The Last Bass Outpost

With early Slayer, which Raining Blood is, the bass is just an afterthought, a hint of an atonal clank hiding underneath Kerry King's massive guitar tone giving Tom Araya something to do besides scream and headbang. As they got older, the production DID get better, and to their credit, they never tempered their attitude and even had some sonic experiments (within the "broad" spectrum of punk to thrash) but this is where they pretty much ended up:

I don't like "You're so Vain" anyway. (The melody always makes me think of "Two Outta Three Ain't Bad" which has a less stilted structure, like Meatloaf heard it and "fixed" it a few years later.) It's definitely NOT a song suited to Olivia, but she did better with it than I expected. Her album is basically a giant middle finger to an ex that was older and dumped her, so I'm sure that's where the idiot producers got the idea to recast her as Carly Simon against an older "anonymous" suitor who spurned her. Likewise for Alanis, whom I imagine would do even worse with it. Dave Coulier is no Warren Beatty. If nothing else, Olivia was a professional. Gotta give it to the mouse; his graduates are seldom slackers. And yes, that guitar solo was awful. Not too crazy about the horns either. That's not a song that calls for bombast.

 Her wardrobe choice is pretty consistent with how she is dressed for awards show performances lately and it looks like to me that her image consultants are trying to offset her small chest while still trying to show it off. Or she could just be a 19 year old who knows she is pretty and likes to show off her body. Her sex appeal doesn't sell me anyway. I like her voice and attitude. I expect that she's got some great music in her future. Here's her video that I like so much:



..and it's even funnier in the context of the Beavis and Butthead episode which featured it.



 I absolutely cannot see the original video and not laugh now.

If you're using a laptop or PC you can bypass any paywall by right-clicking on the page> left click 'inspect'> left click the 'options' icon in the top right> scroll to the bottom of the options menu and left click 'disable java script'> then refresh the page and close the 'inspect page'...

The right wing propaganda outlets are smart enough to not use paywalls. It's too bad that actual journalists keep shooting themselves in the foot.

I saw on the news Walmart may have to shut down some stores and also increase prices just because of the massive shoplifting.  This is organized retail theft.  Other stores such as Target are also affected.  I actually caught the figure for target.  They've lost $400 million in 2022 from shoplifting.  Of course Walmart is higher than that although I don't know the amount.

Don't buy into what is essentially corporate propaganda. Walmart's "theft" problem is their self-checkout, which they intentionally do not maintain in order to report "theft," which they will then use as justification to start closing stores and cutting employees. The profits they made during the pandemic were unsustainable, but their accounting departments attributed it to an increased online/pickup experience despite the fact that in-person shopping was illegal in much of the country, and reason that by expanding online, they can attain those profits again. Target and Best Buy are doing the same, purposefully under-staffing and under-stocking stores to drive more online business. All major national retail chains are undergoing major restructuring to try and maintain Covid-levels of profitability. It's crap and a lie. Best Buy's CEO, my old boss, even went so far as to actively discourage customers from coming into to stores on the Today show this time last year, saying that employees feared for their safety because of theft while never mentioning that she had completely eliminated the loss prevention arm of the company.

I met their lead singer when he was opening for Tori Amos as a solo act: really nice guy. His wife sat with me and my wife for the show.

I saw Olivia Rodrigo's video for good 4 u on the new Beavis and Butthead (which is worlds better than the old one ever was) and I like it: Disney star gone sorta punk, and her acting in the video is hilarious. And bonus: she can actually play!

Anyone heard it?



 It's OK and nice to see Het actually putting some guts into his singing again. But I liked it better the FIRST time they played it:



..and it's even a cover from Sweet Savage. Oh you millionaire/billionaire rock stars!