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LITA FORD – Living Like A Runaway
An unexpected e-mail popped up in my e-mail today.
It was from Playground Records, old business-friend Suzan who I’ve actually known since we were just teenagers back in the early nineties and bumped into eachother at every gig from Skid Row to Mr Big. :)
There was a link to the new Lita-album with a short message that said: “Enjoy!”
Man, I so wished that I could have left the office right away to just go home and BLAST it!
I couldn’t get home fast enough, and I have to admit that I’ve still got my shoes on – and bag, coat and everything else in a nice trail on the floor all the way from the hall to the computer…!
I clicked on the link to the streaming-page and turned it up to eleven.
The first three tracks left me disappointed. I mean, eventhough I love Lita’s eighties albums the most (Lita, Dangerous Curves and Stiletto), I do realize that she’s not going to sound like that again.
Especially not now, it’s not her thing to be a nostalgia-trip. She wasn’t on Wicked Wonderland and she certainly isn’t on Living Like A Runaway.
But thank GOD – after the three first less impressive songs, it totally turns around. With the title track Living Like A Runaway she delivers a great melodic song that’s not just tasteful in terms of music/melody but most definitely also lyricwise.
Quote from the bio:
“There have been days in my life when I ran away, when I was unhappy and had to get out of my previous life,” LITA confesses. “It‘s like walking through fire and being able to come through the other side unscathed.”
And it continues like that. Vocally – she’s still got it. She says that her aim with this album was to give people courage and inspire, and she does that by opening up and being very personal in her lyrics. The more personal, the more people can relate and make it their own. I for one, love it.
It’s a very versitile album. It spans over several areas of rock – traditional rock, ballads, metal, even industrial, it’s a smorgasbord of styles, yet they fit together perfectly as it’s an indirect concept album with a clear goal.
Nikki Sixx contributed to the album with the song A Song To Slit Your Wrists By, a cool, heavy tune with MUCHO attitude! :)
If you get the Limited Edition digipak, you’ll also get the bonus song Bad Neighborhood, where no other than Whitesnake-guitarist Doug Aldrich provided the riffs and the chorus melody.
When Lita sings a ballad, she does it with such passion, it always moves me – and she delivers the ballad Mother straight from her heart. Beautiful.
If you’re looking for heavy guitars, hell man, you GOT it…! Lita is definitely not getting older and softer, she’s getting rougher and tougher, as befits the one and only, ultimate true metal-goddess that she is!
LITA FORD “Living Like A Runaway”
Release Date Europe: June 18th, 2012
Release Date Germany: June 15th, 2012
Release Date US/Canada: June 19th, 2012
LITA BACK IN THE BEST OLD DAYS………:
You don’t have to be stupid to rock!
Rockers have often been brushed off as stupid airheads with nothing in their heads but chicks and parties. You know – bad vocabulary, bad choices, not much to contribute with. Kind of like these guys:
But after almost 25 years in the business, interviewing more bands and artists than I can even remember, it hit me that I’ve rarely thought of anyone as “stupid”. Some have formal educations, some are street smart, and some are just naturally intelligent. You don’t always have to be a rocket scientist to be smart. Very few have been total airheads actually.
Then I started digging into it. You’d be surprised how many rockers you’ll find that have fancy titles and impressive degrees to brag with.
Brian May (Queen) for instance… PhD in astrophysics from Imperial College in London. He began working on it 30 years prior to completing it in 2007, but got sidetracked when Queen hit the big-time. Apparently its never too late to finish what you started…!
Offspring’s Dexter Holland: He has a Bachelor’s degree in Biology and a Master’s degree in Molecular Biology, both from the University of Southern California.
Van Halen in Tampa – second and final part of the story
After passing out early (US time) on Friday evening, I woke up extremely early. It was maybe 5.40 AM, sunrise, quiet… But to my body, it was noon.
Gave me plenty of time to get dressed, write a blog, upload pics and stuff. Spent the most perfect afternoon in Clearwater (I even like that name, very “indian” – clear water…), which started at Starbucks – my “home” everywhere in the world!
