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Anyone who knows me can tell you that I'll fight anyone who doesn't give the Jackson 5 the respect they deserve, and I've been that way for decades. I can't speak on how Michael behaved as an adult, or the things he did or didn't do. All I know is, from 1969 to 1979 there was THE VOICE, and now it's silent. Luckily there is the music, the videos of the TV appearances, even the Rankin-Bass produced J5 cartoon had soul. It's all a huge part of my life, and probably is for anyone that grew up in the 70's. How much cooler were the Jackson 5 than the Osmond Brothers? There is literally no comparison, they stood alone, and we stood in awe.

I never met the guy, but I always believed Lisa Marie Presley when she said he was a completely different person in private. A guy who drank, swore and joked around a lot, just like any other guy in his 40's from Gary Indiana. The world will never really know for sure, and he'll always remain an enigma, but I for one will miss him. Rest in Peace bro, you earned it.

Labels: Obituary

Among punk rocks many spin-offs and subdivisions (horror punk, funky punk and Christ-knows-what-else punk, etc.) perhaps no movement is as simultaneously obscure and awesome as Medieval Punk. Of course, when there is only ONE band in this beyond-exclusive genre, it not hard to figure out why it was obscure, but I’m here to tell you why it was also awesome. While anyone who has ever seen the 1978 Sex Pistols film The Great Rock ‘n’ Roll Swindle knows exactly who Eddie Tenpole is, the story of this band goes way beyond that of a crazy guy screaming “Who Killed Bambi” into a vacuum cleaner. Formed in 1974 while bands like The Sweet and Slade still ruled the UK charts, a young Edward Tudorpole (you can’t make something like that up folks) put together the wildly entertaining Tenpole Tudor, a bit pub, a bit pop, and although their wasn’t a word for it yet, a bit punk. Known for performing in period garb, with Eddie himself in a full chain mail suit, their unique brand of Middle Age madness is perhaps even more apparent in the video for "Wunderbar" but I couldn’t find a clean copy of it, so here is "Swords of a Thousand Men," released on Stiff Records in 1981. The old saying “they don’t make ‘em like this anymore” barely applies here, because in the case of Tenpole Tudor, they never made ‘em like this before or since!

Labels: Video

Labels: Video