon they were married. They married in 1962. In her 2018 memoir My Love Story, she recalls "He threw hot coffee in my face, giving me third degree burns. He used my nose as a punching bag so many times that I could taste blood running down my throat when I sang. He broke my jaw. And I couldn't remember what it was like not to have a black eye." Tina also admits to contemplating suicide, since suicide is the number one risk of intimate partner violence.

She also mentioned that Ike's "stooges" were sent to intimidate her during the divorce proceedings. She was on food stamps, living with their four sons because Ike controlled the finances. All publishing rights were in his name, leaving Tina with no money. The family had no choice but to live in her assistant's house for a short time while the divorce proceedings were occurring. Tina would recall men working for Ike coming to destroy the property to continue the intimidation, going as far as to shoot out the car windows in the driveway and even shoot into the house.

The whole relationship and aftermath left Tina with PTSD. In her memoir, she wrote "My relationship with Ike was doomed the day he figured out I was going to be his moneymaker. He needed to control me, economically and psychologically, so I could never leave him." She then proceeded to reclaim her own identity in the divorce proceedings. She gave Ike half the rights to all music they recorded as a couple, all money they made together, the studio they built and all property they owned in exchange for her name and freedom. Money issues didn't stop there. When their music relationship dissolved, numerous promoters who lost money on the cancelled shows they were supposed to perform sued for their losses. Tina was forced to pay for her share of those losses

After a while, Tina was free. She convinced Capitol Records to sign her as an artist in 1979. By the time 1984 had rolled around, the Queen of Rock had one of the biggest albums, Private Dancer, to her name and one of the biggest successes of the decade

True Crime: New York City

This game is fun, but definitely aimed at an older audience because of the very mature situations dealt with in this game

Summary
-You are Marcus Reed, a former gangbanger turned police officer, whose dad is Isiah "The King" Reed. After being given the chance to change his life and leave his gangbanging ways behind him, Marcus joins the police academy and becomes a cop, with the help of NYPD detective Terry Higgins. After becoming a cop, he manages to become a beat cop in the Organized Crime Unit. You soon come into contact with an eccentric FBI agent named Gabriel Whitting, who is looking into rumors of there being a mole in OCU and somehow that mole having connections to four major organized crime factions in the city

Gameplay
-There are four different chapters to do missions in this game. In order to move on, you must solve the missions in each case
-The Magdelena Cartel
-The Shadow Tong
-The Presidents Club
-The Palermo Mob

-The Magdelena Cartel takes you to the neighborhood of Spanish Harlem, investigating a cartel moving cocaine, ecstasy and other narcotics into poorer neighborhoods. The case ends with you taking down the head, Teresa Castillo, at the Opera House in the theatre district. She's aboard a wooden boat on the opera stage and you must shoot it to arrest her

-The Palermo Mob is your typical Mafia case. You go from talking to a high ranking mobster in Little Italy, to taking down a funeral director in Washington Heights to taking down a mob boss' contactor son on top of a construction boom crane

-The Presidents Club is the name of a club of drug dealers using names of presidents. They are pushing a new drug called "Pop" on to the streets. The mysterious leader of this "club" is a rapper/music producer named Lionel, and to solve this case, you must fight him in hand to hand combat in a Zen garden on top of the building housing his studio

-The Shadow Tong is a pretty tough case. You go to Chinatown to talk to a store owner, then try and rescue the sister of an up and coming Chinese Tong member named Leeland Shen. You discover he is smuggling Chinese immigrants in and forcing them to work in sweatshops

-The layout is pretty typical of any open world game. You can drive around, shoot guns, talk to people, etc. But in this game, you can do more. You can frisk people and if they have contraband, you can either arrest them or bribe them. You can do side missions which include seeking information from confidential informants (in this game, the three informants are The King, who happens to be Marcus' father, the Madam, who runs a high class prostitution service, and Freddie, a gypsy Middle Eastern cab driver)

 

