Keaton Simons: “Beautiful Pain” (2013) CD Review

Recently I attended the CD release concert for Keaton Simons’ new album, Beautiful Pain. The show was sold out, and the crowd seemed to already know a lot of the new material. Keaton Simons was backed by a really good band, and certainly had a good rapport with the audience. 

And, more importantly, the songs are really good. In a lot of these pop songs he tackles relationships and loneliness, finding himself looking back (until the final tracks, when he looks forward). And it’s all perspective, as he sings in “Black & White”: “The truth ain’t always what it seems/And right or wrong lacks depth to me.” There is something endearing about this collection of songs; even the lesser tracks seem to come from the heart – there is no artifice here. The songs on Beautiful Pain are all original tunes, written or co-written by Keaton Simons.

Keaton Simons kicks off his new album with “Thrill Of It All,” a good, steady pop song with a certain sweet aspect to it. The repetition of “I remember” to start each of the first few opening lines makes us feel he is singing of something that is long gone, even before he sings, “Where did that go.” So when he switches to present tense on “You’re the woman that I won’t let go of,” it comes as kind of a bright surprise. And when he asks, “Do you recall the thrill of it all,” you expect the answer is yes. “Thrill Of It All” was written by Keaton Simons and Josh Zegan.

“The Medicine” is a rock tune with a great edge, both in the vocals and the guitar. This one is a fan favorite (it's one that was requested at the concert). I particularly like the lines, “And I know it’s gonna hurt/But I’m better with you.” It has something of a 1970s rock vibe. “The Medicine” was written by Keaton Simons, Scott Bruzenak and Curtis Peoples.

In “If I Hadn’t Forgotten” Keaton Simons takes an emotional look back at a relationship, wondering how it’s all affected the other person. He sings, “I don’t know if you’ve tried moving On/But I can’t get past the way we left off.” And he feels responsible for how things turned out, as in the lines “Promised you that we would have it all/You trusted me and I let you fall.” It’s an interesting combination – feeling guilty for hurting her, yet at the same time wondering if she’s still hurting, and not knowing. You get the feeling there’s something in him that hopes she’s still hurting, that these feelings aren’t for nothing, and aren’t his alone. Because then he’d really be alone.

“Beautiful Pain,” the title track, is one of the CD’s strongest tracks. There are moments when his vocals make me think of Martin Sexton, the way he delivers certain lines. This song also mentions looking back – “Don’t be afraid of looking back/Everyone has a past.” And the title implies the idea of a pain that you enjoy in some fashion, a pain that you hold onto. “If you’re gonna save a life/Maybe it should be your own.” This song ends quietly, his voice and the acoustic guitar alone for the last line.

“Other Side” is a song expressing a vulnerability, a fear. He opens it with the line, “There’s another darker side of me/Inside the lies.” He wonders if he she’ll love him if she saw him completely, and he needs to be seen. This song, another of the album’s strongest tracks, has a great feel. There is something gorgeous in his need, his desire. Joining him on this track is Mikal Blue on mandolin and piano. The string arrangement is by Ehud Kalder, who also co-wrote the song.

“Read My Mind” is a pretty tune, more in the folk vein, at least at the start. I love the acoustic guitar. In this song, he sings of that excitement of new love, when you look forward. “If you could read my mind/You’d save us both some time.” Beautiful Pain concludes with “Notice Me,” a short, quiet acoustic song. “Did you even notice me yet.”

CD Track List

1. Thrill Of It All
2. The Medicine
3. If I Hadn’t Forgotten
4. Beautiful Pain
5. Black & White
6. Hearts Don’t Break Themselves
7. Is There Any Other Way
8. Other Side
9. Gonna Shine Brighter
10. You’re The Spark
11. Inspiration
12. Read My Mind
13. Notice Me

Beautiful Pain was released on April 30, 2013 on Best Revenge Records.

(Note: I also posted this review on Michael Doherty's Music Log.)

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Nine Inch Nails - New Album, New Single, New Tour

Guess who's back? No, not the Terminator... more like the Rez-inator.

Nine Inch Nails is finally back after their long 4 year hiatus. Trent Reznor (the band's only official member) has been keeping busy winning an Oscar (The Social Network) and with side project How to Destroy Angels featuring his wife, Mariqueen Maandig, and frequent collaborator, Atticus Ross.

