**** Coast to Coast by Steve Morse – Was a Totally Awesome Free Gift From a Guitar Teacher

When one of my guitar teachers during my collegiate times at Rutgers was converting from being a progressive rock buff to a jazz student, I was coming to him as a guitar student that was left handed and needed to work on my right hand.  Though, I am thankful for that gift, it amazes me to this day how one could view an album like Coast to Coast as anything but totally awesome, or of less quality than jazz.  In my opinion, be it progressive rock, progressive metal, rock fusion or even straight jazz, I do not see one of these genres as inherently better than the others.

I have to recognize that an album like this one would fill only a small niche in music these days because it is totally instrumental.  Most regular folks without any experience from a music teacher rarely head for music without a vocalist.  However, speaking from my own personal stance, many of my most favorite albums are all instrumental, meaning that they have no vocalist.

In fact, this music is so original sounding to me, it sounds like it could be called progressive instrumental country, but despite my own inability to describe this album, it is really good.  One thing you may expect, and be disappointed or elated by is that Coast to Coast is that it will feature the Steve Morse, while the rest of the band is poor background noise, as in the case of the Joe Satriani band.  That is not the case with the band, Steve Morse.  The only band I know that sounds like it is Steve Morse’s other band, the Dixie Dregs.

**** Seven Worlds by Eric Johnson – He Deserves to Be More Popular

This album is chalk full of great music.  It is smooth, easy, and catchy song writing with tasteful production that won’t scare away women.  Seven Worlds is no disappointment.  Eric Johnson is quite similar to Steely Dan, Bryan Adams, or Dave Matthews.  However, I think because he was initially billed as a guitar virtuoso, rather than just pop music for the yuppies of the 1990s, that he never was able to achieve the following that other similar acts did.

*** My Life by Bill Clinton (audiobook) - Some Contradictions and a Deplorable Delivery

Clinton paints a complex picture full of out of the box predicaments.  Much of it is lacking.  Clinton is not eager to forgive the Republicans, though he embraces humanity in its sinful nature, which is not a contradiction until Clinton adds that he does this in order to form a more perfect union.  Put 1 and 1 together and he might have well just say, “I, myself, am a sinner.  I don’t forgive sinners for the sake of unity.”

His delivery is charismatic, but also predictable in the same way as that of Martin Luther King.  Nearly every sentence starts with a low note, quickly rises and then trails to lower pitches, with occasional rises on the downward trail.  At one time, I fell asleep listening to this incessant pattern over and over.  A typical delivery of Clinton goes as follows (I made up the words), “I (low tone) found (middle tone) some (high) hope (high).  Then (middle), the Republicans (middle) attacked my character (low), and (middle) the hope (low) went away (lowest tone).”

**** Whargoul by Dave Brockie – A true testimony to the power of Jesus.

The main character, “Whargoul” heads straight for gore very much the same way a soldier’s courage might drive him straight to the center of wartime conflict, such that this book satirically delves into the seemingly amoral nature of being a soldier through satire in the same way that The Prince by Machiavelli delves into the amorality of politics.  This book crosses the line between the sacredness and profanity of wartime killing, and immorality that often reportedly happens during war.  The book often reverses and confuses right and wrong in an environment where discernment is next to impossible because of immersion in gore similar to the Garden of Eden in Genesis.  Whargoul, knowing nothing but gore, first innocently engages in immorality for lack of discernment, sometimes concluding what he has done is wrong, but that he did the immoral thing because he learned wrong before right.  Whargoul has no parents, which similar to Adam.  Whargoul rapes, which is similar to Genesis: “This is bone of my bones.”  Whargoul eats a baby, which is similar to eating the forbidden fruit Genesis.  Then, Whargoul murders, which is similar to the Genesis story of Cain, and his life is cursed and bitter toward God, similar to the curse of Cain. As in the song off GWAR’s Ragnarok album goes, Whargoul is, “Uncool,” in the way that Machiavelli’s Prince, is not cool.  Finally, at the end Whargoul becomes a Christian.

***** Samsung A157 Go Phone: Unbeatable Price – Go For This Phone

This phone is totally awesome.  It is excellent for text based internet, like Facebook.  I totally love the T9Eab function, such that I find it more useful and quicker to use once (once you get used to it).  So for, cell phones that have a keyboard, generally I feel that once you get used to T9Eab, you will never want to go back.  Additionally, as a bonus with this function, you can add words to the T9Eab vocabulary.

It does have a small screen.  That can either be a bonus or a bane.  For me, personally, it's a bonus.

The A157 is also perfect for checking one's email.  I use Gmail, and here and there during most days, I use this phone to read my email.