-This game is very similar to True Crime: Streets of LA in the sense that you can solve street crimes, you can enter buildings, you can also use public transportation to get around, which in this games' case is taxis and the subway system. There is also the "Good Cop/Bad Cop" point system in here. The end of the game depends on what you do. If you get too many Bad Cop points, the police will consider you to have "gone rogue" and they will attack you. If you do the Good Cop and get a lot of good points, all is well

 

 

 

-Here you can enter buildings and frisk people for contraband. To get good cop points, arrest the people, but to get bad cop points, you can frame innocent people by planting evidence. You can enter buildings and do all sorts of stuff. To gain lost health, you can visit pharmacies, stop by hot dog or food stands, delis, clothing stores where you can buy new clothes, barber shops to get new haircuts, dojos to pick up new skills and weapons, music stores to pick up new music for the in-game soundtrack, gun stores to pick up new weapons

-When driving, the police dispatch will let you know about crimes occurring. You must solve a set number of crimes in each neighborhood before it is considered "clean". When you look at the map and hover over it with the pointer, it will either be red, meaning and saying that the crime level is extremely high, orange, meaning and saying the crime level is medium, yellow, meaning and saying the crime level is low or green, meaning and saying that that neighborhood is clean. To clean up the neighborhood, solve crimes, frisk suspicious-looking civilians. If nothing is done about the crimes, the crime rate will go up, stores will close, the streets will be dirty, more random crimes will occur and the civilians will become extremely aggressive

-You can also move up the ranks of being a police officer. You can go to the police precinct (marked by a very large badge in Midtown) and enter the police department to turn in contraband and get paid. There are two ways of making money in here-legitimate and illegitimate. The "legit" way of making money is doing your job-stopping crime, frisking suspicious-looking civilians and turning in contraband. The "illegitimate" way of doing it is shaking down store owners, bribing people and in all senses of the word, breaking the law

"Bass...It's like guitar only cooler"

Here is a perfect shirt for the bass player in your life.

Here are some of the more well known bassists in the world of music

 John Entwistle

-The Who

Bill Wyman

-The Rolling Stones

Geddy Lee

-Rush

Terence "Geezer" Butler

-Black Sabbath, Heaven and Hell

Steve Harris

-Smiler, Gypsy's Kiss, Iron Maiden, British Lion(this is his "outside of Iron Maiden" band)

-He's said to be a very stern taskmaster in the band. If he doesn't like something, he'll probably tell you right off hand!!

He still looks nice for his age! But I would not want to make him mad though! I hear he has a pretty dangerous temper!!

Lemmy Kilmister

-Motorhead

Chris Squire

-Yes

A heavily tattooed member of Yes? Shocking

Roger Waters

-Pink Floyd

Duff McKagan

-Velvet Revolver, Guns N'Roses, Loaded

He's still cute! He'll be cute forever!!

Cliff Williams

-AC/DC

Gene Simmons

-Kiss

Pino Palladino

-The Who

Roger Glover

-Deep Purple

Glenn Hughes

-Deep Purple, Trapeze, Black Sabbath, Black Country Communion, California Breed

Still handsome. Although when he talks, it sounds like he is losing his English accent. Nuts! I like his cute British accent

John Myung

-Dream Theatre

Sting

-The Police

Nikki Sixx

-Motley Crue, Sixx A.M.

Glenn Hughes: From Deep Purple to Black Country Communion

I recently read this book and I have to say, it was awesome. It wasn't like most rockstar autobiographies; most of those talk about how awesome they became in music, etc.



IDK why, but for his age, he's handsome. Especially when he wears those purple aviator glasses!!

