Sad news to start the weekend on as Quiet Riot drummer Frankie Banali has succumbed to pancreatic cancer at age 68.
The following statement has been released from Frankie’s family:
Frankie was diagnosed with stage IV pancreatic cancer on April 17, 2019 and given six months to live. He put up an inspiringly brave and courageous 16-month battle to the end and continued playing live as long as he could. Standard chemotherapy stopped working and a series of strokes made the continuation on a clinical trial impossible. He ultimately lost the fight at 7:18 p.m. on August 20 in Los Angeles surrounded by his wife and daughter
Frankie is survived by his devoted wife Regina, loving daughter Ashley, many dear friends, dedicated fans, and a menagerie of rescue animals, all of whom are family. He was a longtime advocate for animal rescue, a spokesperson for the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, and a sponsor of Children International. Donations in his name are encouraged for Fixnation.org, Aspca.org, Pancan.org, or Children.org. His wish for everyone is that you be your own health advocate for early detection so you may live long and rescue many animals.
Funeral plans will be announced at a later date.
Back when Quiet Riot released their 2006 effort – Rehab (their last with the legendary Kevin DuBrow) – Frankie reached out to both myself and Tony thanking us for our glowing review of the album. During that time we struck up a friendship with Frankie, when Kevin tragically passed away in November of 2007 both Tony and I felt the need to touch base with Frankie sending our condolences and Frankie got back to us right away thanking us for the kind words and thoughts as he was absolutely devastated having lost one of his best friends. With the sad news of Frankie’s passing after a courageous battle with cancer we know that he is now up in the great beyond rocking out with his friend once more as well as so many other legends no longer with us. Rest In Peace Frankie.
Emma Blackery – The Making Of “Wolves” Music Video
Emma Blackery, I’ve written about her in the past when it comes to her music. Not much of a secret I’ve enjoyed most of the material she has released in her music career, most recently the album Villians. But that was 2018.
As of late 2019 Emma was making references on her social media channels pointing out that new music was on the way. A behind the scenes “studio vlog” ended up on her YouTube channel along with other snippets on her instagram account.
Which leads us to April 3rd, 2020…..
Emma Blackery – Wolves Music Video – YouTube
Today is the day we get to take the wrapper off “Wolves”. This is the first taste the public will receive on the musical direction she will be taking with her upcoming EP entitled “My Arms Are Open”. “Wolves” doesn’t disappoint one bit. An extremely personal journey song that showcases Emma’s vocal abilities to a T. A wide range of haunting background effects and catchy lyrics allow the listener to be drawn in.
Sometimes you need to stop, look around, and evaluate what has been accomplished and who is around you. No matter if a path has been set out or not, things can be changed even if it means comforting it all head on. Not every journey is an easy one and in the end you’ll be better off.
And it is clear Emma has taken the time to evaluate where she wants to go next. “Wolves” is nothing like she has done before, which is absolutely a good thing! Everyone needs to grow as a person and for her as an artist. I highly suggest you check out Emma’s new song “Wolves” available now on Spotify and Apple Music. As always I am looking forward to hearing more from Emma. She continues to craft beautiful material from her life and with “Wolves” she tiptoes on the edge of heartache and happiness.
My Arms Are Open – EP
Tracklist:
Wolves
Plot Holes
History Of Touches (Demo)
Forever
The EP is available for preorder with a release date of May 15th, 2020.
Huey Lewis was on Jimmy Kimmel Live to talk about his life and music. With the release of Weather today it marks a significant milestone for HLN. It has been ten (10) years since the release of Soulsville, ten (10) years! Boy, it feels like just yesterday we were awaiting that release.
Knowing that Huey has had some set backs with his hearing it came as no surprise that Weather would be a short release, being only seven (7) tracks long. But don’t let that stop you from listening to what is most definitely one of the best releases HLN has done in their career.
