Category Archives: Alternate Reality

Alternate Reality, Classic Songs to Be Discovered, Derivative Works, Influenced, Music, My Stories, Unsung Heroes

The Record Vault – Coheed And Cambria (with Rick Springfield)– Jessie’s Girl 2

“Jessie’s Girl 2” was released as a standalone single on August 21, 2020 by Coheed and Cambria featuring Rick Springfield.

The original “Jessie’s Girl,” tells the story about jealousy and the song went huge in 1981, turning Springfield into a superstar. And the song is still played today, generating a nice income stream for Springfield or for the Corporation who holds his Copyrights.

Like all hits, it felt that someone should write a sequel.

Enter Coheed And Cambria.

Coheed and Cambria have this power pop rock vibe in their music. So back in 2019, the band was jamming on a riff, when Sanchez sang the melody from “Jessie’s Girl”.

Claude Sanchez said in the press release;

“Has anyone ever written a sequel to another artist’s song?

I don’t think so.

As a fan of movies, it just seemed like a really interesting idea… It’s kind of like a “National Lampoon’s” movie meets “So I Married an Axe Murderer”.

And this also triggered an idea to do a sequel to a famous song, and a grander idea to do an album called “Sequels”. They reached out to Springfield and he was keen to be involved.

This song is from the perspective from “Jessie’s Girl” narrator and things just didn’t turn out the best for him.

While he did get the girl, he regrets it. The girl is out of her mind, has a sinister side as she stalks him and wants to kill him for leaving him, has dirty habits and he regrets burning a friendship to get her.

As I was doing my Super Deluxe pre-order for the new album, I saw the 7 inch vinyl single, so I added it to the cart.

Oh, so I changed my number
To 867-5305
That didn’t, that didn’t, that didn’t stop her
She wouldn’t let me leave her house alive
She’s out of, she’s out of, she’s out of her mind

Press play and let the stalker rock ya.

Standard
Alternate Reality, Derivative Works, Music, My Stories, Stupidity

Matrix Resurrection

It’s always someone else’s fault.

There are no spoilers in this post as I watched “Matrix Resurrections” and stopped half way through it.

And I was thinking, what was its purpose?

If they needed more time to develop the story, Netflix, Amazon, HBO, Disney, and any other streaming service would have been okay to give them a budget to develop the story over 10 episodes or over a couple of seasons.

Because the story needs to be engaging. The plot needs air.

If the creators wanted to capitalise on the existing fan base they should have looked at shows like “Cobra Kai”, “The Mandalorian” and “The Book Of Boba Fett” to see how it’s done. These shows are appealing to the existing fan base and as a by-product, a whole new fan base is also being created at the same time. But those franchises also had some false starts with the movies.

And sometimes, a movie trilogy just doesn’t need another movie.

On a different note, and if you haven’t watched it yet, make sure you check out “Sense 8” from The Wachowski’s on Netflix. One of the best TV shows that did the rounds between 2018 and 2019.

Standard
A to Z of Making It, Alternate Reality, Copyright, Music, My Stories

The Week In Destroyer Of Harmony History – January 31 to February 6

4 Years Ago (2018)

CATHARSIS

I have no issues with lyrics of any kind. I also have no issue with artists taking a stance and commenting on what they see is the state of the world. Opinions are important whether I agree or disagree with them.

So it’s no surprise that on “Catharsis”, Robb Flynn is giving his take on the world. It’s not pretty, but no one said the six o’clock news is pretty.

Check out my review of the album.

APPETITE FOR COPYRIGHT

Seriously you can’t make up the madness that Copyright comes up.

The labels get richer as they keep making licensing deals with techies. Facebook was another techie who made a deal back then.

None of the licensing fee goes back to the musicians, even though it’s the musicians works the labels used in the negotiations. So far Universal and Sony have made the deal and Warner Music Group is in conversation.

And music creators believe a government bill increasing the royalty rate services that play music need to pay, will increase the payments get back. Umm, it won’t. The record labels and publishers will have more money in their bank account and the creators will still get the payments they always get based on their publishing and label contract.

You see, this is what happens when you create a law that creates a monopoly, which in turn gives rise to corporations who become powerful entities. They are all about their own pockets. People who have created no value and no art are living high, from the hard work of artists.

8 Years Ago (2014)

ROADWAY

I was listening to their self-titled EP from 2011.

