It's almost summer time, but living isn't easy..

Hey guys, and sorry. Month is too long time to be not writing anything here, I know. I just didn't know what to write, and it always seemed that I don't have time. But now I have a moment, so here I'm writing.

First, any special musical news? The drummer of The Band, legendary Levon Helm died at the age of 71, which was sad to hear. Black Sabbath announced few more tour dates with original line-up (without Bill Ward 'cause they're still fighting) and Tony, and their first gig was yesterday in Birginham. I wish I could have been there. Ozzy comes to Finland next week Tuesday, but I'm in Germany then. Me and my class leave for Berlin in early Tuesday morning, and I'm there 'till Saturday. Class trips are fn' nice, as we all know. Originally I didn't even wanna go to Berlin, I'd rather go to see Bruce Springsteen on stage ( that's no joke). If anybody's been there, can you tell me any good record stores in there or vicinity?

But hey, what I've been doing for a month? Good question, I have no idea. There's only 2 weeks left of grammar school, and then I'm free to.. it's like getting out of the cage but to be still locked inside. I'm not free to do anything, but to go high school. Anyway, this time's been full of extra things at school, exams, and entrance exam to IB..
I went to movies with the Fish to see Avengers ( Robert Downey Jr. <3) and Dark Shadows. Both were great. If you like Iron Man and Thor and if you think Scarlett Johansson is sexy, you must see the Avengers (she really is hot). And if you like Tim Burton (well, who doesn't?) and Johnny Depp, you want to die for laughing, and you want to see a different kind of vampire movie with 70's (and you love Alice Cooper) go to see Dark Shadows. I highly recommend both.   

If you think I've speng a month without buying a record, I must tell you I haven't. It's as hard for me as a month without booze for alcoholic. Here's where I've spent my money in this month:

Velvet Underground from TopTen with only 15€.. you should have seen the shop assistant's face when I walked to checkout..

And CDs of course too..

That Aerosmith album I got for birthday present, thank you for that♥

Robert Plant: Band Of Joy

Led Zeppelin: Untitled fourth album

Led Zeppelin: Mothership ( 2 CD + DVD edition)

Robert Plant: Manic Nirvana

Neil Young: Greatest Hits

Black Sabbath: Master of Reality

David Bowie: Scary Monsters (and super creeps)

All the albums are from TopTen.

Then I've been practising the performing for our school's spring prize day, where the ninth class' students have used to perform some songs. We play few songs too, but I'm playing only in one. And the time for practising is soon up 'cause we're in Berlin for a week, so I think I should take my guitar and amplifier to Berlin with me..

We play "School's Out!" in the spring party, and I practised it few days ago.. I started to play "School's Out!", but  few hours later I found myself playing "Whole Lotta Love".. problems at focusing, or I just needed more coffee.

I'm packing for Berlin.. which means I've somehow managed to spread my clothes around our house.. 

For the Berlin Trip I'm waiting the visit to Hard Rock Cafe the most. In the Hard Rock Cafe of Berlin there is the desk which is photographed to cover of School's Out! album by Alice Cooper, on display. 

On Wednesday 16th of May came two years of when Ronnie James Dio passed away. He ded on 16th of May 2010, but was still on tour in December 2009. I should have gone and see him live then, now it's far too late to speculate about that. But one thing's for sure, Ronnie James Dio is still the greatest metal singer who has ever lived on this planet. Rest in Peace.

Oh Lord, would you buy me a Mercedes Benz?

That's how Janis Joplin sang in the end of 60's.. and still that little song is very clever.

When I listening to Janis Joplin in morning, I started to think about Mötley Crüe, 'cause I realized, that I'm gonna see them live after one and half month. Mötley Crüe is the biggest cliche in rock n' roll world, actually they created that what we call today "a rock n' roll cliche". And, because for them, we know that "the true rockers" drink, do drugs, have sex with groupies, drive drunk, buy houses that cost millions, have parties every weekend, they go often to rehab (in the most expensive hospital, of course). And if they have time, they play music or record new albums. We think, that the most important thing in gigs for musicians isn't playing or meeting fans, but that what happens after the show. Party. Living easy, nothing else matters.

