Band Review: The Jesus And Mary Chain

     I am back from a two week break to start my very own music blog. There will be at least one music blog a week, and it will be weekly music topics during the week. The weekly music topic this week is a band review on The Jesus And Mary Chain. I listened to them at the end of April and what an interesting band that I discovered.

                                                                                                                            TheMaryChain                    

    Before I go into my full review on them, here is a little background on The Jesus And Mary Chain. In 1983, brothers from Scotland, Jim and William Reid, who were influenced by Lou Reed's Velvet Underground, Iggy Pop's Stooges, and the Phil Spector's Wall Of Sound formed a band with bassist Douglas Hart, and drummer Murray Dalglish. Murray Dalglish would be quickly replaced by Bobby Gillespie, before recording their debut single, because of an argument over money. They became known as The Jesus And Mary Chain, and would release their first album in 1985 titled "Psychocandy," as the album featured a balance of light alternative songs and grimy rough punk songs, which they then became big in London. Fun fact is The Jesus And Mary Chain recorded that record with a drummer that was a singer and a bass with only three strings. Gillespie would leave after the first record to focus on being the lead singer of Primal Scream. John Moore would take over on drums and they would release "Darklands in 1987 and "Automatic" in 1989 with the same tone as the first record, but more polished than "Psychocandy." John Moore would transition from drums to rhythm guitar in between "Psychocandy" and "Darklands," but would leave shortly after. 

                                                                                                             Psychocandy - Wikipedia          

    Dave Evans would replace John Moore on bass and Richard Thomas would join as the drummer. Although as all great brother bands, something happened. It is what I like to call the Oasis effect. When Noel and Liam Gallagher had music differences and had a big feud, well the same thing happened to Jim and William Reid. They would get tired of one other as years of working on music together became too much. Then the revolving door of drummers, bassists, and guitarists continued to happen. Before the release of 1992's "Honey's Dead," Thomas and Hart left the band, and the Reid brothers replaced them with Mathew Parkin and Barry Blackler. "Honey's Dead" would be the band's first commercial success in the United States with singles like "Reverence" and an appearance on the Dave Letterman Show. The Jesus And Mary Chain would get their next rhythm section as Blackler and Parkin would leave and be replaced with Ben Lurie and Steve Monti. They would release "Stoned and Dethroned" in 1994 and "Munki" in 1998, before breaking up and William and Jim Reid went on to do separate music projects. The Reid brothers not like the Gallagher brothers would eventually reunite in 2007 and they started to tour. 10 years later, they would come out with a comeback album called "Damaged And Joy."

                                                                                                         The Jesus and Mary Chain             

    Now my overall opinion of this band is they really stand out from other alternative and punk rock bands. I know it surprising, because you probably expecting me to talk about how much I love this Christian band from the mid 80's and how much they remind me of Stryper and Skillet with a name like The Jesus And Mary Chain. Anyway,  I think I weirdly enjoy their music so much, because they experiment with involving their influences with their sound. Their sound in the majority of their album especially in their first three albums is very full. What I mean by this is they only have guitars, bass, and drums, but it sounds more than 4 and 5 guys playing and more like 10 guys playing. The heavy guitar distortion fills in the spaces of dead air in the song. It really reminds of Phil Spector's Wall Of Sound, which it was recorded to blow the listener away with tons of different instruments playing a big massive sound blasting in their speakers. Then I enjoy part of their sound as it reminds me of early 70's punk rock like Sex Pistols, The Runaways, The Stooges, The Clash, and The Ramones, but much heavier. I can only describe it as Marilyn Manson and The Sex Pistols having a kid and the kid was no other than The Jesus And Mary Chain. Although that is only half of a Jesus And Mary Chain record with heavy rough punk songs, and the other half is light alternative songs. I can only describe that side of The Jesus And Mary Chain as if Weezer had an emo phase. I think with a balance of punk and alternative songs with Wall Of Sound vibes that they have a really cool sound. 

