2014

Dave Wakeling’s English Beat “For Crying Out Loud” Album Coming Soon; 2015 Live Concert Dates, Photos, & Preview

January 8, 2015 by Jason DeBord Leave a Comment

I recently had an opportunity to see The English Beat at Ace of Spades in Sacramento, for my first concert of the year (on my birthday no less!). Unfortunately, with all of the cold and flu going around, after shooting the first three songs of their set, I had to bail as my fiancée was under the weather and burning up with fever. Rather than waste the opportunity to talk about one of the best live bands playing today, I thought I would put up this preview for what they have coming in 2015, with a list of upcoming concerts, a little bit of information about For Crying Out Loud – the new album due early this year – as well as share a few photos taken at the show last week. Hopefully I’ll have an opportunity to attend another one of their shows soon, and put up a proper feature about it. [Read more…]

The Rock Subculture Journal 2014 Year In Review (Top 10 Live Music Concerts, Top 10 Albums, Top 100 Songs, and more…)

January 4, 2015 by Jason DeBord Leave a Comment

As with my 2012 and 2013 Year in Review features, it’s always a challenge to reflect back on a year of music and summarize the highlights. Honestly, I don’t know if I will have have a year that beats 2013, which was an incredible one for me with a lot of travel as well. This year, I ended up attending 60-something shows, most with two or more artists, so hundreds of different sets of incredible talent and music. As such, I feel it is important to highlight the best of the best of the best, in an attempt to celebrate the year that was. You can also check out my Top 100 Concert Photos of 2014 in that separate article.

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Jason DeBord’s Top 100 Concert Photos of the Year: The Rock Subculture Journal 2014 Year In Review

January 1, 2015 by Jason DeBord Leave a Comment

This is the first of my 2014 “Year In Review” articles. As with my articles in 2013 and 2012, I reviewed a sampling of my concert photos from 2014 and compiled some of my favorites and stopped when I hit 100 photos in total. Please also check out my companion 2014 Year in Review article, which covers my Top 10 Albums, Top 10 Songs, Top 10 Concerts and more. [Read more…]

Reignwolf at The Independent | San Francisco, California | 12/26/2014 (Concert Review + Photos)

December 28, 2014 by Jason DeBord Leave a Comment

“All I was trying to say was, that it means a lot to us the day after Christmas that San Francisco shows up… I’m serious; thanks so very much for that… and I say like this… ‘Are You Satisfied?‘…” Jordan Cook, AKA Reignwolf, standing on the kick drum that he dropped into the audience at sold out show at The Independent, before throwing down with his signature anthem that somehow showcases what he is all about – authentic rock and roll. I first saw Reignwolf opening for the Pixies in Los Angeles in 2013, and I have been raving about him since, to anyone who will listen. It’s been more than a year, but Friday night in San Francisco I finally got to witness him and his band do their own headlining show, and it was even better than I imagined (and I went in expecting it to be one of the best shows of the year). The man has such gifts, and taps into them with ease. The only other artist I’ve seen live that has that same mix of innate improvisational ability and also has more music in him than can maybe come out through the traditional instruments of rock and roll is Prince. Since seeing Reignwolf more than a year ago, I’ve been certain that he is destined to be one of our generation’s top rock stars, and I am as sure of that then ever after his show this weekend. It’s really just a matter of how soon he debuts a full album and how long it will take the rest of the world to catch up to this brilliant talent. Needless to say, the concert was phenomenal, and those who didn’t make it out the day after Christmas maybe missed the greatest gift of all.

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Berlin Featuring Terri Nunn at The Canyon Club | Agoura Hills, California | 12/5/2014 (Concert Review + Photos)

December 9, 2014 by Jason DeBord Leave a Comment

“You’ve excited me so much I’ve lost my voice all of a sudden…” Terri Nunn in her intro to “Take My Breath Away”, Berlin’s Academy Award and Golden Globe winning 1986 song. Playing to somewhat of a hometown crowd at The Canyon Club in Agoura Hills, the place was packed and the band changed things up a bit for Christmas, with a few festive classics fit in midway through their set. They’ve had a heavier tour schedule in 2014, in part to support their latest album, Animal. This marked the third time seeing Berlin in 2014, having seen their shows at Saint Rocke in Hermosa Beach in January and at City Winery Napa in August. As per usual, they put on an incredible show with a mix of songs from old and new, including my two favorites, “Metro” and “Will I Ever Understand You”. Hopefully I’ll have a chance to see them just as much in 2015, and they are one of my highest recommended live acts to check out.

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Live Auction Events Calendar: Original Music/Rock/Pop Stage & Studio Used Entertainment & Pop Culture Memorabilia

November 30, 2014 by Jason DeBord Leave a Comment

Below is the latest updated list of memorabilia for entertainment memorabilia, including rock and pop music stage and studio used equipment and costumes, as well as other entertainment memorabilia. Please contact me if you are aware of any coming events of interest to collectors. Please also note that I update changes/additions to the calendar until the next update, in order to maintain as up to date as possible. [Read more…]

Fleetwood Mac “On With The Show Tour” at Sleep Train Arena | Sacramento, California | 11/24/2014 (Concert Review + Photos)