But is that true? Do all of the rockers live like that? Do they really beat up their wives and cheat them with under-age groupies when they're on tour? Of course it's not true, and I think it's so frustrating that many people think like that. Not only violence, sex, intoxicants but satanism is a thing that rockers have been blamed about. That we, you people, are influenced badly because for our idols. Our parents believe that young people starts to drink, do drugs, have sex with random people, beat up kids on the streets and kick over gravestones in the graveyards, all because for our idols. If it's still up to us, I don't think that anyone is that stupid.

I know that many rockers have one drugs. I don't judge them, but you can think what you want. I think it's their own decision, and if they haven't hurt anybody and drugs have been assistance in making music, I don't judge them. But I'm not saying it's alright.
What about groupies, then? Young girls do that only for fame. They don't care about the rockers, only thing they care about is that who is the most popular person at the moment. I also know many rockers who have fucked groupies, but is it cheating? What actually is cheating? Sex or falling in love with other person? Difficult to say.
But violence is different. It doesn't matter is that person a rocker or normal man with wife and family. It's even worse, if the person is popular, 'cause then media know about it. Violence is wrong. Mötley Crüe is discordant band for me, 'cause I feel I should like it for all they've doen to groupies, how they've driven drunk, how Neil killed Razzle (drunk driving) and so on. Still I like their music, but otherwise they're too cliche for me. I can't like men who have made rehab a media game or fashion, 'cause drugs and booze are dangerous, and making it  public entertainment doesn't make it serious. Many rockers have died for those, for example Jim Morrison and Bonzo. What about them?

And the Mercedes Benz. Rockers are rich, as we all know. In America, everything is business and if you're famous enough, you can make money as much as you want, without any limits. Being a celebrity is business in USA. Stars live in huge houses, drive Cadillacs, buy most expensive clothing, hire personal trainers and so on. They can get everything with money. Different thing is that is it fare? I think it's not, if we're talking about "musician" who really hasn't done anything useful, or doesn't even make music herslef/himself. Those todays' superstars earn fucking much money by doing actually nothing, dancing and singing on stage and recording single in a month. I think this is a reason why some people want to end copyrights.
I think if the money really is earned, copyrights are fine. Of course it can sound crazy if Jimmy Page has earned 470 million dollars only from "Sairway to Heaven", but we should think how much that song ha been bought, listened and played. Is it fare then? I think it is.
Of course it's also about that how rockers use their money. If they give million to charity and forget about the new swimming pool in their luxury house, it creates an impression of unselfishness.

Many rockers did drugs when they were younger, but have been home and dry for many years for now. Many of them are vegetarian, do sports, have given so much money for charity etc. Think about this: Duff McKagan was long time on heroin, and lived every way that rock n' roll life nobody admired anymore. But without his investments, we wouldn't know company called Starbucks. So thank Duff for the best coffee in the world.
Or Alice Cooper; he was an alcoholic and almost died for it, but then he stopped drinking, and got religion. He has is own charity project too.
Or Jimmy Page. Everybody know his story from the 70's, drugs, groupies, occultism and so on. What is he doing today? He is the main sponsor of ABC Foundation, which helps Brazilian street kids.
Or did you know that everyone of The Clash were vegetarians, as well as sir Paul McCartney and Brian May?

World is full of good rockers, and I think all these damn bands like Mötley Crüe just ruin their reputation. Rock n' roll is so much more that sex and drugs, but I feel like too many bands have fogotten the "Rock n' roll" term from the slogan. That's why people who don't knwo anything about rock and then first they'll find out is in the same categhory with Mötley, it's no wonder they don't like it. My own opinion is that drugs, sex or money don't make it, but attitude does. That matters how rockers think about their fans or what they think about cheating and relationships, or what they think about the world and charity. I think, that rock has got boring today, and it doesn't seem dangerous the same way it has, but I'm not saying that the musicians should be idiots. They can make rough and dangerous music, but healthy life style isn't anyway away from their rock n' roll ego. I believe that fans are just happier too, when their idols don't die at age of 25, but at the age of 90.

