Like all Black Sabbath albums, I remember the first time I heard each one. During of the mid 90’s when I was adding to my collection, Black Sabbath cassettes were kept separate, apart and in order of release. Some of the tracks on Volume 4 were heard when someone loaned me the tape of the […]
When I joined the fandom of Rush, it was inspired by the 1989 live album “A Show of Hands”. Hearing “Marathon” knocked me out and drove me towards the bass. In my dive back through the catalogue, “A Farewell to Kings” would be the first additional album I added to my collection. Why this epic […]
The summer drought. It’s not really a lack of words. It’s the missing drive to get them onto the empty page and screen. It’s become routine for me in a way. A step-back before several steps forward. I went from dreading September as a kid to looking forward to them as an adult. Over the […]
September 2022 will mark the ten year anniversary for my first book. Beyond a slight formatting revision in 2015 that was necessary, I have no other plans to ever revise the content given the content is still just as fresh, the discussions just as relevant. To the best of my knowledge, this remains the first […]
In 2017, I wrote a brief tribute to Tom Petty that barely scratched the surface of his impact and influence on me as a musician, music fan, and writer. It started with seeing the music video for supergroup The Travelling Wilburys “Handle With Care”. I thought this bloke picking away on a bass looked like […]
In 1994 Black Sabbath had become my favourite band to listen to. My tape collection was building up with the older albums. Some were special-order that I had to wait on. Columbia House did not carry many of the classic records beyond the first few Ozzy Osbourne records. When Cross Purposes was release, it was […]
In celebration of 40 years, Hasbro has been running an ongoing stream of episodes of the G.I. Joe series. It is a media franchise with a fascinating history. It was a show I did not watch as a kid, nor were any of the action figures part of my collections. It was not really my […]
In my latest book “Let Nothing Go To Waste”, I share some reflections and fun memories when I was a regular cinema goer in the chapter “At The Movies”. Let me summarize briefly. I’m not a fan of the theater anymore. You cannot press pause on the film. If you get up for food or […]
There is so much chaos that has been in the news the past week. Events that bring such dark clouds over humanity are supposed to be the catalyst for change. Uvalde Texas. Only a few weeks after a tragedy in Buffalo, New York. There are always similar events in America that do not get as […]
I am old enough to remember watching the televangelism boom of the 80’s and 90’s. Where charlatans and grifters begged for money from followers under the guise of religion. It is 2022, and prosperity preachers are still finding ways to prey on the vulnerable. They promise growth of personal wealth, supernatural miracles of health and […]
Dann Alexander 