Hellraiser

Since we don't have an official Hard Rock thread, I'll just put it here:

Guitarist Steve Morse has quit Deep Purple to take care for his wife Janine who is battling cancer as per their Facebook page:

Quote

Deep Purple announces that Steve Morse will be stepping back from the band, having been its guitarist for more than a quarter of a century.

Steve’s personal circumstances have made it impossible for him to commit to the band’s schedule throughout 2022 and beyond. A few months ago, Steve openly shared with the band´s fans the sad fact that his wife, Janine, is battling cancer and, in his own words, “I simply must be there with her.”

Since joining the band in 1994, Steve has written and recorded eight studio albums with the band:

Purpendicular
Abandon
Bananas
Rapture of the Deep
Now What?!
Infinite
Whoosh!
Turning to Crime

In addition, Steve has also recorded many live records with Deep Purple over the years.

Steve will be greatly missed by band, crew, management, record label and all those that had the pleasure of working with him over the years.

Steve has always been hugely grateful for the support and love of Deep Purple fans across the globe.

A true master…

In the words of Steve Morse:
Last Autumn, I suddenly left the Purple writing session in Germany because my wife was having a real medical crisis. Almost a year later, we are learning to accept stage 4 aggressive cancer and chemo treatment for the rest of her life. We both miss being at shows, but I simply couldn't commit to long, or far away tours, since things can change quickly at home. I suggested lining up a substitute guitarist last Autumn, hoping we could see the miraculous cancer cure all of us have heard about. As time went by, I could see the way things were heading though, after 28 years of being in the band.

I've already played my last show with Purple back in Florida on the Rock Legends Cruise. I wish to thank the listeners who so strongly supported live music and turned every show from a dress rehearsal to a thundering, exciting experience. I'll miss everybody in the band and crew but being Janine's helper and advocate has made a real difference at many key points.

As Janine adjusts to her limitations, she is able to do many things on her own, so we will try to play some shorter nearby concert tours with friends to, hopefully, get both of us out of the house!

I know Simon has the gig nailed already, but I'm now handing over the keys to the vault which holds the secret of how Ritchie's "Smoke on the Water" intro was recorded. I guess you have to jiggle the key just right because I never got it open.

In the words of Ian Gillan:
In circumstances like these it is normally difficult to find the right words, but not in the case of Steve Morse; I know what I want to say.

He came from a different background to the rest of us in Deep Purple and yet his musical genius has been somehow compatible and played a big part in the fresh direction adopted by the group when he joined and made his first album with us in 1996, and then onwards, for over a quarter of a century, enjoying the longest incumbency of any DP guitarist and contributing to the longest unchanging line-up, which started when Don Airey replaced Jon Lord - who retired in 2002 - until the present day.

I first became aware of Steve through the Dixie Dregs, particularly the track ‘Take it off the Top’ which was the theme tune for Tommy Vance’s BBC rock show and impressed me mightily. I didn’t realise at the time that one day I would be lucky enough to stand on stage with Steve and enjoy his consummate skills up close and dangerous.

I got to know him as a very kind man, full of ideas and the patience to see them developed. He would say, ‘You never know until you try it’. We sure had some fun debating that approach, but mostly in good humour and he always gave as good as he got.

Steve has a legacy with Deep Purple that can never be forgotten, and that smile will be missed. It would be wrong to comment on his personal circumstances, suffice to say he’s in a bad place right now but dealing with it bravely and as best he can; we all admire his devotion; he’s been a strong family man all his life.

All this has come at a terrible time for everybody, including the other musicians in Deep Purple. After two years off the road because of quarantines everywhere, we had to get back to what we do, and that is perform live around the world and make music in the way we have always done, since 1968. As we get older, we realise that we’re much closer to the end, and that triggers an urgency that won’t be tamed. From Steve’s perspective, I can only imagine that there is no possible ‘nice’ way of continuing with a new man, but it is either that or call it a day, because the lack of momentum was gradually becoming something more significant; it felt terminal.

The best way I can describe this is by using Steve’s own words; when I sent him a love letter a few weeks ago, he replied that it was weird being at home whilst we guys were out there, but ‘reality intervenes’… and that’s what has happened.

I can only put out love and respect, and positive vibes at the memories of good times together.