The already awesome Hesitation Marks album

Their newest album, Hesitation Marks, will be released on 9.3.2013. This will be the first NIN release since The Slip in 2008. Hesitation Marks will be the band's first Columbia Records release (and first major studio release since 2007's Year Zero).

The album artwork (above) is done by Russell Mills, who previously did the album and singles artwork for 1994's The Downward Spiral.

NIN released the first single for Hesitation Marks early this morning. Check out "Came Back Haunted" below:

The single definitely has that NIN feel and makes the last few years worth the wait! One of my friends said: "it sounds like Year Zero mixed with Pretty Hate Machine." I couldn't agree more!

If you Pre-Order Hesitation Marks, you'll get a free download of "Came Back Haunted."
Pre-order it here: store.nin.com

Came Back Haunted - Single

It's been a busy day for NIN because they also released information for the upcoming "Nine Inch Nails Live: Tension 2013" tour. Check out the dates here: tour.nin.com

There's a lot more to come from Nine Inch Nails before the release of Hesitation Marks on 9.3.2013. Be sure to check back here for all of your NIN News!

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Book Review: "VJ The Unplugged Adventures Of MTV's First Wave"

It's 2013 and I'm guessing that many people under the age of 30 don't even know what a VJ is.

But... if you grew up in the early 80's when MTV was still the network to visit if you wanted to see music videos then you most definitely know the names Nina Blackwood, Mark Goodman, Alan Hunter, JJ Jackson and Martha Quinn better known as the original MTV "Video Jockeys."

The new book "VJ The Unplugged Adventures Of MTV's First Wave" lets the people who invented the format tell their story.  With the help of co-author Gavin Edwards, the book is entirely comprised of first person interviews by all the surviving VJs (JJ Jackson passed away in 2004).

Every single juicy details is covered... salaries, drugs, hating and dating.  The VJ's do not hold back when discussing the greatest job they have ever had.

"VJ The Unplugged Adventures Of MTV's First Wave" is a must read for anyone who grew up in the MTV heyday but I'm not sure how people who have never seen MTV the way it was meant to be seen would relate to these behind the scenes stories.

When the VJs talk about the sparse sets and the lack of scripts, researchers or tele-prompters it sounds like a nightmare in the age of computers, cell phones and Google.  But to them it was just business as usual gorilla style television at its best. Just turn the camera on and improvise until it was time to throw to the next Loverboy video.

For the under 30 readers I recommend checking out some YouTube clips before you crack the spine of VJ The Unplugged Adventures Of MTV's First Wave."  People over 40 can just dive right into this 336 page time capsule and remember how great MTV was before teen moms, jackasses and New Jersey douchebags fucked up the whole network.

Drumroll please... 10 out of 10 drumsticks!!!

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DVD Review - "Adventure Time: The Complete Second Season"

"Adventure Time: The Complete Second Season" hits stores this week!

Currently in its 5th season "Adventure Time" continues to be the show to watch for kids AND their parents. Youngsters will enjoy the crazy inhabitants of the "Land Of Ooo" while grown-ups will enjoy the almost over their kid's heads subversive humor.

"Adventure Time" was created by Pendleton Ward (who also wrote the opening theme song) and offers some of the most original characters ever to grace the animated universe including heroes: Finn & Jake the dog, Villains: Ice King and Princesses: Lumpy Space & Bubblegum.

Season 2 offers 26 episodes including fan favorites like "It Came From Nightoshpere," "Mortal Folly" and "Mortal Recoil."

If you have never seen "Adventure Time" then this is your chance to catch up and join the coolest club on Earth and "Ooo."

Also available Season 1 and Season 2 on Blu-Ray discs.

Drumroll please... 10 out of 10 Lady Rainicorns!!!

How about some clips to see what Adventure Time is all about?

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Blu-Ray Review: The Rolling Stones Crossfire Hurricane

"Crossfire Hurricane" is the most recent in a long list of documentaries about arguably the greatest rock and roll band of all-time... The Rolling Stones.

Directed by Brett Morgen (Chicago 10, The Kid Stays In The Picture) and told by the band members themselves via archival interviews from Jagger, Richards, Watts, Wyman, Wood and Taylor.  "Crossfire Hurricane" offers the viewer a look behind the curtain at what it was like to be a Rolling Stone from their humble beginnings in 1962 through 1981.

We get the usual telling of The Rolling Stones history...

