Tuesday, January 3, 2017

Remembering J.R.R. TOLKIEN on his birthday (links)


 
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE (3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.

One of the most influential writers ever, I still have my complete Lord Of The Rings/Hobbit book set from 35+ years ago.  Do yourself a favor and read about this fascinating man: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._R._R._Tolkien















source: wikipedia

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Monday, January 2, 2017

My Favorite Albums of 2016 (video)

#rockfile
Since the mid 80's, I've had to listen to and evaluate music for a living. Through this process and my constant search for new music to satisfy my personal cravings, I hear most rock, prog and metal releases every year. Some instantly get mentally marked for airplay, others go into my personal files for later listening. Much like radio charts, these are not just based on opinion but are what I actually listened to in my spare time during the past year.

Here are my favorite albums released in 2016:

Haken - Affinity
Headspace - All That You Fear Is Gone
Steven Wilson - 4 1/2
Gemini Syndrome - Memento Mori
Fates Warning - Theories Of flight
DGM - The Passage
Kansas - The Prelude Implicit
Karmakanic - DOT
Big Big Train - Folklore
Frost* - Falling Satellites
Opeth - Sorceress
The Mute Gods - Do Nothing till You Hear From Me
Metallica - Hardwired... To Self-Destruct
Avenged Sevenfold - The Stage
The Devin Townsend Project - Transcendence
Highly Suspect - The Boy Who Died Wolf
Kyng - Breathe In The Water
Lucid Fly - Building Castles In Air
Katatonia - The Fall Of Hearts
Evergrey - The Storm Within
RavenEye - Nova
Circa - Valley Of The Windmill
Twelve Foot Ninja - Outlier
Cosmograf - The Unreasonable Silence
The Winery Dogs - Hot Streak
The Reticent - On The Eve Of Goodbye
Korn - The Serenity Of Suffering
Dream Theater - The Astonishing
Tiles - Pretending 2 Run
Red Eleven - Collect Your Scars

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