This one about Glenn Hughes tells it like it is. He tells the truth about his various relapses into substance abuse. How he had a heart attack and didn't know what it was. He talked about his relationships, his first marriage to a woman named Karen and how it all fell apart due to his substance abuse issues. He pulls no punches and doesn't deny anything that happened. He also adds little funny random thoughts in here, making it funny in some parts. Like one time after getting his knee operated on, he said he was obliterated out of his mind on painkillers and he was hanging off the second floor balcony of his hotel room in his underwear holding a crutch. He tells that cocaine and speed and whatever other substances he took ruled his life. That when he came down off the drugs, he had an insatiable craving for chocolate. He says that when you come down off drugs, you want something with sugar or fat in it. Because of that, he went into a newsagent one day to get chocolate only to be busted by someone who was supposed to be looking out for him. Not to mention he'll say that when he was high he'd grab a guitar and start singing and playing and writing music. He also adds that the drugs worsened his already hyper personality

He talks about how he ballooned up to 220 lbs and how felt he was unattractive because of his weight. Not to mention, he seems to have a thing for Swedish girls, because two of his relationships were with girls from Sweden. He talks about his love of reading and his interest in spirituality, about finding God and thinking he's saving his life. He credits his sobriety to hard work and God. Which I find incredibly amazing. I've always liked Glenn Hughes; he does amazing covers of songs. I love when he was talking about doing a Christmas album called A Soulful Christmas. He wanted to do it with a soul, R&B, jazz voice and not to do it, to quote him "do it like the rockstars who butchered the Christmas songs". I've listened to that album; pretty good. I'm going to have to go back and listen to more of his stuff now that I read the book.

Throughout the book, you'll see people quoting on him and talking about him. Like his mother Sheila Hughes and father William "Bill" Hughes, Tony Perry, the manager for Trapeze, his first major band, Tony Iommi, when he worked with Glenn on Sabbath's Seventh Star album, various women he was connected with, like Cherrie Curie, who said that when she reconnected with Glenn twenty years after she first met him, she saw him performing on stage and didn't even recognize him because he was overweight when she met him. She described him as a beautiful man with a beautiful voice and was shocked to find out that gorgeous man with a voice like an angel was the man she once knew.

He also says that he describes his drug craze as Jekyll and Hyde. His "Jekyll" side is the kind, sweet, loving Glenn Hughes that everyone loves while the "Hyde" side is the dark demon of his drug abuse, the side that makes him extremely paranoid thanks to the cocaine psychosis and makes him unable to love anyone. Not to mention, one time during one of his drug binges, he managed to set himself on fire, burning his hands and feet. While he was recovering, he went to the funeral of his then wife Karen's father. He says he feels bad about it, that it seemed like it was all about him. He talks about making amends to those he mistreated and that some have long since forgiven him and regained trust in him, which makes him feel good. He also talks about a girlfriend named Christine who berated his parents one day for his behavior. He talks about how his parents mean more to him than precious life itself. Awww. That's so sweet!! Not to mention, his mother and friends all say that he would have been an extremely good, loving father had he not been so far into substance abuse.

In general, he talks about the type of stuff you would find in almost any biography/autobiography. Where he grew up, when he was born, how he got into music, etc. It's a very good book especially if you are a Deep Purple/Glenn Hughes/Trapeze fan!

35 actors with strange resemblances to historical figures

This applies to those "based on a true story" movies.

Jamie Foxx as Ray Charles in Ray

Salma Hayek as Frida Kahlo in Frida

Denzel Washington as Malcolm X in Malcolm X

Adrien Brody as Salvador Dali in Midnight in Paris

Robert Downey Jr as Charlie Chaplin in Chaplin

Robert De Niro as Jake LaMotta in Raging Bull

Meryl Streep as Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady

Helen Mirren as HM Queen Elizabeth II in The Queen

Jennifer Lopez as Selena Quintanilla-Perez in Selena

Will Smith as Muhammad Ali in Ali

Val Kilmer as Jim Morrison in The Doors

Gary Oldman and Chloe Webb as Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen in Sid and Nancy


That has to be the most normal I've ever seen Sid Vicious dressed!

Sean Penn as Harvey Milk in Milk

Jared Leto as Mark David Chapman in Chapter 27
-Pretty much everyone who is a Beatles fan knows who Mark David Chapman is. He's the one who killed John Lennon

Colin Firth as King George VI in The King's Speech