Song of the Week - episode 91

Song of the Week 21/5/10

Let's get the sad news out of the way first. Dead at 67 on Sunday was heavy metal legend, Ronnie James Dio. Ronnie is famous for singing with Black Sabbath after they fired Ozzy and as well for his own band, Dio. He died after a battle with stomach cancer. Ronnie had a huge voice and will be sorely missed. His last recordings were with Tommy Iommi, Geezer Butler and Vinny Appice who he played with in Black Sabbath. The band was called Heaven and Hell. It is a great album (The Devil You Know) - I heard it first in a guitar shop last year and was blown away by how good Dio's voice was, especially given his age. One reason I like Ronnie because he sings and doesn't scream - the lyrics are obviously important to him. Here are two tracks, a classic one from Dio and a newer one of Ronnie with Heaven and Hell.

Dio - Holy Diver: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64coD-rx9sk

Heaven & Hell - Bible Black: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Sdz7fP-p_0 (look closely at Tommy Iommi's right hand - he has prosthetic tips on his fingers and has had for years - amazing)

Is anyone suprised that cyclist Floyd Landis has admitted to being a drug cheat? I am. Can't believe he spent all that time, effort and money defending himself and now wants us to believe all the latest nonsense. What a loser. And of course, now he is levelling accusations left, right and centre. What makes this worse is that members of the public donated to his legal defence. I hate drug cheats. So should you. Support these people:

http://www.bike-pure.org

And the other thing that I don't like this week is the insurance company. The assessor looked at the scooter on Monday. Today is Friday and still no progress. Looks like more mountain biking adventures on the way to work this week! Seriously more fun than riding on the road. I can get from home to work (13km) with only about 500m of road riding if I am a bit creative.

I mentioned Serena Ryder last week. Can I just say that her latest album is great. Although it is seemingly inmpossible to find in a CD shop here. I'll look further afield. Here's another track that I hope you like.

Serena Ryder - Little Bit of Red: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-F78yp9urz4

But, I did get cool new mountain biking lights this week. A gift from Alison and the kids for my birthday (the lights were sold out so I had to wait a little while). 900 lumens for less than $200 is a real bargain. I'll be out in the forest with them tomorrow night and will report back. http://www.nitelights.com.au Mountain biking at night is great fun. It can be very zen as quite often you are the only rider out there, at one with the bike. Strangely, my body seems to run much better at night! Of course, in a pine forest, some nights are a bit Blair Witch Project. When that happens I just go home!

I went to a breakfast this morning where the ACT Minister of Education was the guest speaker. He spoke of his plans to attract lots more tertiary students to the Territory. I wonder where he thinks they are all going to live? Minister Barr also elaborated on his plans to give Government School Principals responsibility for the makeup of their teaching staff as well as for their own budgets. I wonder if this idea (which I think is great) comes with a comensurate rise in salary as it should mean a lot more work and responsibility.

I was in a meeting the other day and the work for the class prior was still on the board. Whichever class it was were discussing U2's movie "Rattle and Hum". I was pleased that such an important band were being discussed in school but a bit surprised that it was thought that Bono didn't take BB King's comments well about his lyrics from "When Love Comes To Town". I've watched this movie more times than is healthy and I always thought that Bono was a bit overawed at getting what sounded like praise from the legendary bluesman. BB comments that Bono writes, "mighty heavy lyrics, young man". Great song. Here it is. I must find that class and find out what conclusions they came to!

U2 with BB King - When Love Comes To Town: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wH81Klu1FAw

The other night when, as a shock, there was nothing good on TV (and I hope you can read the sarcasm into that comment), I threw Pink Floyd's "The Wall" into the DVD player. Apart from having to explain the premise of the film to Zoe and fast forward a few bits, hearing this song reminded me that the whole album was performed live when the Berlin Wall came down. This song suits Bryan Adams voice perfectly - an all out rock song. Oh, and if you need to explain "The Wall" to anyone it isn't that easy. I saw it first at about 15 and had absolutely no idea what was going on. It wasn't until I was 18 and saw it on the big screen that it began to make sense. Challenging viewing if you want it to be. But other than that it is a fantastic collection of songs.

Young Lust - Bryan Adams (live): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26Q3Hldwmb8

Avagoodweegend!

DJ Rob