Around 4 PM I headed down to Tampa. This time, I didn’t have any problems, and I was among the first ones to park because the parking house had opened only 5 minutes before. I’m so glad that I paid for that and got my ticket the day before! Made things SO much easier.
When I got out of the car I heard music playing, so I went to check what it was. A band was playing while people were waiting for the doors to open.
I went to find somewhere where I could grab a sandwich or something, cause you never know what time I would get out of there or when I would get my next meal. As I was walking around looking for a deli or something, this man with a funny hat handed me two stickers.
I don’t know whast he wanted really, but I did understand that he was from some kind of religious uhh, place, and wanted a donation. I told him I didn’t have any cash, I was from Sweden and just there for one day. He laughed: “Yeah, right! You have SUCH an accent!”
Wasn’t sure how to respond so I just said:
“Well okay…”.
“Stockholm”.
“And where do you live?”
“In Malmo, south of Sweden, near Copenhagen, Denmark…”.
It dawned on him that I wasn’t kidding.
“So, Eddie Van Halen is from there somewhere, right?”
“I don’t think so”.
“Well, Holland or something, that’s near Sweden isn’t it?”
Ya. Just around the corner…
When he realized I wasn’t going to contribute to his cause, he whipped the stickers out of my hand and went on his way to grab somebody else he could bother. Funny dude. :)
When the doors to Tampa Times Forum finally opened I went to find my seat. Not bad considering it was a regular prized ticket and not one of the zillion “VIP”-tickets (http://lita77777.posterous.com/van-halen-ticket-hell )
Kool & The Gang entered the stage and although I, and many others, had wondered what a band like that was doing on tour with VAN HALEN, they proved to be a great party-band that did their job well. They warmed up the crowd. Like it or not, we all know those old songs – “Celebration“, “Get Down On It” and whatever else was lined up on their musical menu.
Regardless my personal taste in music, I’ll give them credit for being incredible musicians. Great job. Maybe you need to be a sceptic sometimes because when you expect less than nothing, that’s when you get pleasantly surprised.
The arena kept filling up, people just kept coming in like ants, row after row, seat after seat… I don’t know if it was sold out, but if it wasn’t it must have been damn close.
Van Halen took the stage in an unexpected way – they just quietly WALKED RIGHT IN…! No flashy entrance, no light-effects or sound-effects…. Just “hey guys, we are here! Let’s do this!”
And off they went! My god. A thousand thoughts were rushing through my head. Eddie Van Halen – he’s lost weight, worked out, dressed cool but casual in black – and played like the one true classic guitar-master who has inspired an entire generation of guitarplayers.
David Lee Roth…. The embodiment of ENTERTAINER is STILL an entertainer. He’s in great shape, and although he can’t do the impressive jumps and kicks that he used to do in his early days, he’s still very fit, does a few high-kicks here and there and at some point in the show he also did a few splits to show off that he could still do it. I was thinking “Jesus man, you’re gonna break your hip or something!” But he got back up like a rubberman, smiling – always smiling.
David Lee Roth to me is so much more than just a singer. He is inspirational. I read his biography “Crazy From The Heat” years ago, which to this day is still one of my favorite rock’n’roll bios. He’s an adventurer and really lives his life to the fullest. He challenges himself, he gets the most out of his life and I just LOVE his attitude. Read it if you haven’t already:
Van Halen’s stage was simple. Not much laser and lights, no pyrotechnics or any of that stuff.
But it was magnificent – tasteful and very mighty with that simple big screen behind them that didn’t just project the band, but also provided some pretty cool mix/footage between different cameras put together onto one screen. It gave you the feeling of really being close no matter WHERE you were in the arena.
Also, kudos to their sound-guy, whoever he (or she) was. Fantastic sound! If you can make it sound like that, so that even people way in the back can hear everything crystal clear, every little detail, then you really deserve your paycheck. Thumbs up!
It was like being a kid again hearing all the classics – Panama, Hot For Teacher, Ain’t Talkin’ Bout Love, Euroption, Running With The Devil…. Oh MAN! If anyone asked me if it was worth going to Florida just for THAT, I would say… HELL YEAH!
