KABOOM! 2010

KABOOM is not just a party; a way of life, KABOOM is an experience unlike any other seen on planet earth.

Earth Date 10:29:2010 A.D. 

Earth has made first contact with a Unique Species of Alien Creatures that hail from the Alpha Centauri Star System not too far away from us from a world called “ PLANET RAVE.”  It is a world where the party never stops and the music never ends! I know because I have been transported here by them and I am honored that for that on this night, and as such they honorably grace us and allow me the privilege to explain to all of you the sounds of their incredible home world. 


The people of this world here, are truly loving and embracing of this “Gothic Cowboy” and my unique look (which I will explain later). 


The Sounds and Music that emulate from this party are so uplifting, beat-driven, positive, powerful, and cosmic, they are literally beyond anything us as human beings can comprehend, sounds that will make you move in ways you never thought possible or have only envisioned within your own dreams and or mind.

Follow me as we make our way into the world and the party of the century from the most incredible place in our universe itself. This is KABOOM! 

As I make my way in deeper into the party I meet the Leader and Gracious Host who has brought these sounds to earth and to me for so long the Incredible, Legendary, Immortal One herself “ZOE VAN WEST!”

Now for a good amount of time me and ZOE OR “ZOE BOT” as she is happily known to many of her people have known one another, and on this night we finally meet face to face, and she is truly as beautiful as the universe itself with a smile, energy level, and spirit, as amazing and beautiful and full of life as is the party itself! RAVE is her and she is RAVE, all of which, is at its ultimate finest hour, and truly humbling in this Space Traveler’s opinion. PLUR is the universal message of “Peace, Love, Respect, and Understanding”

The Goddess that is "Zoe Van West" embodies this message of "PLUR" in everything she does, and every part of who she is!!! Words are hard to describe this, it’s an experience not for the faint of heart, but definitely something everyone would truly benefit from.

As we listen closely to the music of the universal party we are greeted with the sounds of a new artist only known as” DJ Rorok” and this music has this party going in full time and step and it’s only just begun! The music coming from this artist is truly incredible and mesmerizing. The crowd is electric!

The sounds and the lights are picking up the pace and all of the sudden sirens ablaze it is now time for an old friend to take the stage and the people are going even harder and more crazy for the artist known simply as “DJ Shadow Fax!” This artist brings a unique sound that at times is powerful and at moments such as this with “Big Sky” takes us into what I call a “Dream-Vibe” world almost taking us into another place. With the set continuing it’s as if we have been taken to another astral plane over looking the universe itself.

I am going to take a moment though and tell you that we cannot forget the ones who keep all of the “RAVERS” as they call themselves, the inhabitants of this planet and party going, the lovely, the beautiful, the dark and the sometimes deadly, “HellBunny Go-Go Dance Troop!” These ladies are amazing and the energy they reflect and then send back out to everyone here is truly breathtaking and amazing. Their energy is relentless, electric, and simply out of this world! 

I have been honorably privileged on this night to meet their leader, their colonel, their commander, and a personal friend of mine known as the “HellBunny Queen” herself “Jessi Firefly!” Words I do not believe can describe the beauty and poise of Cmdr. Firefly with her never ending unyielding energy, the light of her soul, and brightness of her smile. If you ever find yourself in her presence you are in the presence of the essence of “Planet Rave” itself!!!

Aforementioned earlier it seemed that my appearance which can be stated as being “Wickedly Dark” was a new an appreciated sight, as I was privy to many positive comments from the time I arrived within the party and was immediately embraced by all within the world of “RAVE” on this night.

We continue on with the sounds of “DJ Shadow Fax” and one song of great value to me that really captivated me was a remix of “Oceanlab” and their song “On a good day” the remix to this classic dance hit was almost “Other-Worldly” as I would call it. Seemingly melancholy in its melody but at the same time almost “therapeutic & happy” with the driving force of the remix behind it. Another track of note here was one with the universal message “Impecto Victus” which has a beat of relentlessness behind it and definitely re-invigorated the crowds back to life once again.

It is now time for the “Immortal one” herself “Zoe Van West” to take the stage and she herself brings the literal original sounds that gave birth to the sound which is “Happy Hardcore” and the essence which is “Planet Rave.” Her musical set is as “incredible and other-worldly” as only one can imagine when in her presence, her voice is that of an angel with emotion back heart, and vocals which are as deep as the universe is wide. I myself as a guest and traveler to and of their world was humbled and honored to be in the presence of this angel of “RAVE” truly and indescribable performance of such great cosmic magnitude. The crowd is now truly 110% electrified to a deafening sound that is indescribable!!!