They had a song on it called “This Is Why” which is a derivative version of “Soldier of Fortune” from the David Coverdale era of Deep Purple.

“This Is Why” is a great song and no one has even heard it. By the way, it features Doogie White and it actually made me call up “Soldier Of Fortune” on Spotify. Yep, “This Is Why” made me want to revisit the Coverdale era of Purple. I even set up a playlist with both of the songs. It is also their most played song on Spotify, however at 60,000 streams it’s virtually unknown.

Roadway does Seventies hard rock vibe. They have it down and it is so refreshing to hear a current band be influenced by that era, especially when the main songwriter Ross McEwen was born in 1988.

And in 2013, they released another EP called “Set In Stone”.

Check em out on Spotify. You will not be disappointed.

THE METAL MANIFESTO

So without further delay, here is The Metal Manifesto;

  • Metal music is a way to belong. We wear the patches/colours of our favourite bands on t-shirts.
  • Metal heads question everything, as we strive to find our own place in society and our own road to walk on.
  • Metal music is a lifestyle. We live it and we breathe it.
  • Metal music is empowerment. It is freedom. It is release.
  • Metal music has its own heavy metal salute, a call to arms, in which the pinkie and forefinger are raised over a clenched fist. Credit Ronnie James Dio for the salute.
  • Metal music is confrontational. Deal with it.
  • Metal music is diversity. It doesn’t matter what colour, religion or country you are from. We are all one.
  • Metal will never fade into obscurity. It is always there, a survivor of the times.

ALTERNATE HISTORY

What kind of musical history would we have if Randy Rhoads didn’t get on that plane?

The “Bark At The Moon” album would still have been written as Ozzy Osbourne had the song titles already and lyricist Bob Daisley was on board to write lyrics again. The big difference would be the music. Instead of hearing the Jake E Lee riff we would be hearing a Randy Rhoads riff instead.

It is pretty clear from all interviews that Randy Rhoads was growing tired with the touring and the Osbourne camp. And that he would leave Ozzy.

So if Randy Rhoads walks away from Ozzy after the “Bark At The Moon” album, Jake E Lee could still be a candidate for the Ozzy job, as Rough Cutt was nowhere near the level of a platinum selling act.

But Dio might have picked him up after Vivian Campbell left. So how different would the “Dream Evil” album be if Jake E Lee brought the riffs that made up the Ozzy BATM album.

But would the Badlands project have existed if Jake E Lee didn’t get a guitarist gig with a high profile act?

And that’s another wrap for another week.

Standard
Alternate Reality, movies, My Stories

Catching Up

It’s strange.

Is it right to even say I am using this free time I have at night to catch up. Everything is just strange. The new normal in a strange land.

I’ve watched movies like this, then walked away from the movie, talking about the movie and then going on to live life again. And movies like “Outbreak” and “Contagion”, it feels like we are living in the script. As Morpheus said to Neo, in a construct.

And COVID-19 is keeping me home. I have been working from home for two weeks and now it is indefinite. So has my wife and I’ve kept my kids home from school since Thursday last week.

And the rules the government is applying are confusing. One person per 4 squared metres, social distancing but school with 30 kids in a class room is still on.

And all of my sporting commitments are on hold as every sport is either postponed or suspended to a date. So I’ve done what everyone else seems to be doing. Catch up on my Netflix and Amazon Prime shows.

All Or Nothing – Brazil National Football Team
There is a quote in this movie from the coach Tite, about courage.

How you need to have the courage to try things, do something new, the courage to help a teammate in need and if you fail, the courage to rise back up and try again.

And we need courage today more than ever to survive the madness around us. Life as we know it, is changing.

Very fast.

Things that we took for granted are just not the same anymore. And it never will be.

Altered Carbon – Season 2
I really like the concept of this show. It covers a lot of technology and science concepts, plus it uses our history.

In the show, Earth humans travelled decades to occupy a new world which had extra-terrestrial lifeforms on it, but the humans didn’t tell planet Earth about it, so they went about cleansing the world of “The Elders” as the original inhabitants are known. The occupation of a lot of lands in the world happened like this by the British, French and Spanish

Then there is the concept of immortality and cloning.

