I Hate Rap Music and Here’s Why Part 2

   Here’s something strange. I usually received about 100 hits a day per blog post. It’s nice to know they find my writing interesting enough to stop by each day (or so) and give a look.

   Thanks.

   But two days ago when I wrote a post titled I Hate Rap and Here’s Why, I received 460 hits and the next day received another 200!

   And strangely enough not one of them left a comment!

   I anticipated some lively rebuttals, some references to my obvious lack of intelligence, my apparent unhipness and lousy taste in music.

   Nope. Not a word. Not that I was looking for an argument.  It’s a fact that rap sells a lot of records (or whatever they’re called nowadays) and some rap stars have become astounding wealthy.

   What in blazes am I missing?!

   Admittedly I am a rock and roll fan. To be honest I’m not a fan of most other types of music. There are only a few classical songs that I like, have some folk favorites, loved Motown and could hold my own when it came to singing the blues but haven’t a clue what opera is all about. Don’t understand country music at all and new age is well…new age.

   But they are all music. I don’t think rap is. Not that I don’t find the unusual spacing between words intriguing and clever, but isn’t there supposed to be more?

   I don’t know. I do still like Lucas with the Lid off which you can listen to at the end of the previous post.

   But, when it comes to real music the first stop is always The Beatles. Although some of you Beatlephiles may have already heard this song, here is an original Lennon-McCartney composition performed by the Beatles that was never released on any commercial Beatle album. The title is ‘That Means a Lot’ and you can listen to it by clicking on the you tube link below. NOTE* IF FOR SOME REASON THE LINK DOESN'T WORK (there s been some trouble lately) GO TO YOUTUBE.COM AND TYPE IN: THAT MEANS A LOT THE BEATLES AND IT WILL TAKE YOU RIGHT TO IT.

  http://youtu.be/PzY0o9oOVlc

I hate rap music. Here’s why.

   It’s been said that a new style of music appears every thirty-five years or so and replaces the current favorite the way rock and roll replaced swing music. I’m not bemoaning the fact. All things have their time and when their time is up it must move out of the way to make room for the new.

   And hopefully better.

   This was not the case for rap or hip-hop if you prefer. When it first came out I thought it was a fad like disco or punk.

   But it wasn’t. And I couldn’t understand its appeal. From what I could tell some rapper would place new lyrics on old rock favorites (Super freak, I’ll be watching you, Kashmir) and call it a new tune. Hell, Weird Al did that. Another problem was for the most part there was no use of the musical scale. They started with one particular chord, take E for example and stayed with it the entire song.

   How can that be called music?!

   Usually there are some acts that when the new music comes in, transcends the generations. For example my parents liked the Beatles, (my old man hated the Stones however, and would refer to their lead singer as that ‘dirty Mickey Jagger.) My mother was a big fan of the BeeGees.

   So you see it does usually work.

   But not with rap. And what makes things worse is that there isn’t any good rock and roll anymore. I’ll watch these new bands on SNL and frankly, they all SUCK! Nothing new, clever or inventive. Just a bunch of tattooed guys, who look like they’ve been yanked out of a dumpster, thrashing around like they’re being electrocuted. No interesting riffs, no clever chord changes, no complex harmonies, just yelling into a microphone.

   There have been a few exceptions like Kryptonite by 3 doors down and most of Effernecense’s [sic] stuff, but not much else.

   But like with all rules there is the rare exception. I discovered a rap tune that was inventive, clever, and was overall entertaining, and the singer quite likeable.

   Give it a listen and see if you feel the same. Here’s the link:

 http://youtu.be/oiA6u-w0uZc

My (filled up) Bucket List

  

I had originally intended to write a blog post— not about the things I want to do before I die (which is the definition of a bucket list) but to thank all those people who I both know and do not know for all the joy they have given me throughout my days.

   As for an actual ‘bucket list’, I don’t have one. I have already accomplished all the things I ever wanted to do that was in my ability to accomplish.