                                                                                                                 Darklands (album)                   

    When listening to their first 6 albums, I think their best work was their first three records, even when they had their commercial success with "Honey's Dead." These three records just are so true to their sound and roots, when the next three records were enjoyable, but didn't have the same magic touch like the first three did. I think feud between the brothers really effected their sound. My favorite record by them is "Darklands," because I think their sophomore album is the album, when they figured out who they were as a band. I think they really perfected and polished their sound of a big sounding punk and alternative band. It has a lot of my favorite tracks like "Darklands," "April Skies," "Happy When It Rains," and two covers of The Beach Boys' "Surfing In The USA," and George Thorogood's "Who Do You Love." Then it has a beautiful version of "Darklands" with strings and a great acoustic version of a first album song, "Taste Of Candy." Now, I do enjoy their debut record, "Psychocandy," so much, because it is a rough and grimy alternative punk record, but it definitely had a lot experimentation stuff that they did that sometimes I love it or sometimes I am scared by it. My favorite song off their debut album is the "The Hardest Walk," because it sounds like dark beach music, and it is a song that grabbed my attention right away. My least favorite record by The Jesus And Mary Chain is their 5th album called, "Stoned and Dethroned," because it stood out like a sore thumb from their other records. This album abandoned their roots and sound from previous records. It is a good record as a regular alternative record, but I can see die hard Jesus And Mary Chain fans being turned off by it as it not a true Jesus And Mary Chain sounding record. Although, I do understand maybe why they did an album like this, because bands like to change it up and get tired of playing the same stuff over and over. They experimented with this album and even wanted this album to be all acoustic, but they threw out that idea in the thrash. I wish they never threw out that idea, because I think I would find it more appealing acoustic, than electric. This is an good album by them, but I think it could have been better.

                                                                                   Automatic (The Jesus and Mary Chain album)
     Here is a sample of The Jesus And Mary Chain with the links below of some of my favorite songs by them. If you're interesting to check out more of their music, it is available on all music platforms. Let me know what you think in the comments below. Also, put in the comments of a time that you discovered a weird band.                                                                                                                                                                                The Hardest Walk - YouTube                                                                                                                                                              Darklands (With Strings) - YouTube                                                                                                                                                    The Jesus And Mary Chain - Surfin' USA - YouTube                                                                                                                          The Jesus And Mary Chain Who Do You Love - YouTube                                                                                                                  The Jesus And Mary Chain - Just Like Honey (Official Music Video) - YouTube                                                                                The Jesus and Mary Chain - Taste of Candy (acoustic) - YouTube

            

         

Black Coffee In Bed Blog Contest

        Did you ever want to know what a rock star eats for breakfast? Were you ever curious where a rock star sleeps? Well, "Black Coffee In Bed" is the place for you to live your rock star dream.

     "Black Coffee In Bed", the rock n' roll bed and breakfast, has a special offer for our grand opening on May 21, 2021 in Trenton, N.J., which is the first thousand people to book their rock star experience will get a raffle ticket. The raffle ticket gives our guests the chance to win rock memorabilia. When you arrive to our bed and breakfast, the front desk will check if elidable to participate in the contest and will hand each member of your party a raffle ticket. Every morning after the opening local band plays live and while the famous New Jersey band is setting up, the raffle will begin. The CEO, Vincent Acquavella, will turn the bingo machine with the raffle tickets inside and announce the winner. The winner with the matching raffle ticket will receive the rock memorabilia of their choice. The prizes will be worth between $25 to $1,000, and the guest have a chance to win a signed copy of vinyl, framed photos of the rock bands signed, signed guitars, or signed bobbleheads and action figure of musicians. Then they can win hand made rock memorabilia either signed or not signed like a Rolling Stones' Ronnie Wood painting, different types of clocks based off a rock band, music box playing a certain rock song, and much more. 

    Half of the guests' payments to "Black Coffee In Bed" will be donated to "Hungry For Music." "Hungry For Music" is a non profit organization that helps children get instruments, who have economic hardships, and want to play an instrument.  They were establish in 1994,  and they have delivered 14,000 instruments to children from 49 states and 30 countries in 25 years. They want to establish a community of children, who want and have the opportunity to learn an instruments, which can create stronger music programs. We are happy to team up with "Hungry For Music", and hopefully the children of the future generation will grow up playing gigs at "Black Coffee In Bed."

    For information about the contest and any questions, visit our website, email or call us with the contact information below. We hope to see you at our grand opening as you find your inner rock star.