Memories/life experiences are saved on stacks, which are then backed up and if the sleeve (the body) dies, a new one is “spun up”. Of course, this is if you have money. The poor don’t have this luxury. And what I mean by “spun up” is that they already have a cloned body ready, on ice, waiting to have the memories downloaded into it, and its business as usual.

And the scientist who came up with the technology saw how it could it was used for evil and decided to destroy it and became a terrorist.

Then there is the concept of AI helpers and virtual constructs.

The First Purge – Movie

The NFFA (New Founding Fathers of America), had to come up with a creative way to get their economy and unemployment back on track.

So they designed a 12 hour event, called “The Purge” where all forms of murder are legal. And they did a social experiment in a suburb full of housing projects and derelict buildings, which was also populated by dark skin residents. Of course the NFFA have only white skin in their ranks.

But when the people of the area, didn’t really start killing each other, the NFFA brought in mercenaries with machine guns and rocket launchers to increase the body count and make the night a success, so the day could become a yearly event.

All in the name to get rid of the old, the homeless, the sick and the poor. And today, we have a virus doing the exact same thing. Except this virus takes the wealthy as well.

It doesn’t discriminate.

John Wick 3 – Parabelum – Movie

I like the John Wick movies. The first one is brilliant and they haven’t topped that, but this one is cool as well.

And the concept of “living under the high table” is mentioned a lot here. We have our society and our governments and the laws which come from that.

Then you have a secret society which has its own set of rules. But it still retains a hierarchy structure and even the High Table has an Elder who sits above the table.

And the question the movie asks is; what kind of life do you want to live and be remembered by?

A life under the control of someone and doing their deeds for them or a life that you see as free to make your own choice.

Standard
Alternate Reality, Copyright, Music, My Stories

Certification

Certifications still exist in 2019.

In order for an organisation to exist they need to find something relevant.

The RIAA is a lobby group for the record labels, and a trophy giver to artists. These little trophies, like a gold certification for 500,000 albums sold in the U.S. used to be a little bit easier to calculate when sales was the only metric used.

But when digital downloads and streaming started to take over, for right or wrong reasons, the RIAA and its sister like companies in other parts of the world, got all creative in their counting.

Suddenly, a thousand odd of streams is an album sale or 12 tracks downloaded is an album sale. Artists then would offer their albums with ticket bundles and if the fan clicked on the download link, that counted as a sale. Or artists would offer their albums with clothing sales and again, if the fan clicked on the download link, that would count as a sale.

For right or wrong reasons, certain artists and their backers are looking for bragging rights.

So what does a certification tell the world?

I was trolling through the recent certification awards on the RIAA website and I saw a lot of artists who I have never heard off, get a lot of single song certifications, so my assumption here is that these songs are streaming like crazy. And a check on Spotify confirmed that.

But two certifications got me interested because I used to cover these songs in bands. KANSAS got a triple platinum certification for “Dust In The Wind” and a 4x Platinum certification for “Carry On My Wayward Son”.

Now imagine that.

Song’s released in the 70’s are getting cherry picked by fans and listened to over and over and over again on streaming platforms. And you can’t say that the songs are part of a ticket or clothing bundle.

Here are the facts;

  • “Dust In The Wind” was released in January, 1978 and it got no certifications whatsoever back then, nor in the years after.
  • And the record labels have a habit of not spending money to promote old songs if they don’t make money, so those songs become forgotten.
  • It wasn’t until digital services like iTunes offered up the track that it got a Gold certification in December, 2005.
  • And 14 years after that and almost 9 years since streaming commenced, the track went from Gold to Platinum to 2x Platinum and now 3x Platinum.

Whereas;

  • “Carry On My Wayward Son”, released in November 1976, got its Gold certification in December 1990 and in November 2019, it got platinum x1, x2, x3 and x4 certification.
  • And when you look at the streaming numbers you can see why;
    • “Dust In The Wind” has 231,083,018 streams and “Carry On My Wayward Son” has a combined count of approx. 270,000,000 streams on Spotify.
    • On YouTube, the official video and audio of “Dust In The Wind” have a combined count of 300 million views and “Carry On My Wayward Son” has close to 160 million views of the official video and audio.
    • Plus you have the user uploads when all combined add up to a lot of million views.

    And it’s a long journey for a song and an artist.  

    Debates can be had on sales and certifications but what I find impressive when I see theses kind of things is how artists are still relevant even when they are out of the mainstream press. It’s like the saying goes, you can’t keep a good song down

    And it pisses me off how record label reps had so much control to kill an artists career once upon a time, even though the music from the artists always had an audience for their music.