You bet your ass it was worth it!
Diamond Dave sounded better than I remember him doing even back in 1999 on his solo tour. Eddie was enjoying himself and Alex was the powerhouse we all know, love and respect – impressing us all with his powerful, engergetic drumming.
Wolfie van Halen – not sure what to say there. He did his job, but he’s not in the same league as the big boys. He still has a lot to learn, maybe not musically but how to work a big stage. He did a good job, but he’s not the one you remember when you leave a Van Halen show.
I can’t really review this, because to me it was more of an emotional thing than a professional. It was really like stepping into a time machine and be taken back on a journey through time and space. All I can say is that there is a reason why Van Halen is one of the biggest, greatest and most popular bands on the planet – it’s because they are truly unique!
The music, the playfulness, humor and virtuosity is beyond most “regular” bands today. I hope they will make it to Europe soon so that everybody gets a chance to see this before the band decides to retire for good.
Here’s a good review from those who could review it “professionally” (that wasn’t my job this time):
http://www.vhnd.com/2012/04/15/tampa-van-halen-concert-reviews/
On the way back to my hotel, I made another doodoo – by driving through Tampa in the middle of the night, up on the highway and whatnot…without lights! I didn’t know, cause here in Sweden most cars have automatic lights. It’s cause you need to have lights on daytime as well, by law.
So, of course I didn’t think much of it. You follow the traffic, it’s not like you need lights unless you’re alone on a dark, deserted road somewhere…. When I stopped at the toll, a man behind me yelled for all he was worth: “YOUR LIGHTS ARE OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
Oooops.
I barely slept that night. Maybe an hour. Was packing, uploading videos from the show… It was around 6 AM when I left Clearwater to go to the airport and return the rental car. Beautiful morning. Palmtrees, sunrise, quiet…. amazing.
Had breakfast at TGI Friday’s at Tampa airport, then continued to the passport and security gates.
In the LONG line of people, I saw this man with a Van Halen tour t-shirt that I had seen people wearing yesterday. He saw mine too, and said: “So, what did you think of the show?”
I probably had a smile from ear to ear when I explained how it was totally worth the trip. He was from Michigan and was also on his way back home.
“I had the VIP package… we were allowed to attend the sound check, and there was a free bar and everything….” I asked how much he paid for the VIP-thing and he answered “Not much…about a thousand bucks….”. NOT MUCH?? :-) But he was a big fan, was 51, good job and had liked Van Halen since the early days, and also seen them several times throughout the years. He wanted to treat himself with something special this time – so to him it was worth the money.
The conversation ended when we finally reached the “security scanners” that look like something from Star Trek that’s gonna beam you up. After the usual piling of bags, laptops, liquids, jackets, shoes etcetera, I grabbed all my stuff and headed for the nearest bench so I could tie my shoes back on.
As I was walking towards one of those, I heard someone yelling behind me: “HEY!”
It was the guy. He was holding a guitarpick under my nose, from the sound check the day before. He put it in my hand. “This is for you. Safe travels!” He smiled and left.
My god. It may seem like a small gesture, but it just shows how the love for music ties people together everywhere. It was just such a sweet thing, I was really touched.
Spent many hours at Tampa Airport, but what I love about Tampa airport is that they have FREE Wi-Fi and it’s fast too. I don’t have to deal with the crap Boingo-WiFi that costs a fortune and never works (like I had to do in Detroit).
Everything went just fine this time, except for when I got to Amsterdam’s airport Schiphol (or the more appropriate Shithole….). I was checked in for a trip with KLM in the afternoon, but I had bought and booked another trip with SAS to get home earlier. But they had checked me in wrong in Tampa so… I needed to find a self-service kiosk OR somebody at the airport to help me PRINT my boarding pass.
THAT’s when the nightmare began! I RAN to one of the kiosks with my laptop open – cause I had the boarding pass on there as a pdf…. Didn’t work. I turned to the lady who was there to help passengers. She had ALL the time in the world, worked nice and SLOW while I was feeling the PANIC accelerate.
