Congratulations Mr. President (& two more Target CD's)

So, the elections took place a couple of days ago. I left work early anticipating a super long line since that's what the radio had been reporting, but when I got to my polling place it was pretty empty. No waiting in line or anything. I did notice that the parking lot started getting fuller as I was leaving. Here's to things getting better!

I got another target CD! It's The Best Of Emerson, Lake & Palmer. ELP was one of the first bands I really got into. I remember being like 12 years old and being totally amazed at Karn Evil 9. My favorite was the 1st Impression (not the more popular 2nd one - what a dork). I got the Best Of on cassette when I was about 14, but was kind of underwhelmed with it, particularly because I did not really care about songs like Tiger In A Spotlight and Peter Gunn, and even though I like them, I would have preferred more progressive-rock madness like Trilogy rather than Lucky Man or Still... You Turn Me On. Subsequent compilations, particularly the box set The Return Of The Manticore rectified what in my opinion was a substandard collection, so I never upgraded to CD when it came to this release.

Until now...

It was cheap too, so here it is:




For the type of stuff I like, I always wanted to be Greg Lake. Awesome bass player, pretty good guitarist and great singer. Kind of like a jacked up Paul McCartney second man (position currently held by Brian Ray). This is one band I've never seen in concert, and probably never will. *sniff*

I also got another one. This is the first one I've gotten in a store as opposed than from an individual! It's a Japan issue of Van Halen's 1984, very much like the S/T target in a previous post. Dirt cheap too. I know I say I've gotten my target discs cheap and it's true. I wouldn't pay much for them since the masterings are not unique from what I understand. Anyway, here it is:




As is the case with the S/T, this is the most common variation. Oh well! When I became aware of Van Halen, this record was brand new and Jump and Panama were getting a lot of airplay. Van Halen is one of my favorite bands. I saw David Lee Roth's first solo tour in '86 with Billy Sheehan and Steve Vai, and also saw Van Halen with Sammy Hagar with Slash's Snakepit opening. Missed them in their reunion tour.

On the other hand, Yes is touring with a Jon Anderson-sound alike, kind of like Journey did with their Steve Perry-sound alike. I'm not against bands doing that, and in these two particular cases, the singers have turned out to be superb, so I need to find out when/if they're coming to town because I would like to see their show, especially since they appear to be playing songs off the Drama album like Tempus Fugit! I just checked and there are no West Coast dates announced. I hope they schedule some and come through here.

You know, I used to pull a very convincing Dennis De Young when I was younger, and believe I could still pull it off, so Styx guys, keep me in your radar. I should put up a video in YouTube! :) I bought a live CD with the current singer, and I sound more like Dennis than he does. Like that is ever going to happen!

Work kind of has been sucking more as of late, so I can't help but be even more envious of a guy like Eddie Trunk who has the kind of job(s) I would love to have! I'm not envious in a mean way. More power to Eddie, but I bet you I know more useless music facts than you! I've kind of been considering getting a second part-time job at a place like Rasputin Music. I would love to be their cataloguing guy or something. Thing is, I've never worked retail ever, so they wouldn't hire me! LOL! Even though it's sucking, I'm pretty grateful for my job though.

One more thing. I heard Paul Di'Anno is finally touring the US. No Bay Area shows, but there is one in Southern Cal. I'm seriously considering going to it. Paul Di'Anno is like the Metal Chuck Berry of sorts. He has a band in every country where he tours. Maybe I'll finally get an autograph in my The Soundhouse Tapes 7 inch.