Formation of the band, Brian Jones' dies, Mick Taylor joins, "Exile On Main Street" is recorded etc, etc etc.  The only part of the film that feels fresh to me is the section of the film that covers the band's ill fated free concert at Altamont Speedway.

The footage shown is some of the most claustrophobic I have ever seen including a shot of Mick Jagger exiting a helicopter and immediately getting punched in the face. Watching the Altamont sequence really puts the viewer right into the danger that the band and audience must have felt and is definitely a highlight of the film.

Brett Morgen ends the film in the year 1981 even though there is still a whopping 32 years of Rolling Stones history to come.  Ronnie Wood joining the band feels rushed especially when he has held the 2nd guitarist spot fives times longer than Jones or Taylor.

There's also no talk of the band almost breaking up in 1986, no talk of Bill Wyman's retirement and no 40th anniversary coverage.  Instead the documentary just kind of ends.

Much of "Crossfire Hurricane" is very good but because of the time frame it omits the film feels incomplete and can definitely not be considered as the definitive documentary on The Rolling Stones.

Drumroll please... 7 out of 10 tongues!!!

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WINNERS ANNOUNCED: Miyazaki Blu-Ray + DVD Combo Packs Giveaway

Anime Fans!  Here's your chance to win a copy of Hayo Miyazaki's acclaimed films: "My Neighbor Totoro" or "Howl's Moving Castle."

All you need to do is answer the following question:

What mythical animal does Haku turn into in the movie "Spirited Away?"

E-mail your correct answers plus your complete mailing address and movie preference to:  pat@popculturebeast.com

All correct answers will be entered into a random drawing.  2 winners will be selected and each will win one of these great films.

Thanks and good luck!

The WINNERS are...

"My Neighbor Totoro" - Max Arbuckle of Dover, New Hampshire

"Howl's Moving Castle" - Joe Cuffe of Roseville, CA

Thanks to all who participated.

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PCB Food Review: Safeway Select Mushroom and Onions Tomato Sauce

Wait, what? Is this a review of tomato sauce? In a jar?!

Yes, yes it is.

Why, oh why would I put myself out on a limb for store brand tomato sauce in a jar, especially since I have been known, from time to time, to make some pretty decent sauces from scratch. First off, because I'm lazy, so I actually use canned and jarred sauces fairly often, and second, because this fairly straightforward product is surprisingly good, and I feel like quality should be acknowledged, wherever it can be found.

This sauce is simple. The ingredients are tomato puree, diced tomatoes, tomato paste, mushrooms, water, onions, EVOO, salt, and spices. Note the lack of high fructose corn syrup, or in fact any added sugars. I do wish they would call out the spices, because I've been reading how some spices are good for your health, plus the flavor is really actually quite nice, which just a touch of heat.

Still, this is a surprisingly good sauce, and while not the cheapest (in my store, a canned 24 oz sauce is $.99-$1.49, cheap Ragu is around $1.99, Newman's is $3.89 - $4.99), at about $2.49 it's still a decent value. Sure, I could probably make my own for less, but then I'd have to do all of that work, and I don't always have the time.

Safeway Select Mushroom and Onion Pasta Sauce

8 out of 10 tomatoes

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PCB Retro Review: Bus Stop (1956)

by Eliot Hochberg

Because I'm going to be training to do improvised William Inge plays, I thought I'd get a jump on things and watch some of the films based on his work. Turns out they're very difficult to find on Netflix instant; only one was available that I could find, Bus Stop from 1956.

Starring Marilyn Monroe and Don Murray, it was directed by Joshua Logan with a screenplay by George Axelrod. And boy, did they do a bunch of writing. You see, the original play was set completely in the bus stop referenced by the title. A bunch of travelers are stuck overnight due to a snow storm, and we see blossoming love between the driver and the bus stop owner, a professor trying to impress another passenger, and the main conflict between Bo and Cherie. See, Bo has convinced (maybe even kidnapped) Cherie to come from the big city to marry him and move to his ranch. At first, she wants nothing of it, but then is convinced that maybe he can be the man she needs.

That's a fine story, but this isn't a review of the play.