    Standard
    Alternate Reality, Music, My Stories, Unsung Heroes

    Compressorhead

    Make what you want of it, but one thing is certain; robots made from recycled parts and controlled by midi sequencers are having a better career playing metal covers than most bands.

    If you don’t believe me, check out their “Ace Of Spades” cover.

    It’s been said that this robot “band” plays real electric and acoustic instruments. People on YouTube commented about AI taking over the world, but in the end, this project is just some great code writing and midi sequencing.

    So how did I hear about Compressorhead?

    Well I was at a work seminar and they had a few “experts” in different IT areas presenting different topics. I am using the “expert” tag here with a lot of sarcasm.

    So the AI “expert” introduced the video of Compressorhead and told the attendees that the robots in the band got placed in a room, given the music to hear and they managed to learn the songs all on their own.

    Of course this caused some discussion amongst the attendees and a lot of iPads started Googling the band name and reading up on the history of the “band”, which involved from creation in a warehouse to playing live.

    Even when the AI “expert” was given evidence that showed that the band performance was midi sequencing programmed by a human, the AI expert refused to change his view, because it didn’t work with the presentation, which was to scare us about the power of AI.

    Little did the expert know that when they use Google, AI is there to auto fill and bring back the pages they need. I can’t even remember the last time I needed to click on the 2nd page of the Google search results.

    Every time they go on a plane, AI is on board, ready to fly the plane when the autopilot button is pressed.

    Every time they use spell check, AI is there to go through the document and compare words to a dictionary.

    A little bit of AI is everywhere.

    Maybe Compressorhead will become a self learning AI. That’s all up to the unsung heroes who created and programmed the robots.

    Until then enjoy their metal machine tribute to Lemmy.

    Standard
    Alternate Reality, My Stories, Treating Fans Like Shit

    Movies

    My wife really wanted to watch “Baby Driver” when it came out in the cinemas but after I saw the preview, I was a bit sceptical. There was nothing in the preview to entice me to go and watch it. So I did what any male would do, make excuses of being busy because going to the movies costs me a lot. Even though my kids would have no interest in the movie, they would scream and complain to come. As my eldest would say, it’s for the experience. So from buying two tickets, I would need to buy 5 tickets at $17.99 each. Then the kids want popcorn, drinks and my wife wants popcorn and ice cream and suddenly I am out of pocket by $100 plus. However, if I had the option to pay $9.99 and watch the flick at home instead of the cinema, I would have done it straight away.

    Anyway, we finally watched “Baby Driver” a few days ago (at home) and it was totally crap. With the rating it has on IMBD and all the critics raving on about it, I expected a lot more even though the previews failed to deliver anything of interest. I know there is a huge car enthusiast market which will dig these kinds of movies, plus there is the anti-superhero market which will give everything else a try that isn’t a DC or Marvel property. “Baby Driver” capitalises on these two markets. But seriously, if “Baby Driver” is seen as a good movie by fans and critics that vote on IMBD, either the;

    • the movie industry is really in trouble or
    • the people who rate movies also have no idea or
    • I have no idea what’s a decent movie anymore

    I know, I like a storyline that can be followed, with little backstories here and there that unfold as the main story moves forward. It’s the reason why TV is getting traction. Imagine the Godfather as a HBO show for 7 seasons, producing 10 hours of content each season comparted to the 9 hours of content over 3 movies. Christopher Nolan and Quentin Tarantino are two directors and writers who make great movies with good scripts, great casting, great direction and a story a person can follow and be invested in.

    So where are we at with the movie industry?

    I hate going to the cinema, to have to deal with crowds, overpriced tickets and food and then have to sit through people talking, whispering or making a racket as they consume their food. While the “magic of film” worked once upon a time, the business model from the 1930’s is still the same. Here it is a nutshell;

    • Studio (via their own monies or investor monies) finances a movie.
    • Studio releases movie to cinemas
    • Studio expects people to line up, purchase a ticket and watch movie in cinema.

    It still generates a lot of money for the blockbusters, but imagine how much it will work if people are allowed to watch the movie on the same day it’s released in cinemas at home via a streaming service or a special pay per view. I can hear the chorus of disapproval of how cinemas will shut down and how instead of selling 5 tickets to a movie, a family would pay only once to watch it from home (and there is a high chance they could invite friends and cousins as well).