Be warned though, there are some features of websites that this phone can't handle, such as buying at amazon.com.  If you use Amazon, then I recommend connecting with a computer with a larger screen.  Thus, though this phone can't buy via Amazon.com, it would probably not be good enough as a computer to use Amazon's functions anyway, and that is neither plus nor negative.   The reason being, size.  If you want a small phone, that is well constructed, and has some internet function capabilities, go for this phone!

I personally use my phone as an emergency phone, usually paying just $15.  I spend $5 for internet, and roughly $9 in emergency calls.  That is unbeatable!

The one thing I feel that is actually lacking with respect to the A157, is that it can't interface with say a laptop or a desktop to be a source of internet capability.  Yet, for $20, I still feel that you really can't beat the price of this phone for the functionality of it.

*** Gretchen Goes to Nebraska by King’s X – Good, but There Are More Complex Prog Rock Bands.

I favor what is more complex, just as a matter of personal preference.  I think King’s X are  good band, and though you probably won’t love them, they won’t disappoint you either.

When I listen to this album I can’t help but think that King’s X is incorrectly billed.  To me, King’s X does not seem like a Prog Rock band.  The music comes up just shy of why I would deem as Progressive Rock.  When I think of Prog Rock, names that come to mind are Rush, Dream Theater, Planet X, Queensyrche, and Ring of Fire.  There is no way that this album is in the same league as what those bands and several others regular output.  That actually might be a plus for King’s X, because sometimes complex music can be exhausting to listen to.  That said, compared to what you are likely to hear on the radio, King’s X is probably more complex than what the local rock station will consistently play.

I don’t hear anything different from King’s X and many other bands that are just considered to be rock.  Take for instance maybe the Dave Matthew’s Band, Chicago, or Steely Dan.  They aren’t billed as progressive rock, even though there music is superior, in my opinion to King’s X.  For example, I estimate the complexity of this band as slightly above or at the level of the rock band AC/DC.  I’ll also add that they rock fairly hard.

This makes me suspicious that this band was billed as a progressive rock band instead of a rock n’ roll band because corporate America correctly estimated that this is a way that they could achieve more sales, all the while not offending anyone, and filling a very small niche, which might be termed a Pseudo Progressive Rock.  That is, there is a gazillion Indie bands, but there aren’t so many Prog Rock bands, and that is probably because many musicians prefer to play jazz and classical to rock, especially from the generations King’s X appeals to.

As a general rule those that like progressive rock in my experience have a much more voracious appetite for music, and would be more likely to give a band that they had never heard of a chance, even though they had never heard them before.  Unfortunately, I have yet to hear of a radio station that specialized in Progressive music, and it is such that this whole genre while at the national level, is virtually what many would call underground.  That is, while the market is saturated with Indie rock bands and has been for some time; it is not saturated with Progressive Rock bands, and though the number of Progressive Rock fans are far outnumbered by Rock fans, there is a market for bands that can sneak in under the billing of being a Progressive Rock band, and be more likely to make a living through a marginally questionable categorization.

This is a trend that I feel is quite common in music.  For example, Stratovarious is billed as Progressive Power Metal, but realistically there is hardly any difference from them and bands like Hammer Fall that don’t  claim to be progressive and play “Power Metal,” and the same is true that Stratovarious as a Progressive Rock band fails to achieve the complexity of Metallica, Slayer, or Megadeth when they are playing speed metal. 

**** Madness by Tony MacAlpine – Better Than What I Usually Hear On the Radio Waves

This album is much in the style of Joe Satriani.  However, it is better.  MacAlpine’s skills are nothing short of astonishing.  It is difficult to describe why, except that the musicians seem to be more in synch.  I would definitely say that though the drums on Madness are reminiscent of whoever drums for Satch, but they are generally more complex and also boldly unafraid to be assertive than what Satch allows his drummers to play.  I wouldn’t be surprised if MacAlpine counted Satch as one of his favorite musicians when he crafted this album.

*** "HDE brand" Notebook Protector – Chemically Stinky and Needs a Zipper Though I Can’t Argue with the Price

I am definitely going to keep this product and use it, though I am somewhat disappointed by it.  That is, it should do the trick, but there is room for improvement.  For example, this product would function better if it had a zipper.  In addition, during the period I have been writing this reviewing this product, it is quite stinky, meaning that it gives off a horrible odor that smells of some weird chemical with a very long name.  Other than that, it seems to have been the best notebook protector for the price.  If you are looking to save some money and in addition get some modest protection for a laptop, this product is a fairly good choice.