                                    

                                                                                                               Black Coffee In Bed                                                                                                                                                                                                  420 N. Clinton Ave., Trenton N.J. 08638                                                                                                                                                                  Telephone: 609-854-2173                                                                                                                                                                                          Email: blackcoffeeinbed@gmail.com                                                                                                                                                      Website: blackcoffeeinbed.com           

Be True To Your School- My 2021 Fall Semester Classes

     My college years have been full of good times and tons of work to do so far. As the 2021 Spring semester and my junior year of college is wrapping up, I have plenty of classes to look forward to for my last year at William Paterson University. Today, I will talk about the classes, I am taking in the 2021 Fall semester.

                                                                                                                  William Paterson University       

    The first class is a requirement for my major and the last class needed before I can take capstone in the 2022 Spring semester, which is International Media. This class is on the top of my list, when talking about classes to look forward to. I am very interested to learn about media outside of the United States. I wonder if it is completely different or similar to ours and maybe other countries' perspective on how they view the United States than how our country views ourselves. Also, I have a professor that I had for Radio and TV Industries. Dr. Diana Peck is a sweet and caring professor and I can't wait to take another one of her classes. 

    Next, the second class that I am looking forward to is Social Science Honors Seminar II. It is a class needed to fulfill my Honors College requirement. I love learning about the different approaches from Psychology, Sociology, Political Science, and many the other social sciences. It is interesting to talk about a topic like religion and get new viewpoints from great thinkers of the past like Sigmund Freud, Karl Marx, and Adam Smith. Then this is another class, where I have the same professor from the previous seminar classes. Dr. Kressel is a kind person that respects everyone's opinion in the class and he is so fascinating, when he teaches in his lectures that I can listen to him for hours talk about the social sciences.

    Then, the third class that I can't wait to take is Strategic Writing. This class is part of a program that I have joined, which is the 4+1 BA/MA program. The program allows me to get a 9 credit head start on my master's degree, while getting my bachelor's degree. It helps speeding up the process to get the master degree's in 5 years total than 6 years total. Strategic Writing looks like an interesting class from the course description, because it will be learning to write in many different formats for an online platform. It does sound very similar to my Media Writing class, which talks about news leads, blogs, public relations, and media news writing. I am eager to find out what this class is all about, when I walk in the classroom in the fall semester.

                                                                                                                        Classes in College                

    Also, another class that I have to take for the 4+1 BA/MA program is Corporate Social Responsibility. This class sounds more intense than the other one as the course description is understanding of the real world impact in society and global and local businesses. This is one of the classes that I am looking forward to the least. I will work my hardest and do my best like I do for every class and hope for the best. I hoping on paper that it sounds intimidating, and taking the class is not as bad as it sounds. 

    Last, the final class that I am taking in the 2021 Fall semester is Social Science Honors Thesis I. I able to take this class at the same time as Social Science Honors Seminar II, because Dr. Kressel said students do this all the time. The reason I am doing this is because I want to graduate by the Spring 2022 and only way to do that is take the seminar and thesis in the fall. Then I can take Social Science Honors Thesis II in the spring, which I will have completed all the requirements for the Honors College. This is the class that I am least looking forward to, because the 30-50 page paper is going to keep me busy and going to take everything out of me. The bright side is I have the summer break, fall semester, and spring semester to work on this thesis. These are the 5 classes, I am taking for the 2021 Fall semester, and it is going to be tough, but I can't wait to start the upcoming semester.

    Let me know in the comments below, what you are looking forward to in the fall, if it is college classes or fall plans?         

A Warm Embrace- My Best Friend

    Next Monday on April 26th will be the celebration of National Hug A Friend Day. In honor of this day, I will talk about my best friend in the whole wide world, Joe Falzini.

    Joe has been mentioned and quoted on this blog a couple times. He is the man behind the quote, "What is this a spy car?" in the my first car post, and the mastermind asking if we are doing the catch from "Dirty Dancing," when we sing together, "I Had The Time Of My Life" by Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes in my karaoke post last week. Also, you can find more quotes from him on Tina Perrotta's profile on me. He said sweet and thoughtful things about me that made me cry, when I read it at first. If you want to see the quotes from Joe, read Tina's really good profile on me. The link is below.            https://mwperrotta.blogspot.com/ 

    Now that I solved the mystery for you of who my best friend is with a picture and a name, let me discuss my friendship with Joe. We have been best friends for 17 years now, ever since we meant on the bus driving to our first day of kindergarten together, because we were on the same block. I remember we would always sit together on the bus and just talk. We would go our separate ways, because we had different kindergarten classes, but there were some days that the classes would merge into one. Those days would make us so happy as we saw each other a lot more. 