    People watch old movies and listen to old music, but getting these people to consume the new stuff is incredibly difficult, because the providers no longer understand the star system. For a while, the superhero was the franchise however the last few Northern Summer’s proves otherwise.

    Everybody’s got a theatre at home and the only reason to go out and watch a flick in cinemas is to just go out, have maybe dinner before it and a few drinks after it. Instant access, in our own home is the new king in town. Netflix knows it and soon they will have the movie that seizes that market.

    Standard
    A to Z of Making It, Alternate Reality, Music, My Stories, Piracy

    The New Music Labels

    There are a lot of discussions happening around the film industry.

    For example, would the new Star Wars movie be better served as a HBO/AMC/NETFLIX/etc TV Series?

    Instead of a two-hour movie for Episode 7, would it serve the Star Wars story line better if it followed the Game Of Thrones formula and produced ten 1 hour episodes.

    Two hours vs Ten Hours.

    What would the customers want?

    In relation to music, Napster pretty much showed the recording industry what customers want. More single songs than a slab of songs.

    It’s pretty obvious that CD’s are not making a comeback. Yes, they are still selling, however so is vinyl. Both niche markets for the time being. The majority of the listeners have moved to streaming services, digital downloads, YouTube or P2P downloading. Whatever the method used to consume music, access is the key word.

    Do we want to watch a movie in our home theatres or do we want to put up with dirty Cinema’s, people talking and deciding that the movie experience was the perfect time for them to have a Subway Roll, Satay Chicken from the Thai restaurant next door or some other kind of lunch/dinner.

    What people want is instant access. But the content providers would rather sell 5 movie tickets ONCE to my family than get a percentage cut from a monthly license fee from a streaming service over and over and over and over again.

    The content providers would rather sell my family ONE Blu-Ray/DVD than get a percentage cut from a monthly license fee from a streaming service over and over and over and over again.

    I was talking to me kids about a movie called “Who’s Harry Crumb?” a few days ago. It got them excited to watch it. So i pulled up Netflix, searched for it and it is not there.

    Bummer.

    Did I got out and buy a copy of it?

    Of course not. We just moved on to another movie, which in this case was “The Replacements”.

    Same deal with music.

    The best emails I get are the ones from Spotify when they tell me a certain album from the bands I follow is available for streaming;

    In the last week, those emails have covered the following releases;

    • Survival by TesseracT
    • The Book Of Souls by Iron Maiden
    • Got Your Six by Five Finger Death Punch
    • Life, Love, Loss by Degreed
    • Here To Mars by Coheed and Cambria
    • Love, Fear and the Time Machine by Riverside

    I remember the old days when we all rushed to the record store or to the cinema so we could purchase the latest music or watch the latest movie just to be part of the conversation. Why would I want those days back again.

    Change is happening quicker than ever before.

    We went from Napster to iTunes to YouTube to Spotify. We went from MySpace to Facebook to Twitter and back to Facebook. The major labels have withered down to three. The movie studios are doing the same.

    Watch out for television to do the same. Funny thing to note, is that the channels leading the way, are channels that originally started off licensing movies from the Hollywood studios. HBO, AMC, Showtime and Netflix found out that original programming is where it’s at. Create a show that connects and watch it become part of the cultural conversation. Amazon is now involved and Apple is due to enter this market.

    So what does this have to do with music and artists?

    Expect Spotify to lead the way and start signing up artists because even though artists can cut a record without a major label or corporation behind them, they cannot be heard without the help of the label machine. There is a lot of money in music if you control the copyrights of artists you break through. Spotify can break an artist, they just need to start signing them and developing them.

    It’s just a shame that the power players in music would rather spend their resources and monies to shut down illegal music websites through the Courts while websites controlled by terrorist like ISIS are allowed to operate. It’s a shame that the power players in music have had to be dragged kicking and screaming into the new digital world post Napster.

    Especially when illegal music websites have allowed fans of certain styles of music to access bands they never could before. Metallica and Iron Maiden are two examples of illegal music websites growing their fan bases in countries where they sold no physical product.

    So what did these bands do with that high rate of P2P piracy?

    They toured those countries.

    Being an artist is a business and making money in a business is hard.