Well readers this journey and party were truly remarkable and almost could not be conveyed into words easily. There were so many great sounds that I cannot even list them all here, and like all good things, this party came to an end for this traveler, as this was a once in a lifetime opportunity within KABOOM!

Everyone on “PLANET RAVE” seemed to be in a state of mind that this traveler has never experienced before out of his dreams. The Sights, The Lights, and The Sounds, were truly incredible. I was then extended an open invitation to come back again and again to future parties by the people of “Planet Rave” by the Goddess leader herself “Zoe Van West!” I was also presented with one of their utmost highest honored gifts in the form of a as they call it “Kandie Bracelet” from Cmdr. Firefly of the “HellBunny Go-Go Dance Troop.” I was truly honored and humbled that such a gift could be given to me, an outsider from beyond their world, but the love that was shown here to me on this night by all of them, seems to know no bounds.

I am now back on back on Planet Earth” with many new friends and new memories that this traveler will not soon forget, so if you ever look up to the sky on a dark night or find yourself hearing dance music out of nowhere, somewhere within the night in your travels around the world, know that the Alpha Centauri Star System & the World known as “Planet Rave” is in full swing and effect and is calling out to you and your heart and soul, as it plays its hypnotic music and sounds throughout the universe.

KEEP HAPPY HARDCORE ALIVE EVERYONE!!!

Sincerely,

 - JB Brock

Part 2. Soundgarden & The "Telephantasm"

Birthday and Kenny Chesney Music Review

Hey Everyone, JB here with you again…

WOW, once again everyone, time has been flying by so fast lately since I last caught up with all of you. As I sit here today and write this blog to all of you, it is now the day after my birthday, it seems like it just came up out of nowhere and then in the blink of an eye was gone before it really got going good, (although I think we all believe that about our own birthdays respectively), so first off, to those of you who sent me Happy Birthday wishes, I personally thank each and every one of you truly, & deeply, from the bottom of my heart for those wishes, and I appreciate each one of them, it means more to me than you may ever know. And while my birthday may not have turned out exactly how I had planned for it to go, I still made it a blast as much as possible, and I plan for more excitement in the future to come, and I hope each and everyone of you plan on joining this “WILDMAN” for the adventures that lie ahead of us, while I can’t see what lies up around the bend, I believe its going to be something great and totally awesome!

On to the music reviews… this will be a two-part blog review

Today were going to start out with the new album by the Current Main Man of country and the Island Boy himself, Kenny Chesney and his new album "Hemingway’s Whiskey." It's an interesting title in being so well know to so many of us who know the famous Hemingway’s writings and books and how they seemed to carry us off to a place within the pages of his novels that seemed at that time, to be places in which you could find only in your dreams but yet, was actually right in our own backyard here in Florida and down in the Florida Key’s. There is a lot of magic down in the Florida Key’s some of which, I can tell you about myself from personal experiences. I’ve lived in Florida on and off a lot of my life and still currently travel quite a great deal all over the world, and yet no matter where I am at whether it is here in this state or away in my traveling, I always seem to think back to the good weather, and I can just look up when I'm near the coast, or even when I'm inland and I see some of the most beautiful skies and sunsets in the world here in Florida, it's enough to take your breath away and can show you just how beautiful life is. Although this title seems to mean a lot to Kenny Chesney himself as well as an avid Hemingway fan and becomes evident when listening to this album.

We’ll start out with the track “Live A Little” a rockous little rock out track with some country roots that seems to be geared towards those of us who seem to work just a little to much in our lives and within the song we find that some of us and eventually all of us finally hit that realization, that there is a bit of fun out there to be had even during our current troubled times, and that even with everything going on in our own lives and the stresses we face, the work we have to do everyday that, we need to as Kenny sings, “take some time and waste it on number one.”

Next up is a track with a sort of similar musical styling to “Live A Little” that I enjoy called “Coastal” it talks about that life we all desire our whole lives, and that we work so hard towards during our youth, and wish we could have in during our youth, when we would love to enjoy it, when you’ve finally just worked so hard and can’t give anymore well like it says “Hey, you gotta watch that man, He’ll go Coastal on ya!!!”

Following all of that island lifestyle awesome goodness, we then slow things down for a little bit to go down an old familiar yet comforting road into a country song that has some of the most sincerity, passion, pain, and heartbreak of any country song written in today’s or from country music’s yesterday. This track is called “You and Tequila” and features guest singer “Grace Potter.” This song talks about a love that has long since passed away with the sands of time, at least where most everyone else is concerned but not within the heart of the soul, which alone is a very hard place to erase love from. The soul of one’s own self is a power so deep and true that not even the pain of heartbreak can extinguish it.