    I think why we get along so well and been best friends for so long is I think we have similar personalities. We never had a fight in the time that I known him. I feel we are always on the same wavelength, when talking about anything. Although at the same time, when we disagree about something, we respect each other views, we listen, and meet in the middle. Also, knowing that we can talk about things, I trust him so much to tell him personal things, because he will be understanding and supportive, not judgmental and make fun of me. I only have that trust with a selective few and he is definitely one of them.

    We have been through everything together, if it is helping each other through break-ups or tough times. So many memories of seeing our favorite bands live in concert and we are screaming on the top of our lungs or playing "Mario Super Strikers" on the Gamecube, while showing each other songs that we discovered. The times, when we did these improv comedy sketches, while during the bus rides in middle school and the bus driver nicknamed us the Three Stooges. Sometimes these funny bits turned into us writing songs in high school and we have great chemistry, when we jam on guitar together. There are times, when we go on full rants about football and our fantasy football teams. It is definitely smack talk, if I our fantasy football teams play each other or if it is my New York Giants against his New England Patriots. Just saying the New York Giants beat the New England Patriots dynasty twice in the Super Bowl, and he will never hear the end of that one.    

    We always do stuff for each other, even when it is not a birthday or holiday, because we go above and beyond for each other and we do it from the bottom of our hearts. I got him tickets as a Christmas present for Roger Waters, who is the bass player for Pink Floyd, because he is the biggest Pink Floyd fan ever and I wanted to make sure he experienced the closest thing to Pink Floyd. He has done the same back, even if he didn't buy the tickets for the Rolling Stones or Smith & Myers, who are from the band Shinedown, because it was 750 dollars each or sold out. He would give me 50 dollar birthday present, but just the thought that he was going to do that for me is the world for me, because he knew how much I love the Rolling Stones and wanted to give the same experience, he had with Pink Floyd. Last, Joe is someone that when I am having a bad day, he always does something that makes my day and I can't help to smile. Sometimes he does something really silly, and I just laugh so hard. Joe and I always have great times together, when we hangout or talk on video chat or the phone and I hope there are many more great times in the future.

    Let me know in the comments below, who your best friend is, and why? Also, tell me how you met your best friend?          

Profile On Tina Perrotta

 

             Music is a powerful form of media because everyone has their own personal connection to music and taste of music. This statement can be true, when talking about Tina Perrotta. Perrotta was born on December 12^th, 1995 in Wayne, New Jersey.  She loves music and it is one of the important things about her.  She listens to tons of bands of many different genres and decades, she has been to many concerts, and has a collection of New Musical Express magazines.

The New Musical Express magazines are more than reading material to her. It is a decoration to show what her favorite bands are. These magazines are framed all over her pink walls in her room. She owns the New Musical Express’s covers with bands like The Cure, Echo And The Bunnymen, Manic Street Preachers, The Jesus And Mary Chain, and Robert Smith on the front cover. The one cover that she is searching and hunting for is the NME’s edition featuring The Clash on the cover.  Perrotta said, “I do read quite a bit about music and different bands and artists, when I can.”

Now 25-years old, Perrotta can remember always liking music at a young age. The first memory of music that stands out to her is when her mother showed her the music video of Van Halen’s “Jump.” Perrotta stated, “I’d say definitely my mom is the main person who introduced me to music and influenced my music’s taste.” Then, her brother was another big part of her liking music as well. He got her into some of the artists, he loves, like Blink-182. Perrotta’s family is majority made up of her animals as it is her 1 cat, 1 bearded dragon, 1 guinea pig, a 75-gallon tank of goldfish, and 10 birds, her mother and herself. She does have an older brother, but he moved out of the house, because there is a big age difference, but that doesn’t stop her from being really close to her brother. According to Perrotta, “…. I’m practically an only child at this point. My family now is just my mom and I (and our pets!) and I wouldn’t change that at all, we’re close.” If she has the chance, she will add another pet to the family, because she really wants black pug as a dog.

