The Kind "Loved By You"

Back in the early '80s, before radio playlists became homogenized and all local flavor was removed from the equation (thank you, Lee Abrams, you worthless bastard) it wasn't outside the realm of possibility to hear cool tunes by local acts. In one such instance, midwest powerhouse WLS threw their considerable weight behind a song called "Loved By You", by local boys The Kind, and helped turn the song into a huge regional hit.

A year or so later, I caught the band at a sold-out Rosemont Horizon, as an uncredited opening act for Duran Duran, and they blew me away. I had a hunch it was them and when they ended their set with "Loved By You", I was thrilled to see the tens of thousands of otherwise bored teens awaiting the arrival of Duran Duran suddenly come to life, singing along to the song.

Despite such success, the band never landed a major deal and released two indie albums before calling it a day.

Back by popular demand - GET READY!

It took me awhile to find it, but I did. Spurring me on, of course, were the many readers who asked that I re-post this hard-to-find Cheap Trick track.

The song, of course, is "Get Ready", which was the b-side to the "Spring Break" single. It is a barrelhouse rocker that showcases Zander's vocal range and, while the production is bare-bones, the band's performance is stellar.

Seeing as how tomorrow brings the release of the latest Cheap Trick CD, I figured that today would be the day to, well, GET READY!

ENJOY!

Lucky Thirteen, Yo!

With today's installment of He's A Whore Awesome Rock Power Hour, we tempt fate by acknowledging that this is our thirteenth show, rather than be superstitious and call it the fourteenth. Like the time we stayed in Vegas and were given a room on the thirteenth floor...in a casino. I mean, it must've been one of the few places in Vegas that called the thirteenth floor "the thirteenth floor" so we just rolled with it and ended up having a great time even though everybody on the elevators always seemed to be trying not to snicker when they saw what floor we were on.

Anyhoo, on today's show, we rock some killer mash-up's and drop a couple super-cool 70's tunes as well as some rockin' cuts from all the way in the year 2000.

Non-stop awesome rock!

DOWNLOAD THE SHOW, YO

Adrian Belew's Finest Moment

Back in 1987, Adrian Belew was a hot commodity.

After all, he'd earned considerable clout after working with the likes of David Bowie, Talking Heads and the reconstituted King Crimson. Heck, he'd even made a couple decent solo records that not only displayed his angular guitar talents, but revealed a knack for melodic Beatlesque pop hooks.

Thus, when he turned down all other offers to form a pop band with members of an Ohio band known as the Raisins, many were left scratching their heads in disbelief.

The upstart band then signed to equally upstart label, PMRC Records (a subsidiary of IRS Records) and began work on their debut album.

Upon release, the album sunk without a trace due to a severe lack of promotion on the part of PMRC/IRS. The label would survive long enough to bury yet another Bears album, Rise And Fall, two years later.

The Bears debut album remains an absolutely stellar gem in Belew's repertoire, but one that very few people know about. Sadly, the album remains out-of-print, with copies of the original CD selling for upwards of $75 on eBay.

1. None Of The Above
2. Fear Is Never Boring

NOTE: As my buddy Ginch has pointed out, this CD was re-issued in February '09 and is available on Amazon. Use this link, as a search for "the bears" on Amazon (even if you narrow results by choosing "music" results) will not produce the necessary link to purchase the CD.

The Dozen Plateau!

It's Friday and that should be cause enough for celebration, right? Well, then consider the latest installment of my imaginary radio show, He's A Whore Awesome Rock Power Hour #12, to be the musical icing on a scrumptious cake with tons of invisible calories.

ENJOY!

To The 11th Power!

Crazy question: Who are you, what do you do, and why do you do it?

Okay, that ended up being a three-parter, forgive me, but the reason I'm axin' (ain't dat how the kids be sayin' it these days?) is because I get the feeling a lot of us (that means you and me both) are doing something other than what we really want to be doing. Since what you do defines much of who you are no matter how much you try to tell yourself it doesn't, wouldn't you rather be doing what you wanna be doing? Life is short, yo.

No, seriously, it is. I was driving through the countryside the other day and saw this huge barn, easily over one hundred years old, leaning precariously. I thought to myself that a 90-pound Chinese woman could probably give it a nudge and send it crashing to the ground. Here it was...100 years old, oh, if those rotting slabs of wood could talk...that's a really long time to we humans, but in the grand scheme of things, everything we do will be long forgotten in one hundred years.

Most of the music we hold dear, literature, you name it, will be buried by the sands of time.

And, yes, even the efforts of the dreamy barista at the local Starbucks who whips up your favorite caffeine fix each morning will be lost forever, fading into the ethers.

So, fuck, do something that speaks to your own heart and makes you feel alive, man. It doesn't matter if you never take the world by storm as long as you die with a smile on your face...hopefully in your sleep because, well, that's how all kind and beautiful souls should go.

Was it my intent to depress the hell out of you? No, not really.

Did I? If so, that is awesome. You're not a paper pusher...a middle management company man/woman...a simple cog in the machine. You are greatness personified. Those who know you are lucky to do so. Why? Because you rock and have the potential to do huge things. Why else?

Now get to work on my half-caff frappucino and this time don't ask me if I want whipped cream after you've already sprayed half a can of the stuff on top of my beuatiful dark java. :)

Oh, here's today's AWESOME ROCK POWER HOUR...

DOWNLOAD

Number 10 With A Bullet - New Awesome Rock Power Hour

Let's see, it's Friday and, more than likely, you're bored at work. If you've got an hour or more to kill, you've come to the right place. Today's AWESOME ROCK POWER HOUR is chock-full of great tunes and you can actually hear one of my pups shake the sleep out of his bones (I think I was yapping about the Producers cut I was about to play). After doing so, he laid right back down and went to sleep again. A dog's life, indeed.

In other news, I excitedly tuned into the season premiere of Burn Notice to see that they decided to begin the new run with easily one of their least creative episodes yet. Unless, of course, you didn't see it coming when Mike's "friend from his past" turned out to not be a friend after all. I mean, the way they set up the new "mission" was hackneyed at best. The dialogue was hilariously bad to boot. Can you say "rush job"? Episode 2 better see the show get back on track, yo.

In other TV news, Patrick Swayze's series, The Beast, has been cancelled. No biggee, since they wrapped things up nicely on the season one finale.

Is anyone else still watching Breaking Bad? Last Sunday's episode saw a serious wrench thrown into the spokes. Can't figure out if it was a "oh crap, how do we end this thing?" move a la Lost, or if the writers have an actual destination in mind that won't scream "cop out".

DOWNLOAD

Number 9, Number 9, Number 9

We bring you yet another action-packed Awesome Rock Power Hour where we ask the music question: What do "Southern Accents" and "F*** The Neighbors" have in common?

The Answer: we have no idea, but maybe after listening to today's show, you'll know exactly what we're talking about.

Or not.

DOWNLOAD