In the words of Ian Paice:
From the moment Steve joined us in Purple, it was obvious he could open up new musical possibilities for us. Like most great creative musicians, he has the ability to come up with musical ideas that no one else has thought of.
I think the easiest way to say it is he’s always “thinking outside the box”. Not many of us can do that!
We learnt he is also an incredibly nice man, who put up with our lack of knowledge of US sports teams and stars, and our continual talk of UK football, (soccer to our US friends!), with great patience. But there is one important truth here and that is “family comes first”.
Steve is adhering to that truth with his wife Janine’s health situation. We will miss him.

In the words of Roger Glover:
In the early 80’s, on tour with Rainbow in Germany, I heard ‘Go for Baroque’ by the Dixie Dregs on a car radio. I was captivated and immediately bought Unsung Heroes. Then I bought Steve’s first solo album. What a guitar player. Never could I have dreamed that twelve years later we would be in a band together.
Deep Purple was at a pivotal point in the mid-90’s and needed to refresh itself. Steve was an inspired choice and brought his talent and limitless imagination to us - evidenced by ‘Purpendicular’, a favourite album of mine – enabling the band to start an amazing journey for the next twenty-eight years… no mean feat. He’s a teacher, he inspired us, me in particular, with his energy, encouragement and wisdom, and his contribution and legacy in this band is beyond words. He will be missed but our friendship will remain.
Sadly, life has intervened, and different challenges are upon us. Janine needs him now, and my best wishes and thoughts go out to them.

In the words of Don Airey:
Thanks Steve for being such a shining light both musically and personally to me over the last few (20 !!) years. All I can do is wish you and Janine the best for the future, in the new course that life has taken you. I know it would take a lot more than this to extinguish your talent and your music, so hopefully we'll see you down the road a-piece. Cheers DA

There will be no further comment from the band. We kindly ask that Steve and Janine’s privacy is respected and to keep them in your thoughts at this time.

 

 

 

 

 

On 21/07/2022 at 05:25, Lint said:

 

Watch Michael Myers and Laurie Strode finally end it for the 4th time!

I hope they stick with it this time around. I remember when Laurie Strode decapitated Myers in H20 and that was supposed to be it. Until H20 was really successful and the studio wanted to make another one and in one of the most stupid retcons in movie history, it turns out the guy Laurie decapitated wasn't Myers, but some poor EMT Myers put his mask and overall on and then tied up and gagged so he couldn't talk. And then they kill Laurie Strode in the first 15 minutes of Resurrection, robbing Michael of his entire raison d'être. And in the end he gets an axe driven through his skull by Busta Rhymes.

I totally forgot about the IGN countdown. Checking that website every day to see who made the roster and in the end always being disappointed when it is done because someone you liked wasn't included due to debuting after the cut-off date. There was always someone missing.

That would have been SmackDown Vs RAW 2006. It was also the one in which they introduced GM Mode. 

Nintendo has bought CG Production company Dynamo Pictures and will rename it to Nintendo Pictures once the acquisition closes which is expected to happen in early October. Looks like Nintendo won't be relying on other studios to produce movies based on their IPs any longer.

Here is what Dynamo Pictures has worked on in the past: https://www.imdb.com/search/title/?companies=co0199346&sort=release_date,asc

https://www.theverge.com/2022/7/14/23214706/nintendo-dynamo-pictures-acquisition-pictures-mario-movie

The game did allow you to beat the crap out of Fred Durst though. That is a positive in my book.

I don't think I mentioned it yet, but I did enjoy Thor: Love & Thunder for the most part. Not as good as Ragnarok, but an entertaining way to waste two hours nonetheless. And Christian Bale definitely stole the show.

It is official:

Phil Anselmo and Rex Brown will reunite as Pantera and go on tour in 2023. No word yet on who the guitarist and the drummer for the tour are going to be. They only thing they confirmed in that regard is that Zakk Wylde will not be part of the reunion.

https://www.billboard.com/pro/pantera-reunion-tour-2023/

IIRC, the focus of the current phase was supposed to be on shit going on in space and James Gunn was supposed to oversee that endeavor. But that was before he got axed and it seems like plans have changed a lot since then.