   Sure there are still things I always wanted to do like jam with the Beatles or trade licks with Keith Richards or have Stephen King read one of my books but the Beatles are gone and it’s out of my hands whether Keith or Stephen would be interested.

   But the thing that has most influenced my life has been rock and roll. I can still remember when I was a kid in the Bronx and my parents taking me to an Ice cream pollar [sic]. Mom and Dad listened to the likes of Sinatra and Johnny Mathis and I therefore was convinced all music sucked.

   Then, while sitting at a booth, shoveling down my ice cream somebody put a coin into the jukebox and seconds later came the most life altering words I have ever heard. They were:

   A wop bop a lu bop a wop bam boom! Tutti Frutti!

   I thought I had been struck by lightning and had gone to heaven!  I asked about it and was told it was an old record, and belonged to something called race music.

   Well as a kid I had no idea what race music was, but was damn determined to ‘race’ to the record shop and get me some!

   And I did, (well my parent took me, I was too young to go by myself) and while there getting my copy the record guy put on Chuck Berry’s Johnny B. Goode! Holy crap! This incredible stuff was everywhere!

   And then weeks later, The Beatles showed up!

   I then decided I needed to master this stuff, because if I could I would always be happy!

   And speaking of mastering this stuff I came across a video of Chuck schooling Keith Richards on how to play the rock and roll classic ‘Carol” It’s fun to watch and easy to see why Keith was never big on schoolin’ but when the schoolin’s over the and boys begin to play there ain’t nothing better!

Enjoy 

 http://youtu.be/PEA6gzAAPfc

 Chuck and Keith go at it

New Covers for Noon Relaunch

   My Noon series is popular but successful book marketers have proved that books that have over 500 pages (both of the Noon books do) often lose out on sales because potential readers don’t want to commit to such large tomes until they are sure they like the author’s work.

   I’ve found this to be true because some of my friends suggested I start reading George R.R. Martin’s Song of Fire and Ice Series (Game of Thrones etc) but when I saw the number of pages I decided to pass.

   I got stuff to do.

   I’m sure you do too. But I still want you to read my Noon books because they really are good. (Ten 5 star reviews) so to tweak things a little I’ve decided to split the books up and lower the price. And like George R.R. Martin I’ve decided to give the series a title and call it ‘Revolution in America’. This way if you read the first one, Noon’s Rise to Power and get into it, you’ll have no problem downloading the second of the series now titled Rise of the Scarecrows.

   Revolution in America: Noon’s Rise to Power will be re-released within the week at no charge for 2 days. This way you can download, give it a read and hopefully write a positive review.

   Another issue is that the book’s cover was starting to look a little stale especially in comparison with the ‘Up and in your face’ cover the latest titles are sporting. Here is the old cover for Noon’s Rise to Power.

And here is the new one.

For those of you who have already read the original this new smaller edition will conclude following the I-Man’s epic gun battle with Hans Malibu’s men and Dandelion’s ruthless interrogation of Number 6.

   In the second book Revolution in America: Rise of the Scarecrows, our story resumes with Ignatius and Dandelion beginning a relationship, the murder of one of the Inner Circle, an attack on Noon’s campaign headquarters by the POWERS THAT BE and Madalone and the Scarecrows retaliation that leaves lower Manhattan in flames.

   Here’s the cover:

    Hopefully the first four will be available by the end of this month.

   I’ll make an announcement as to what day Revolution in America: Noon’s Rise to Power will be available for free.

   I hope you will forgive the scarcity of new posts as I am up to my neck redesigning covers, re-editing and republishing the Revolution in America series as well as marketing my latest non-fiction titles ‘How to Write Publish and Market your Novel into a Bestseller seen below:

http://amzn.to/15lSUvT

And my very latest The Marriage Rules seen here:

 http://amzn.to/1aUjsFN