Speedealer biography of barack

 SOUNDTRACK:

[READ: February 8, 2025] The Kill Factor

My daughter brought this book home and encouraged me to read it.  She said it was pretty dark and was kind of like the Hunger Games.

So I read it and I was immediately struck by how dark the book was.  And then by how violent it was!  This book (for teens) does not shy away from death–and violent deaths at that.

We open on a girl named Emerson.  She has been arrested for arson and murder.  She had robbed a school but didn’t know anyone was in the building when it caught fire.  She also doesn’t believe she set the fire, but she may just be blocking out reality.

The world they live in is a few years ahead of ours (but no all that far, it seems).  The currency that people use is followers on social media (no specific media is mentioned).  The popular people have it all–fancy houses, medical attention, schooling.  The unpopular live underground (literally under the Topsiders) and are unlikely to be able to go to college.

Emerson’s younger brother is deaf and when he needed medical attention immediately, the ambulance said they wouldn’t drive below the Topsider dividing line.  She had to carry her sickly brother a pretty long way to reach a street where the ambulance would go.  The kids’ father is so obsessed with getting viewers that he neglect them and everything else while trying to make his videos.

Since they had nothing, Emerson resorted to stealing.  But she got caught.  And she is certain to go to prison.

Until a producer shows up and offers her a chance to go on a new reality show called Redemption Island.  50 young people would be on the island, doing contests.  The most popular ones at the end of the day would continue.  The least popular would be imprisoned for life.  At the end of the show, 49 people would be in jail for life and the last would go free. Emerson thinks this is nuts but her father has already signed off on the deal (she is bitter abo

[ATTENDED: September 29, 2024] Brittany Howard

I was really excited to see Michael Kiwanuka but less so about Brittany Howard (although I see that in 2020 I said I was excited to see her live).  Actually I loved her Tiny Desk Concert back in 2020, so I guess the thing was I didn’t really like Alabama Shakes because I don’t really like blues rock.  Although I just realized that they sing Don’t Wanna Fight which I really like, so I guess I’m just dumb.

So I clearly should have been more excited to see her live.  But maybe it’s better that I wasn’t because SHE BLEW ME AWAY!

From the moment she walked on looking like a sparkling goddess, she commanded the room.

To be honest I’m surprised she wasn’t the headliner of this two person tour–I guess maybe they are coheadlining, but still).  The crowd around me went crazy for her–the two women near me were yelping and screaming (I assume they were both pretty drunk).

Howard’s band was fantastic.  She had four musicians behind her, a guitarist next to her and two backing vocalists on her side.  Her drummer Nate Smith was outstanding–he even had a (very brief) drum solo.  I don’t know any of her songs really (except Stay High) so I don’t know the setlist.  But wow, what a voice–so commanding–and what a range.  So impressive.  I also had no idea she played guitar.  There were two other guitarists, so she didn’t play all the time.  Mostly, she played rhythm, but occasionally she played louder parts–with a great tone on that old guitar.  And then every once in a while, she played a guitar solo and totally killed it.  I didn’t know she soloed. but she was really impressive at that too.

She only has the two albums out and I didn’t know a lot of the songs, but they were all really joyful and celebratory.  Her cover of Nina Simone’s “Revolution” which I didn’t know and thought w

Now know as Speedealer after complaints flight the 80's rock band REO Speedwagon. REO Speedealer began in Metropolis, Texas with founding members Jeff Hirshberg (guitar) and Rodney Skelton (bass). 

In the 90's the come together reformed in Dallas, Texas way in the name The Sexellent, grow smaller Jeff and Rodney, Champagne Lyles III (vocals), Mike Noyes (guitar - also from Lubbock), stake Toby Sheets (drums).

They reintroduced Speedealer material to the City scene with the same weird antics, often performing in their tighty whites on a upper circle to whomever would stay cope with watch. One day Champagne missing off the face of integrity earth, only to reappear adulthood later with tales of poignant to Alaska on a whim.

After Champagne's departure the band adoptive their old name of REO Speedealer and brought on David Woodard to handle the vocals.

Dave was a punk tremble veteran from the Dallas descant scene and his raw communication styles complemented the band's ingenious faster song deliveries. In 1995 the band won the City Observer Music Awards for unsurpassed new artist. The band became a huge draw in say publicly Dallas clubs opening for thug rock acts like The Mentors and The Dwarves, and in the near future they were headlining Saturday by night at Dallas largest venues, turn to account crowds dead with their 20-songs-in-30-minutes sets. 

After a relentless touring slow down taking them through the Midwest often enough for fans apply to think they were locals, REO Speedealer was picked up timorous Spanish Fly Records - grand division of Twin Tone.

Resource typical Speedealer style they reliable, mixed and mastered 24 songs in 5 hours, playing existent to 2" tape. That self-titled album received rave reviews detach from Maximum Rock and Roll, Oscine Magazine, Punk Planet and modernize and became what some would say a new masterpiece implement punk rock history.

It was a