Now I’m not going to go into personal experiences of what, why or even how I can relate to this song, but I will tell you this, turn this song on, turn your mind off, and go back to that place where it all made sense and it all went wrong, all at once, open up your heart and soul and let this song wash over all the hurt and pain that you may still have within you, as it sings, “You and Tequila make me crazy, run like poison through my blood” and then you will understand the subtlety of the meaning of “it’s always your favorite sins that do you in” trust me on this my friends, it may and probably will hurt for a little while again, to remember these times in your life from long long ago, depending on what happened to you but, after a listen or two to this song, you will find some comfort in these lyrics. I’ve spent a lot of nights staring at the moon and the stars in the sky contemplating life, love and the meaning of, all with a bottle or two of tequila by my side, and it is truly never enough. So you’re not alone.

We then head on down the road back a little further into our past with a track called “Where I Grew Up.” Now for myself, I’m not old, but not young young, and I’ve definitely still got a whole lot of living left to do in this world but, I can say that there are and have been times where I wish I could go back to when I was little boy and re-live those days over again, I’ve left this place numerous times and always enjoy being on my own doing me and my thing, and although I grew up in a lot of different places, and I feel like I’ve left a little piece of myself behind in each place, but reflecting on this song, I am certain we all can say this. You never really realize with our crazy hectic stress filled rat-race lives just how fast time really goes by and when you finally stop and think about you won’t believe what your mind goes back too from days gone by. So listen carefully as we progress through this track because then we come to that point in life a lot of us hit where we find that someone special and then it all comes flooding back in. Never take what you have for granted, you don’t know how lucky you’ve got it until its all gone. Father Time can be very cruel or wonderful; I hope for all of your sakes its good to you.

We then pick up the tempo once again and continue carrying that last idea or thought with the track called ”Reality” in which that, we can’t take life for granted and we’ve got to stop and smell the “proverbial” roses if you will sometimes, try and see the better things that there are in life and all of the fun we could have in life if we just give it half a chance, sometimes taking those chances and those blind leaps of faith like it sings our soundtrack to guide us: “Reality, yeah sometimes life Ain’t all that it’s cracked up to be” “So let’s take this chance and live this fantasy” “Cause Everybody needs to break free from reality” and while it may seem scary at first with those leaps into the unknown they usually workout  in the end, better for us than we could have ever expected or hoped for, definitely a track worth checking out.

For one last track that I believe to be noteworthy on this album I will refer you to one of the bonus tracks “Ain’t Ever Going Back Again” 

The song is self-explanatory, I can say that I've been there and I am in the process of going back there to that state of mind again. It’s definitely a good feeling I can tell all of you that!

See you soon with Part 2.

 - JB

This is what is on my mind currently.

                

I only feel home when I am in constant motion and traveling down the road.

Where is home though?

PUNK ROCK!!!

Hey Everyone, JB here with you again.

You know something here, recently it seems at least for a little while now; I have been in a real weird way of an “Old School Punk Rock” kind of mood lately.

I assume with my ever evolving listening and still continuing love of the bands from my youth more and more, it seems that lately that’s what I’ve been really listening to. Now I am not certain if it’s a sign of my age, or if its just a regression back to bands that still sound ahead of their time now almost 30 years later (at least to me), but I love them and this music is not only classic but timeless as well if you ask me. It takes me and maybe you if your listening to the bands listed here to a place back in time where it seemed like those people really felt and were going through what you and I were going through.

A seemingly simple voice for the down trodden, the ridiculed, the lost, and some who felt that there was no hope ever coming their way. I don’t know if those are accurate descriptions of what people (myself included) were feeling back then or now, but whenever I go back to these records and let them carry me away with their songs and melodies of teenage-ridden angst, anger and contempt for the system I feel alive again. Its almost  therapeutic, as if I am transported back to a time when it seemed like they knew what all of us were going through, like they were right there with us going through it too and we were all screaming together at the top of lungs so loudly not even the universe could deny our pain and anger. 

Now with all of that said and out of my system, I would love to hear some thoughts on this subject if you can relate to this, or if your old enough to remember back then and know what I am talking about, or even if your not and you listen to these bands currently.

List of bands include:

The Ramones

The Sex Pistols

The Adolescents

Suicidal Tendencies

Circle Jerks

Bad Brains

Minor Threat

Bad Religion

Black Flag

Dead Kennedy’s

Social Distortion

Agnostic Front

Misfits

NOFX

The Red Hot Chili Peppers

Nirvana

Sublime

311

 - JB