A free TIP to the lovely service people at Amsteram airport:
When someone has PANIC written all over their face, breathing like they just ran a marathon and has sweat dripping from all over, it’s a sign that THEY ARE IN A FUCKING HURRY!
How about at LEAST asking “Can I help you?” The first one was slow like an 80-year old, her colleague ignored me and decided to help some old indian dude who CUT the line (I was there FIRST, hello, am I invisible???).
She FINALLY gave me this look that said “What’s YOUR problem?” and answered, like I was a total idiot, “That’s not HERE – you need to go to gate T5, around the corner!”
I RAN to “around the corner”. Nothing there. Followed signs. No T5 anywhere. Grabbed 2 stewardesses who were just off their flight, asked them about T5. They started discussing is amongst themselves but didn’t know, I just ran off again, found the T5 eventually.
THEN they told me it wasn’t T5 but T3… Off running again, clock was ticking I had about 10 minutes to find somewhere to print the boarding pass and get to my gate!
They said T3 was through passcontrol and security. And of COURSE the person in front of me had to ask and tell his life story to the passport officer. Why couldn’t I just get behind someone who shows his passport, gets it back and leaves?!
Once through pass control – he hurried cause he saw my panicking face – I saw all these people in line for security… I just shouted “Are you all in a hurry…? My flight is in a few minutes!!”
They kind of smiled and said I could cut the line. Even the security people helped speed it up a bit thank god.
RAN to that fucking T3….. But couldn’t find it. So I stopped at an information booth. I looked like a crazy person I’m sure. The two ladies were trying to hide their giggles as I was cursing and swearing at every idiot I had encountered so far, and the excercise of the day that I hadn’t asked for after 9 hours on a plane…
I found T3 but there was a LONG line of people there. Forget it! NO WAY! What the F……..!?!?
Then I couldn’t find the GATE. C13. Oh yeah. Figures. C11, C12, C14….
WHERE THE FUCK IS C13???????????
I finally found the damn gate, battery on the laptop was about to die, I could barely breathe and I couldn’t stay in control anymore. Was too tired and too stressed out, I just burst into tears. BOOHOOO, I JUST NEED MY FREAKING BOARDING PAAAAASSS….!!!
The man behind the counter gave me my boarding pass. Finally. I could relax but I was so upset that I was sobbing all the way up on the plane. Life sucked.
And from THAT….straight to work when I got to Copenhagen. I just fixed my makeup a bit and took the bus out to the office.
So if you wonder why I haven’t been in the most productive mood this week, that’s why. :-)
But all this crap is part of the memories you have for life – it’s always funnier AFTERWADS, not while it’s happening.
Would I do it all over again? You bet your ass I would………..
Photos from all this – and David Lee Roth showing hiss ass,
is on the Facebook-page:
http://www.facebook.com/intherearviewmirror
In Florida – Van Halen up next!
In Tampa, Florida. It was a long and somewhat awful flight, I kept asking myself the whole way over why I had even decided to do this crazy weekend-trip 5000 miles over the Atlantic.
But it’s not all bad, the greatest thing about these trips are all the people you get to meet. Strangers, but always interesting in its own way. The tango-dancer at the bus stop when I was going to the train station, who was telling me about her tours all over the world, one of those energetic, smiling, positive people that you will remember.
The immigration officer in Detroit. He was shooting the usual questions that makes you feel like a criminal “What are you doing here??” – those kind of questions. I said I came to see a concert. “What concert?” “Van Halen, in Tampa...”. He immediately changed his expression and smiled, then said: “You’re probably going to kick my ass for saying this, but I actually always prefered Sammy Hagar“.
I probably had eyes as big as plates when I replied that Sammy is cool but as a solo artist. He then called another officer – “Hey Mike, get over here! Sammy or David Lee Roth?” The uniformed guy looked at him like he was nuts and replied “David Lee, of course!” I gave him thumbs up, said that THAT guy knows what he’s talking about!
Don’t ask me how, but there I was discussing Van Halen with two immigration officers who were clearly Halen-fans, but prefered different eras of the band. He almost forgot to take my fingerprints and all that but the best part was how I immediately got a different reception!