    The good thing for musicians today, is that all of the craziness that happened since Napster is all over. Musicians now know what the recording industry looks like and how it all hangs together within the music industry. In my view, the current ecosystem would remain stable for the next 50 years or so.

    The big change that would happen is when technology companies like Spotify, Apple, Pandora, Google and Samsung get into signing and developing new artists. When these techies become like labels they will be powerful. Because of the data which they will have and control. Will the record labels then start to litigate against these techies.

    Once these companies become like labels, expect them to enter the live arena as promoters. Apple and Spotify are both involved in the festivals scene.

    Times they are a changing.

    Standard
    Alternate Reality, Copyright, Derivative Works, Influenced, Music, My Stories, Stupidity, Unsung Heroes

    Chapter 4

    I finally got around to watching the “Through The Never” movie last night and there was a question nagging at me throughout the whole experience;

    “How can James Hetfield think that this is good?”

    Lars just wants to be front and centre on everything so any outlet that can put him there, he will agree with. Kirk and Rob will just follow what Lars and James do? But James Hetfield to me is the quality behind the band. He can have a different drummer, guitarist and bassist backing him up and it will still be Metallica.

    And if he thinks that the movie was good and that Lulu was good and that the new live song “Lords Of Summer” is good, then I am hoping that all bad things come in threes. Because if they don’t then it is not looking good.

    Anyway, I am still having fun with my so-called story based around Metallica songs and themes so here is Chapter 4.

    –1978–The Armerous

    Blackened Hetfield makes his way to the meeting place. Along the forest track, bodies are suspended along the trees. As he gets closer to his destination, winding his way up a steep mountain pass, the trail is littered by a series of pikes with severed heads on top. These are the people who just got in the way of the grand design.

    There is a generic road sign on one of the pikes that states “No Trespassing”. A thick fog is beginning to descend. Everything is feeling and looking creepy like something imminent is about to happen.

    Hetfield enters a partially destroyed Buddhist temple. The outside decay of the building masks a perfect and sterile environment inside.

    In the wide room there is a table with a chair. The person sitting on the chair is not facing the door way. Instead the person is looking into something else. Flanked on each table are two Red Guards, clothed like Samurai but Samurai they are not. Next to the Red Guards are two more guards; however these ones wear black colours instead of red.

    The colours are a rite of passage. All of the black colour guards/warriors have a first name of Blackened. The ones in red have a first name of Crimson.

    Hetfield sits down on the leather chair that he normally sits on.“Lord Slither we have a new enemy”.

    “So it is true”, responds a man that we assume is Lord Slither. It is a strange relationship as Hetfield has never seen Lord Slithers face, however he swears a loyalty to him that is broken only in death.

    “Yes, the books of knowledge have a new keeper”, continues Hetfield. “It seems that The Phantom Lord managed the transfer before we got to him”.

    “How did we not foresee this failure Blackened Hetfield?”

    “I am unable to answer that my Lord. My failure is mine to own. The consequences are mine to suffer.”

    “Not this time Blackened Hetfield. Your suffering will not be from me”. This was ominous and sinister from Lord Slither. Hetfield has been failing his master a lot recently.

    “Are the new agents ready?” questions Lord Slither.

    “No Lord Slither, the indoctrination process is taken longer than expected.” This is another failure from Hetfield.

    “How is the child of “The Judas Kiss” tracking along?

    Hetfield doesn’t let his hesitation show as the child of “The Judas Kiss” is also his child. “He is far exceeding our expectations in all disciplines.”

    “And what about the one known as “Cyanide”. It has been seventeen years since he came into our possession.”

    “He is almost ready. By far one of our best”.

    “Unleash him. Send out to the “Creeping Death”.

    “As you wish, Lord Slither”.

    “It’s time to begin the whipping dance of the dead and colour their world blackened.”

    –1976–The City Of Devils Dance

    Two years post E.B’s tour of duty, the Vietnam War was lost.

    Meanwhile back at home E.B had used the financial resources of his father, Cyprian Breadfan to establish the Unknown Five and the Metal Militia. One as a secret society and the other one as a public face.

    It was then that E.B encountered the one known as “Prince Charming”.

    His real name is Terence Blinks. The definition of the word corrupt in the dictionary doesn’t define Prince Charming in any way. He is in a class of corruption all on his own. He is equally known for his catch phrase of “the shortest straw has been pulled for you.”