Another musical thing that Perrotta’s mother has influenced Perrotta to do at one time is play an instrument. Perrotta’s mother is a guitar player and this interested her daughter to learn to play guitar. She was 13 years old, when she started to play guitar like her mother and her mother’s guitar can be found in her room with the New Musical Express magazines. When the guitar didn’t work out for her, she tried saxophone, drums, flute, and piano, but never stuck with it. She said, “None of the instruments struck because I found practicing them to be mind-numbingly boring.”

Perrotta said when talking about listening to bands is, “I don’t consider myself a “fan” of anyone really. I think calling myself a “fan” of someone is like a setup for disaster if they do something particularly atrocious.” It is more about the music being created, not the person creating it. Tina’s top 3 bands she likes to listen to right now are Echo And The Bunnymen, The Jesus And Mary Chain, and Joy Division. Top 3 albums she likes to listen to right now are “In Utero” by Nirvana, “The Fine Art Of Surfacing” by The Boomtown Rats and “The Holy Bible” by Manic Street Preachers. The songs that she feels describes her or represents her are any song by The Clash. Perrotta explained, “…their music definitely represents my ideologies and how I view the world kind of.”

She lives in Mountain Creek Resort, which is 20 minutes from Wantage, New Jersey. Originally from Vernon, New Jersey, but she would move a couple times. At age 3, she moved to Wantage, New Jersey and lived there until she was 20. Then at age 20, she moved to Mountain Creek Resort. Since her time living in New Jersey, she has been to many concerts. She is overdue for a concert right now, because the last concert was back in August 2019, which was The Maine, Twin XL, and Nick Santino in Atlantic City. The planned concerts upcoming, when concerts are back, are the Sad Summer Festival in Asbury Park, which is a small music festival like Warped Tour with a lot of punk rock music and she wants to buy tickets to see Motley Crue, Def Leppard, Poison, and Joan Jett And The Blackhearts, which Joan Jett, Poison and Motley Crue are all bands to cross off her bucket list. One concert memory that she has is when the last time she went to Warped Tour, it was a thunderstorm, but the show must go on, and Perrotta felt that she almost died. Perrotta explained to the question, if you could have a private concert, what artist or band and song or songs would it be, which is “My own private show would literally just be Guns N Roses playing the entirety of the “Appetite For Destruction” album.”

In her opinion about what is something about you that makes you different from everybody else and sets you apart from others, Perrotta humbly said, “I love to embrace everyone’s individuality, we are all so different and it’s amazing!” While her friend, CJ Schneider described Perrotta as “Brilliant, Considerate, and Strong.” They have known each other for 5 years as they met working together at PetSmart and they are always there for each other in times of need. Schneider said one of Perrotta’s pet peeves are, “When I sing showtunes.” Schneider explain he gets the reaction from Perrotta, which is usually a frustrated, “Stop!” According to Schneider, musical theater is too seriously and over the top for her liking. When they were both in the car one time, he remembers it being tons of songs from the 80’s playing, Schneider said “She put on Def Leppard, The Cure, and Psychedelic Furs.” Last, when Schneider discusses music with Perrotta, they usually find some obscure song or artist to listen to on YouTube as a joke.

Asking Perrotta what her dream job would be, she responded with this, “But to be honest, my dream job is really just finding a place I love going to every day that pays my bills and allows for financial security.” Perrotta is hoping it would be somewhere in the music industry or doing something as A&R representative, which means artists and repertoire and the job is helping artists to sign with a record label, but she is very open to anything. According to Perrotta, when asked where do you see yourself in 5 to 10 years and what do you think the future has in store for you, she said “My three main hopes for the future are that I have traveled a lot, moved somewhere far, far away from New Jersey, and that I have found a fulfilling and successful career that I enjoy. I don’t like to plan my life too far in advance, it’s so unpredictable so I prefer taking things as they come my way and not get distracted by anything specific. But I do always like to have things to look forward to.”