In the film, we really focus on Bo and Cherie, and see what happens before they get to the bus stop. Bo is 21, on his way to his first big rodeo, where he believes, rightly as it turns out, that he will win every contest he enters. Before he gets there with his pal and father figure Virgil, Virgil lets Bo know it's time he starts thinking about getting himself a girl. This awakens a sleeping giant... future abuser. Bo is the kind of man who just takes what he wants, except up until now, all he wanted was to run his ranch (that he presumably inherited, perhaps I missed that, but it seems it was never made clear). He decides that he will know his "angel" when he sees her, and she'll be the one for him.

On the way to Phoenix, AZ and in the city proper, Bo sees plenty of girls, but none of them are his angel until he meets Cherie, an attractive, if lacking in talent, singer in the local club. She's being used by the owner to get drink money out of patrons; in fact, Virgil buys her a bunch of drinks at full price that turn out to be tea and not whisky. Cherie, for her part, isn't really smart enough to know any better or fight for herself. But she does have a dream: to get to Hollywood.



When Bo sees her singing, or at least her version of singing, he knows she's the one for him, and at first, his brashness is attractive to Cherie. Bo has his first kiss with her; she is much more experienced, but it seems clear that experience wasn't really voluntary in the past, or at least she didn't really have any desire to be kissed except for perhaps one boy oh so long ago.



Well, Bo has decided, Cherie will be his wife (who he keeps calling "Cherry"), and she'll move to his Montana ranch. But Cherie wants nothing of it. Unfortunately, she doesn't know how to express it, at least not in a way Bo understands, even after Bo bursts into her apartment without permission the next morning, coerces her to watching the rodeo parade, and into watching him from the stands as he wins event after event. She is not impressed, and when she discovers that she shouldn't have signed a marriage license with him because that means she is agreeing to get married, she runs across the rodeo stadium, right through the middle of one of Bo's events, just to get away from him.



Eventually, she just barely gets away from Bo to run away to the bus station in Phoenix for a trip to L.A. Bo discovers her while he is getting on the bus to Montana, and grabs her and KIDNAPS HER. Against her will, she is on the bus to Montana. Kidnapped. Against her will.

They then stop at the Bus Stop of the title, and we begin where the play starts. Only now, she really is convincingly kidnapped, and Virgil is pretty much on board with it, despite some weak protests. Cherie hopes that getting off at the stop and hiding while Bo is asleep on the bus will offer her an escape, but instead the bus is snowed in and they have to stay overnight. Bo discovers what Cherie is trying to do, and the bus driver discovers what Bo has done, and they get into a fight in which the driver thankfully bests Bo. For the record, Virgil does start the fight with one punch, then tags the bus driver in. Bo then concedes that's he's done the wrong thing, and eventually apologizes to everyone in the bus stop the next morning, including Cherie.

Now, supposedly, this apology is something that Cherie has always been looking for: respect. Therefore, her attraction to Bo plus his sincere apology wins her over, and she decides to marry him anyway. There's even a moment where Virgil decides he's not going back to Montana, and Bo is going to force him, but he listens to Cherie when she tells him you can't force people to do what you want. We're supposed to see that as Bo realizing that Cherie is going to be his wife and he has to listen to her, and that he's learning a lesson.


But I don't see it that way. Sure, the character of Bo is sincere when he apologizes, but he doesn't really want to. It takes so much just to get him to do so, and he immediately forgets when Virgil decides to leave. He just doesn't understand. Plus, Cherie was convinced that she didn't want to go with this man, and yet changes her mind and gives up her dreams to go to Hollywood.

There's an implied happy ending here, but instead, I visualize her going to the ranch, hating it, and wanting to leave, but Bo keeping her there. Why? Because although Bo apologizes, he never really learns the lesson of allowing people to do what they want. Sure, Virgil leaves, and Bo is broken up about it. But that's different from wanting a woman to be your wife. Bo is still used to getting what he wants, and it isn't a far leap to see him not wanting to lose Cherie, too. As long as she stays, things will be fine, but it's just too fast and too easy. And without Virgil there to keep him in some kind of check (which he barely did before), who knows how far Bo is likely to go?

What's more, this is another of these stories that suggest that as long as a woman is at least a little attracted to you, if you're persistant, she'll come around. Even if you kidnap her against her will.

Ok, there aren't that many of those kinds of stories that include kidnapping. But stalking, certainly, and Bo does plenty of that, too.

Overall, then, while this story may ring of some kind of truth of real life, it certainly isn't a feel good happy ending story.

Bus Stop
Netflix Instant

5 out of 10 roped calves

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