       

Welcome to reality...

...the thought of Guns N' Roses reunion gig in my head was only fantasy. I realized yesterday, as I was reading Rolling Stone news, that they can hardly come up to the same stage. Why was I believing that it could really be true? Slash told that "it would be great but it's not gonna happen." There's no information of that even the all of the guys would be coming to RN'RHF.. Axl hasn't informed of his coming, Izzy hasn't either. So, I'm not gonna see Guns N' Roses. Yet.

                                  
                     Just wondering, what Sir Paul McCartney has said about this upon the first listen..



Good Times, Bad Times

Hello, and happy holidays to all of you.

You know, I don't like the 5th of April. It's one of the saddest days in the world. Kurt Cobain died on that day in 1994 and Layne Staley on the same date in 2002. And yesterday the master of amplifiers, Jim Marshall, died at the age of 88. Every person who has ever heard about electric guitars, knows Marshall amplifiers. Many world famous guitarists, for example Jimi Hendrix, played with Marshall. I've got one too. So Rest In Peace, Jim.

I've had so much to do on last days, presentations, school stuff etc, and I've played guitar and harp quite a lot. I've also been thinking about something profound, cobination of blues and rock. What's sexy about rock n' roll is actually coming from blues. Sounds simple, but I've been thinking about this for hours (yep, no real life..). All those hot phrases like " I gotta get ya movin", "I wanna be your backdoor man" and "steady rollin woman" are from blues.
And then they're wondering why we women like rock n' roll...

To the end, here's my vacation playlist for ya :*) (nothing to do with Easter, I promise)

  

Two days without music is too long time for me.

I feel like the last time I wrote was so long time ago. I hope it really isn't like that. 

I've been to Helsinki for two days, 'cause I attended to "Nuorten Parlamentti", Parliament for young people. Every second year, about 300 9th grade students are chosen to go there. We all had a chance to access to som eof the committees, like Environment comittee, financial committee, I went to meet the Grand Committee about EU stuff. Then, there had been organized a real question hour for us, where we had a chance to ask anything from Finland's Ministers. After that, we met environment minister Ville Niinistö and Minister of culture and sports, Paavo Arhinmäki. So, the day at Parliament House was interesting. 

It was also interesting to be two days without listening to music. How boring life can be without it? What I'm usually talking about, if I'm not talking about music? About school or environment or what? I don't actually know. 

Well, I was shopping in Tuuri and in Seinäjoki yesterday. Here something I found from there:  

Presence by Led Zeppelin, one of the best their records

Richie Blackmore's Rainbow by Rainbow

DVD of Marc Bolan, it cost only 3€, so I needed to buy it <3

And I bought the harp! At last, I've been looking for one since X -mas.

It's 10 necked Hohner's Blues Harp in G major, I was looking for 16 necked, but I could find a good one.

I love the sound. It's warm, rich and beautiful. It's lower as I expected, kinda alto,

if you know what I mean. I wish you do. There's one old instrument seller nearby Keskinen, the harp cost about 35 €. 

And to the end, some good musical news: Jimmy Page is to release new album! It's a soundtrack from the 70's, originally made for the film Lucifer Rising. You can pre-order it form his netpage, and it's coming for the public stores in November. First 93 copies include his autograph. You know what I'm gonna do right after writing this? :3

And, tomorrow is Steven Tyler's birthday. So best wishes for him too, and happy birthday. 

And have ya heard about the new Finnish TV show, which tells about rockstars who rescue homeless animals? The hostess of the show is Tony Iommis daughter Toni-Marie, who's lived in Finland for 4 years now. Many rockers like Iggy Pop, Michael Monroe and Kat von D (I can't remember everyone, there were many more) will visit in the show, maybe Tony Iommi too. So when it starts to come, check it out!