Other hobbies of Perrotta are she has a big plant collection of 15 plants, she bakes food for her plant-based diet, a quote book with quotes from her bookshelf of history books, and history buff with her collection of  history artifacts like Russian pins and a World War II  jacket.  Perrotta is a junior at William Paterson University as a Media Studies major in the Communication Department, but this wasn’t always Perrotta’s first choice. At Sussex County Community College, she started out as a Studio Art major to a Computer Science major and then finally William Paterson University, a Media Studies major.

Perrotta can be considered an all-around person with the many hobbies that she has and the many things she collects. One of the most important things about her is her passion in listening and collecting music. The many music magazines on her wall, listening to tons of different genres from different decades of music, and memories of live shows. This one quote in her quote book is one of her favorites that she can relate to the most, which is from Jack Kerouac’s “On The Road.” It said, “…I like too many things and get all confused and hung-up running from one falling star to another till I drop.”

It's Sing-A-Long: My Song To Sing For Karaoke

     From April 17th to April 23rd is the celebration of National Karaoke Week. Today I will discuss the song that I would sing for karaoke.

                                                                                                                                Microphone

    A song for karaoke that I would sing in front of people is hard for me, because there are so many songs to choose from, but I have narrowed it down to one song. The song would be "Jukebox Hero" by Foreigner, because it a song that best describes who I am as a person. This is about a person inspired by a band he heard outside in the rain to play the guitar. The character in the song wanted to be rock star at this point, because the sound of the guitar was a life changing moment for the character in the song. Then when the character bought the beat up guitar and the moment he played it, he knew what he wanted to do with his life and being a guitarist would lead to his success in life. 

    I can sing this song badly due to the fact that I can't sing and Lou Gramm is a hard singer to match, but the one thing I have going for me is that I can connect to this song. I can butcher this song to death, however I can express the emotion of this song, because I relate to it so much. When I was younger, my uncle would always play his guitar every time I was over his house. So, like the Jukebox Hero, the moment of my uncle playing guitar was the moment that blew me away, because I wanted to play guitar like my uncle. The first time I held and played my Yamaha guitar like the Jukebox Hero, I knew I wanted to be a guitar player. When I played other instruments before guitar, I never had the same feeling of happiness like I did playing the guitar. "Jukebox Hero" by Foreigner will always be my go to song to sing at karaoke as this song is my anthem of who I am. Here is a link below of the song.              (923) Juke Box Hero - YouTube

                                                                                                            30 Day Song Challenge 

     Learning that it was National Karaoke Week, it reminded of my 30 day song challenge that I do every day since last March. The reason it reminds of that, because one of category is a song you would sing at karaoke. So, if I sing a song at karaoke as a duet, I would pick my guy best friend to sing with me. Karaoke is the one thing after the pandemic is finally over that I would do with my best friend. We jokily pick the most romantic songs that were ever written, because he did one of those challenges too. 

    I would pick the song and always tag him in it and he would do the same back. I told him, we are doing "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" by Elton John and Kiki Dee, "Endless Love" by Lionel Richie and Diana Ross, "Almost Paradise" by Ann Wilson and Mike Reno, "After All" by Cher and Peter Cetera, and "I Had The Time Of My Life" by Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes, when karaoke is open again. He responded back to the Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes song with a question asking if we are doing the "Dirty Dancing" catch. I responded back, "Of course we are! You better catch me.!" He said, he would try, but no promises. The one song that he tagged me for karaoke was "Dancing In The Street," a cover by Mick Jagger and David Bowie. This is probably the least romantic song, but it emphasizes our bromance. Definitely the next chance for a song you would sing at karaoke that I am going to tag my best friend again is to "Up Where We Belong" by Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes.     

    I think I do my best singing in the car, because I don't think singing in the shower had the same energy as a car. In the shower, I can hear how bad my singing is and there is no auto-tune to save my singing. In a car, it is completely different, because the radio and your friends are harmonizing with you and it hides your bad singing, where the shower doesn't have that benefit.  It like when the whole crowd is asked by the band or artist to sing with them on the song and some how the singing doesn't sound as bad in a group. When singing on top of your lungs with people that you are close to in a car or strangers in the crowd that harmony of bad singers is pleasant to listen to rather than one bad singer in the shower. 

    Let me know in the comments below, what your favorite song to sing, when you're doing karaoke and where do you do your best singing .  

       

    

Final Project