That same thing happened in Amsterdam too, where I boarded the flight to Detroit. “Good day ma’m, I’m security officer xxxxx and I need to ask you a few questions. What is the purpose of your trip to the United States?”
“I’m going to Tampa to see a concert” “Which concert?” he asked, as if he didn’t quite believe that somebody would go just for the weekend and travel such a long distance. “Van Halen“, I said. “Can you show me the ticket to this concert?” he asked.
I showed him the ticket and he smiled, excused himself and went to his supervisor. I heard him say something about Van Halen and they both sort of laughed, then he came back and asked: “Do you like Kool & The Gang too?” I said NOOO, god no. “Cause it says here that they are playing too“.
Anyway, I got all my papers back and a big smile that wished me a pleasant journey. It’s funny how music can change people’s state of mind. They go from scary professionals to teenagers that are listening to and playing air-guitar to “Eruption“…!
The guy at the Tampa Bay Times Forum box office looked at my credit card and drivers license, and realized I was from Sweden. “So how long will you be here for?” he asked. “Just for the show… I’m going back on Sunday”, I said. Once again, his expression was priceless. “Well, you’ve got a good seat for sure!” and continued: “We’re all trying to figure out what they were thinking when they booked Kool and the Gang to open for Van Halen but… I guess they know what they’re doing…”.
Last but not least, the lady at Sephora, at the mall in Clearwater. “Oooh, you’re from SWEDEN! I’ve got a cousin who’s from Norway in Sweden!” Ah yes – that place. Norway… in Sweden. ;)
She kept following me around the store telling me her life story, laughing at my replies saying I was so funny – I was saved by another annoyed customer who yelled from the other side of the shelf: “EXCUSE ME! DO YOU WORK HERE OR WHAT??”
I quickly walked out of there. My gosh.
Those were the good parts of the story. Let’s not mention sleeping all night in a deserted airport or being stuck with an obese man on the 8 hour flight to Detroit who was farting rotten eggs and needed his own seat and half of mine…. So I was glued against the window all the way to the States…
[Deserted Copenhagen airport around 1.30 AM…]
Not to mention the ordeal with the boarding passes before I left and at every single airport on my way over…! Once again, dear sister and friend Mari, sorry for my awful temper, and thank you for helping out! :)
When I finally got to Tampa, I was hungry, tired, looked like shit, but had to go and pick up my rental car. So far so good, but the GPS that I had just updated a few days before, went bezerk. I was lucky to find the Times Forum to pick up my ticket.
But before that I created a traffic-chaos in downtown Tampa. Apparently people don’t bother with red lights here in Florida. I stopped at a red light to do a left turn. The arrow was pointing nice and red and I was waiting for it to turn green. Cars behind me started honking, passing me with middle fingers up in the air. WTF?!?!
Of course it didn’t help that this Swedish blonde with her fucked up GPS was driving around in rush hour on a Friday. It certainly WAS Friday 13th in every aspect!
Then I took off to find my hotel. Nice and cheap, great reviews, didn’t look like it was too far away… Right. Took me almost an hour to get there. I’m great at finding hotels in the middle of nowhere.
A few years ago I had booked this motel, also cheap and it looked nice on the pics on booking.com but when Jon Oliva’s keyboard-player John Zahner came to pick me up to show me the town, he immediately went: “WHAT are you doing in THIS part of town?”. It was a local version of Harlem, which of couse explained a lot…
I’m not in “Harlem” this time, looks nice and civilised but my hotel-choices when visiting Florida leaves a lot to be desired.
Anyhoo – local time is 7 am and I’ve been up since 6. It’s lunch time back home and I’m still on European time. By the time I get back there I’ll be on US time, which will screw up the rest of the week but that’s ok. I’m used to it. :)
It was cool walking around the mall yesterday but it sucks I can’t buy anything, I’m travelling with a carry-on, so…nothing fits in there.