  

So alone

Bullying and teasing at schools are one of the most horrible thing in the world. It can happen to anyone, and it can end to suicide. Do you want that? I've been seeing and experienceing bullying and teasing for last nine years in school, so this is for all the people who've been bullied too. Usually, older students bully youngers. I wanted to write this, 'cause bullying is something I'm really fucking fed up with. I wish that bullied people could pull theirselves together. You know, you don't need to listen to your bullies. They're assholes and hicks, who justt want to show their idiotism to all world. They don't know, who you are, and they don't know how you've ended up to that place.

So don't listen to 'em. I'm so shy person, and I hate performing on the stage. I think it's partly because I've been bullied too, long time ago. Learn to fight (not literalry, violence isn't allowed! Ok, only lightsabers are!) and not to care about those people. If they laugh at you, you'll laugh at them and kick their asses! 
 

The big ones should take care of little ones. 

 Hey come on, they know it in heavy metal world too. So why not in the schools?

(By the way, the little guy in the photo is Ronnie James Dio :3)

For The Good Old-Fashioned Times

It's always us; the young people. I realized, that older people just can't understand us (or me). Especially, if we're talking about music. They can't believe, that we exactly LIKE the same music, or those bands we tell  adults we listen to. They think we're fakin', or we have read information from Wikipedia and then telling it to our parents somehow proudly. Well, that's not true.

Next summer, Queen plays a tribute/reunion/whatever show in Soniphere, Knebworth, with Adam Lambert as vocalist. When I told my dad that I want to go there, he said: "no, 'cause it's not original, that's pathetic, and the band is artifial. " Yeah, of course it's not the real Queen, but it's impossible too see live anymore. Freddie Mercury died FIVE years before I was even born, so I didn't really have a chance to see Queen live. That's not my fault. But when I have an opportunity to see even a trace of that brilliance, which Queen would have had in it's live shows in the 80's, I'm not gonna miss it. That's all I have, that's all what teenage music people have. And it's so sad to notice, that adults don't get it. They've lived the times when Led Zeppelin played, when The Clash played, when The Doors played, and so on. Why adults don't let that same happen to us?

Or do they think, that teenagers are that stupid, that they don't really care? They would go to see those reunion bands as jokes? That's not true. If I could go to Soniphere to see half of the real Queen, I'd probably cry almost all of the showtime. Same with The Clash reunion, or Led Zeppelin, or Guns N' Roses, Hanoi Rocks, any band. The teenagers, who would come to these concerts, really love those bands, I believe, 'cause I do.

And, you must not forget, that unfortunately the music is immortal, but musicians and bands are not. I can't get the thought of Ronnie James Dio in Finland in 2007 out of my head, 'cause I didn't have any reason to stay away from there. Only, that I didn't know any song by Dio, I just knew he was some singer guy... But the point is, that I was alive, I was 11 fuckin' years old, so old enough to go.. if I just would have known. Now, when Tony Iommi has lymphoma, I'm scared that I'm never gonna see him live. If Rolling Stones still leaves for tour, it must be one of the last tours of them, so then I MUST go to see them live. Same thing with the other old rockers. Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Alice Cooper, Ozzy Osbourne, AC/DC, Aerosmith, Paul McCartney... none of them will live forever.

So, I gotta get tickets to that Queen show. If you're my age, and you like real music, you'll know how I feel. And I hope, that even that fake Queen wouldn't be alright to adults, who have lived in the times of Freddie Mercury, the Queen we have now is all of the band for every person younger than 25. And if adults complain that Led Zeppelin without John Bonham isn't real, today's Led Zeppelin with other original members is all that we, young people, can get. We can, or we have to, settle for it, so why the adults can't? Are they really that bitter or what? 

Only one thing more. We can, and we will, fight about these thing with older people as far to future as I can see. But please, let the dead musician and idols rest in peace. They can't change their fate anymore, and they can't defend themselves from all the shit what people can talk about them, so I don't want to make this case to be their fault. Because even though many good people have died, many of them are still alive. The music should be the mainpoint, anyway. And we, the teenagers who love rock n' roll,  are the people, who are gonna save the rock genre some day in the future. Deal with it.