I don't think there has been a SmackDown game whose roster has been as outdated by the time it was released as Just Bring It other than maybe the first one. The game was released on the day of Survivor Series 2001 but almost none of the WCW and ECW guys the WWE brought in for the Invasion angle were part of the roster thanks to the cut-off date for the roster usually being around WrestleMania. But unlike the first game of the series, this one had a decent (for the time) create-a-wrestler mode.

The first was released around the time of WrestleMania 2000 and featured neither Kurt Angle, Too Cool or The Radicalz. And it had a terrible create-a-wrestler mode as well. You could only select pre-created head, upper-body and lower-body parts with little to now customization. Fortunately the 2nd game came out later that year and the roster was pretty decent in that one.

My favorite games per console:

• SNES: WrestleMania The Arcarde Game (the LJN games kinda sucked)
• PSX: SmackDown 2: Know Your Role (good game and a great improvement over the first one. The load times were godawful though)
• PS2: SmackDown: Here Comes The Pain (with an honorable mention to the original SmackDown Vs RAW and SVR 2006).
• GameCube: Day Of Reckoning 2 (it sucked that they stopped making console-exclusive games just as they had finally perfected the formula for their GameCube games. Day Of Reckoning 2 was great!)
• XBox 360: SmackDown Vs RAW 2010
• PS4: WWE 2K19
• PC: Fire Pro Wrestling World

Didn't this already happen with another movie a few years back? I can't remember which movie though.

Edit: It was Avengers: Endgame with a Stan Lee tribute, a Bruce Banner scene with unfinished CGI and a scene from Spider Man: Far From Home. Apparently they did it with A Star Is Born (12 extra minutes) too. 

Episode 3 spoilers

22 minutes ago, Benji said:

So erm... How long is this mid season break?

The series is coming back on July 11th. 

Why did they break the season in two parts anyway? Simply because that is what they also did for the final season of Breaking Bad? At least the break is significantly shorter than the one between parts 1 and 2 of the final season of Breaking Bad where we had to wait almost an entire year. 

New Avantasia and Arch Enemy:

There is also a new Queensryche album coming in October.

Evángelos Odysséas Papathanassíou aka. Vangelis has died at age 79:

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/may/19/vangelis-greek-composer-chariots-of-fire-blade-runner-dies 

He is mostly known as the composer of the Blade Runner and Chariots Of Fire soundtracks. The first song of him I remember hearing was the title melody of 1492: Conquest of Paradise as walkout music by German boxing champion Henry Maske back in the 90s. The movie is terrible, but that song is amazing. 

R.I.P. 

San Marino were robbed. 

My favorites of the first semi finale are Latvia, Bulgaria, Denmark and Moldova. 

Edit: Welp, at least Moldova made it. 

Former Children Of Bodom members Janne Wirman, Henkka Seppälä and Jaska Raatikainen have given their first joint interview about the breakup of the band and Alexi Laiho's death. Among other things they reveal that the split in 2019 had nothing do with them wanting to spend more time with the families like Laiho claimed at the time but was caused by Alexi's substance abuse problems: https://www.hs.fi/kulttuuri/art-2000008804579.html 

Also Judas Priest will be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame this year: https://www.rockhall.com/judas-priest-0 

6 hours ago, Lint said:

I dunno.  He passed in February, but shooting went from March-November 2021.  I would think, by the time he passed away, the series would've been edited and in the can to be shown.

I think its more likely they just left his fate ambiguous in order to maybe bring him back in the future, but sadly that won't happen

I did some googling and found a reddit post on that matter and in in the replies someone links to interviews with the cast and crew in which director Mohamed Diab mentioned that he only directed a few scenes with Ulliel and Oscar Isaac says that he worked with him on set for 2 or 3 days. So it really was just a one-off appearance by the looks of it. 

That has to be the weakest final episode of a Disney+ Marvel show yet. Feels like half the episode is missing. 

I'm still not hyped up about this at all. 

1 hour ago, Jimmy said:

my thoughts on Doctor Strange that I'm just gonna c&p from Letterboxd, sorry about the weird formatting but not sorry enough to do anything about it 

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what Raimi can’t do is juggle the butchering of Wanda’s characterisation, a baffling arc in the wake of Wandavision, even more frustrating because they could’ve used that show to have Wanda break bad and successfully set up her up as villain for this, which would’ve at least brought some proper emotional weight to her journey instead of reducing her to just another serviceable villain