November 25, 2014 by Jason DeBord 1 Comment

“I walked out of there with not much, except a feeling in my heart that it was all going to work. And the reason that I tell you this story, is that I want you to know that if you have a dream, and you believe in yourself, and you believe something that you really want, don’t let anybody tell you that you can’t have it. Don’t ever let anybody get in your way, because you can have it, and we are living proof of that…” Optimistic words spoken by Stevie Nicks at the Sleep Train Arena in Sacramento last night, joined on stage by the core members of one of the best rock and roll groups of all time, Fleetwood Mac. I think we collectively need more optimism in the world today, but not just lofty words and sentiments, but used to power individuals to look to themselves and their own abilities and opportuities to make their dreams come true. Somehow, this collection of gifted artists – Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham, John McVie, Mick Fleetwood, and Christine McVie – all found one another back in the 70s and made music that has endured as classics to this day. I first saw Fleetwood Mac with their tour in 2013, and marked it as one of the best shows of the year. As that tour did not include Christine McVie, with her return on this year’s tour, I marked this show as my top “must see” concert of the year. It did not disappoint. All of the players sound like they are truly at the top of their game, and they seemed to love performing as much as the audience loved watching it. It was also a bit different than last year’s tour, with even higher production standards and maybe the best sound quality I’ve ever heard in a sports arena. It was truly an epic show, and Fleetwood Mac is one of those rare bands that can make playing to a large indoor arena work (I rarely go to such shows because they typically do not work on many levels). They really exceeded my expectations with their nearly three hour show, and I think the highlight for me was “Little Lies”, with Christine McVie’s beautiful voice and the overlapping chorus with Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham – a real showcase for the distinct character in each of their voices but how well they harmonize and blend together to such effect.

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Peter Hook & The Light Performing New Order’s “Low-Life” and “Brotherhood” (with Moby) at The Fonda Theatre | Hollywood, California | 11/22/2014 (Concert Review + Photos)

November 25, 2014 by Jason DeBord Leave a Comment

“And that’s how you play The Perfect Kiss!” An emphatic Peter Hook, currently touring as Peter Hook & The Light (formerly of Joy Division and New Order) – rock and roll’s greatest bass player – is apparently a skilled mind reader as well, as he pulled that quote right out of my head to shout back through his microphone after playing the best rendition of the classic song that I’d ever heard. Hooky and his band are in 2014 touring New Order’s third and fourth albums (Low-Life and Brotherhood, respectively) in their entirety, having done the same in 2013 with the first two (Movement and Power, Corruption & Lies). As an added bonus with each of these outings, they open for themselves as Slaves of Venues with dedicated Joy Division sets, which collectively makes for quite a substantive and lengthy set of shows each night. At The Fonda Theatre in Hollywood Saturday night, the dedicated fans in attendance were also treated to a surprise guest appearance on stage for the encore, with none other than Moby coming out to perform vocals for the first two songs of that set to close out the evening. All and all, with a show kicking off around 9:30 PM and going until 12:30 AM, it was three solid hours of celebration for fans of Joy Division and New Order. It was certainly one of those special shows were the venue, artist, and fans all clicked perfectly to make for a very memorable experience and a blazing hot and awesome show by a legendary artist and performer, who in my opinion is the heart and soul of New Order keeping the most authentic live performance of their music alive for old and new fans.

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Reignwolf Closes Out 2014 with Headlining West Coast Shows at End of December; Exclusive Never-Before-Published Concert Photos from 2013

November 17, 2014 by Jason DeBord Leave a Comment

Reignwolf won over the Rock Subculture Journal back in 2013, with a supporting slot with Pixies at the El Rey Theater (I then counted Reignwolf as my #1 Supporting Act for the year). I was blown away by Jordan Cook and his two bandmates and their performance on stage, and have been eagerly anticipating seeing a full set from them ever since. Having supported Black Sabbath for much of 2014, Reignwolf will be playing a handful of special shows to close out 2014, with appearances in San Francisco, Portland, Vancouver, and Seattle. If you are anywhere in the vicinity of the West Coast, I can’t recommend enough coming out to one or more of these shows. Reignwolf will become a huge phenomenon once their first full studio album hits the streets and the rest of the world catches up to this incredible artist. [Read more…]

Watch Original Prop Blog’s Exclusive Interviews with Colin Cantwell on Star Wars Prototypes/Concept Art in 1974/75, The Apollo XI Moon Landing, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, WarGames, and More

November 12, 2014 by Jason DeBord Leave a Comment

As readers may or may not know, I own and operate the sister site to the Rock Subculture Journal, the Original Prop Blog. Founded and launched in 2007, my Original Prop Blog site is all about film and television and important pop culture artifacts – finding them, authenticating them, preserving them, and everything that goes on in that specialized art market. Today I have published a world exclusive feature that shares my video interviews with Colin Cantwell, who worked on many important movies and TV shows like Star Wars: A New Hope, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, WarGames, Battlestar Galactica, and Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. He is well known as the creator of the key ships and vehicles from Star Wars (like the X-Wing Fighter, the Y-Wing Fighter, the Tie Fighter, the Star Destroyer, the Death Star, the Landspeeder, the Sandcrawler, the Millennium Falcon, and the T-16 Skyhopper) by way of the prototype models he created for George Lucas back in 1974/1975. But no one has really talked with him about his work since, so he has until now remained somewhat of a mystery to fans. As it ends up, prior to doing those prototype models, he created concept art that has been lost to the “public record” for the film series until now… [Read more…]