A few more hours until the show. I’ll be back.. :-)
Metal is dead
You know how you sometimes find that special place on the beach, the perfect spot that you don’t want anyone else to find…? Or if you find a great place – anywhere, that makes you feel good, your own discovery that is yours, and yours only – that you will protect and keep a secret or maybe share with just your closest friends…?
That’s what metal has been to me my whole life. I can’t say that I chose it – it chose me. It was like an epiphany, a religious experience – and because metal wasn’t widely accepted, I felt like I was a part of a small, secret club or something.
It wasn’t on the radio, it wasn’t in the papers, it was just this… underground, rebellious movement in the eyes of a teenager, especially a female teenager, as there were very few female role models in metal in the very early eighties.
Metal was anti-establishment. It was a big fuck-you middle finger in the face of everything that was “adult” or “responsible”…. Parents hated it, religious groups hated it, polititians hated it, media ignored it (except for when Ozzy bit the head of a bat or Alice Cooper decapitated himself onstage or W.A.S.P got banned by PMRC for their lovely song “I Fuck Like A Beast“).
THAT is what metal has been to me, always. A freedom and an escape from everything that you’re supposed to be.
In a way I guess I don’t want to grow up. Metal has been that escape from everything that had to do with normality. But now, I’m beginning to wonder what the hell is happening. Metal is dying.
Two days ago I stayed up all night, watching the streaming online version of ABC’s “Dancing with the stars”. Kiss and Steel Panther had been announced as guests. I had to see what the deal was. I would have been better off if I had never seen that.
My god, what a sad sight. Kiss has never really been “rock’n’roll” in the “rebellious”sense, they would sell their own mother if they could make a buck or two, and that’s nothing new. Still it was disturbing somehow to see them on this family show, this absolutely squeaky clean family entertainment.… It made me sick watching people dancing freaking BALLET to Twisted Sister…! Oh my god, it was so…gay! And I don’t mean that in a homophobic sort of way, but you know what I mean. It was just so fucking WRONG!
Not only that, but all those hard rock anthems had been “cleaned up” and were sung by some…session singers, people who are as far from metal as you can possibly get.
I guess it’s stupid, but it actually made me sad to witness it. To me, this is the armageddon of metal. I see it everywhere. Judas Priest on American Idol – the show that kills music. Call it whatever you want but it doesn’t produce any new music. You have people singing covers and trying to sound like the real deal, like their idols who got famous the old-fashioned way, by working their asses off.
It’s really just a money-making show that’s looking for a product to sell. That means the “product” must be G-rated. No damn TRUE rock’n’roll here! It’s family entertainment for gods sakes.
I’ve realized that by talking to the Croatian guy, the rocker dude who I first saw on “Idol”. His label still hasn’t released any of his music, because he’s a rocker – and rock doesn’t appeal to the little girlies who are the ones buying records. Maybe – if you make it TRENDY. Like if you give Bret Michaels a dating-show for instance…
So, Priest appeared on AI, sold their souls to the devil if you ask me, Kiss on Dancing with the stars, Alice Cooper won’t be performing at any REAL rock-festivals in Sweden this summer, but he WILL be playing at Liseberg…! Liseberg is a family amusement-park! The man who got himself banned everywhere he went back in the day, who was arrested and feared by your parents and your teacher – is now a family entertainer, like a rock-Liberace or something.
And AC/DC sold their music to WalMart, the very same retail corporation that wouldn’t sell albums that the PMRC had labelled with “Parental Advisory”-stickers!
WTF?!?!
Yeah, I’m an idealist, I think it’s sad to watch the death of metal as we know it. It’s not rebellious anymore, it’s not anti-establishment and it’s not my “private island” anymore – or anyone else’s.
Hard rock is business now. You will hear the dorks on Glee singing some washed-up version of an old Pat Benatar-song or something and you will find the kind of r’n’r outfits that you had to look everywhere to find (specialized stores) – at H & M or any other major store. It’s sellable now. Metal sells – and everybody’s buying.
No more underground movement, no more middle fingers… no more rebellion. Metal is now Dancing With The Stars, American Idol, family amusement parks and WalMart. Guess maybe it’s time for me to grow up too…
IN THE REARVIEW MIRROR 