Her Love Is Killin’ Me music video is chalked full of special guests. Only Huey Lewis could pull off something like this! The new album has some many amazing songs that would be perfect for the band to perform live.
One can only hope his hearing does come back to where he is able to perform live again. After all, Huey said the next album would be called “Business”…. oh so fitting…
The News.. Sports… and Weather…..
Thanks for the music HLN, truly a band for the ages.
You can purchase Weather (CD) in stores today! (LP will be released within the next two (2) weeks.)
October 5, 2018 saw the third solo studio album released by Steve Perry. His first official solo album release in 24 years, following 1994’s For the Love of Strange Medicine. Of course Steve would be part of the album release Trial By Fire in 1996 during an extremely short Journey reunion. Following that up in 1998 with a few solo “film” tunes on the soundtrack for Quest for Camelot.
Honestly if you followed Steve like a hawk he was still dabbling in and out of music studios working with other musicians in the 2000’s. Granted none of the material was released on his own solo albums or remasters. These tracks would be on multiple upcoming artists. He contributed his vocals to the backgrounds mostly.
So that’s the extremely short version of Steve Perry’s history from 1994 – 2000’s… However, clearly the biggest news was that of his August 14th, 2018 release of No Erasin’. This would be the first single to be released from Traces.
Alright…so after a few singles and videos posted online. October 5th, 2018 was here. Jere and myself had been tipped off for years about Steve working with random artists so a full studio album to us just seemed like it was absolutely possible. With remasters in the works it all made a lot of sense! Ok, so we had to wait till 2018 but here it came!
Traces to me is the heartbreaking album that made the most sense for Steve to release. It is nothing short of a heartache and dark undertones. Are there some lights on at the end of the tunnel? No doubt about it! Steve had some wonderful twists and play on words added to Traces to give the listener a positive movement as well. But again the sadness is there and if you have ever lost anyone in your life this album brings a lot of those feelings back full circle.
I don’t think I’ve ever heard a more honest album then that of Traces. And yes I’m an extreme Steve Perry fanboy… so lets just get that reminder out there. I just couldn’t help but get caught up in the pallet of words used. Some wanted more rock.. others love the ballads. Does everyone want a few tracks like Sun Shines Gray? Umm.. yes! But you have got to remember this album wasn’t about one specific genre of music. It was in fact a pallet of emotions put together to give you the sense of where Steve was and how he’s trying to climb back out of the darkness. This is not the easiest thing to do. And again if you’ve personally lost someone in your life then you can easily relate. Those who have not will and have blown off this album has a satire or shadow of what was one of the greatest vocalists in rock history. In my opinion.. people who “don’t understand” this album are not looking deep enough. There’s so much more than just the lyrics. There’s the soft stillness and rough edges as if a piece of paper had been torn a part several times. As a whole it is paper.. torn a part it’s still paper.. but it takes time to mend things back together. And sometimes things don’t always come back.
As I sit in my office chair and listen to Traces on LP from start to finish at 1:00am one year after it was originally released I still believe this is the most beautiful album Steve has released in his career. From the straight forward opener of No Erasin’ to the devastating Most of All and making the turn to Sun Shines Gray you as the listener have been guided. You can’t erase the past..you can always remember your “most of all” and even in the darkness the Sun Shines Gray. It may be bleak but there are still moments of happiness out there in life. And as Steve ends the album with some additional uplifting ballads, you know he’s going to be as good as he possibly can be in his life. One year later.. this album still speaks volumes to me about how fragile life is and how it changes in a blink of an eye.
Is this album autobiographical? I would say without question these songs come straight from Steve’s soul. So for those who continue to wait for Steve to do a live show… remember.. it could happen.. but it may not.. and that is ok. After all this wasn’t about a comeback. This wasn’t about a final curtain call. This was about sharing a loss, going through a grieving process and hopefully in the end finding some sort of peace with the decisions made.. in the past.. in the present.. and in the future.