    Devils Dance is defined by the power struggle between the two wealthiest families. On one side you have the Breadfan’s who stand for fairness and justice and on the other you have the Blinks who stand for power and wealth.

    “Fairness and Justice is a fool’s errand”, said Prince Charming in one of the many hostile arguments he had with E.B’s father.

    The city citizens are either on the payroll of the Blinks or on the run from the Blinks. But then the Metal Militia was born and they became an equalizer to the situation.

    The constant shop fronts shaken down by corrupt officials and forced to pay private levies suddenly had new protectors in the Metal Militia.

    And Prince Charming didn’t like it.

    –Current Day–The City of Devils Dance

    The Metal Militia has a roll of honour on one of their walls, sort of like a Hall Of Fame. The list is broken into Immortals and Lifers.
    Listed as IMMORTALS are E.B and St Anger. Listed as LIFERS are Frantic Frank, Stone D.F Clover, Nole A.F Clover, Dyers Eve and Lowman Lyric. The NOMAD list shows The Outlaw Torn and Wim Roam.

    Then there is another list for the current membership status of the organisation.

    Currently, Motorbreath is the President. His lady, ItsElektra is the Secretary. The Vice President is Overkill and the Sargent in Arms is Damage Inc. The Treasurer is Whiplash. Together they form the executive arm of the Metal Militia.

    Orion is a sworn in member of the Metal Militia along with Two-by-four, Loverman and Astronomy.

    Right now Orion is waiting outside the chapel, the meeting room of the Militia. Stone D.F has been inside for a long time with the Militia Executive. IMMORTALS and LIFERS are held in high regard. They have done so much and sacrificed so much that they don’t need to hold a rank anymore. Instead they are elevated to a status normally reserved for Gods. So if any living IMMORTAL or LIFER requests a meeting with the Executive, the Executive must adhere and be present.

    And Stone D.F is the only one of the hall of fame list that is still alive.

    Eventually after what seemed like days which was in essence about four hours, Stone D.F emerges from the chapel.

    “What was all that about?” asks Orion

    “Nothing that important”, answers Stone D.F.

    “Not important. It was the longest meeting I have witnessed.”

    “When you have a club that does what we do, meetings do seem to go on a touch too long. I suppose that is democracy at work,” counters Stone D.F.

    “So it had nothing to do with the phone call I got”, continues Orion.

    “That was mentioned as was our journey to the City of Beholder.”

    “So what was said about it?” questions Orion.

    “It was just a heads up to them that we will be out-of-town. So are you ready to depart” responds Stone D.F. There is no way that Stone D.F is going to let Orion take this trip alone, especially due to the mysterious circumstances of the phone call.

    –Current Day–The City of the Beholder–

    The City Of Beholder is a Bible belt mining town and it is only fitting that the reason why the town is known is also the reason why it is slowly tearing itself apart. An underground fire has been burning from one of the mine shafts for over a decade and it is slowly swallowing parts of the town.

    A lot of people have abandoned the town. In its heyday it had over 200,000 people. Now it is lucky to have 40,000. Houses are levelled and areas are fenced off.

    The High School is partially submerged into the ground. Orion glances at it and so does Stone D.F. Weeds, grass, trees and other forms of fauna are growing over it, around it and in between it. Looking at it reminds Orion of a dystopian future that he has seen in comic books and movies.

    Orion notices a sign on the water tower.

    “What is that sign?” asks Orion.

    “It’s the symbol for corruption and capitalism,” answers Stone D.F. “It’s another business from Prince Charming”.

    “Does Charming own all of this?”

    “As soon as he can get rid of the Metal Militia” answers Stone DF.

    “What do we have to do with it?”

    “The Militia is the complete opposite of what Prince Charming is. Before the Militia, the people that Charming and his cronies intimidated had no one to fight back for them.”

    A partially destroyed Buddhist temple in the distance grabs Orion’s attention. But with the speed they are travelling it vanishes as quickly as it came into view.

    –3rd January 1966–

    “Do you feel the disturbance?” asks an elder looking person that looks like a Buddhist monk.

    “Yes” replies another, that could be a monk in training.

    “Something’s changed.”

    Standard
    Alternate Reality, Derivative Works, Influenced, Music, My Stories, Unsung Heroes

    Chapter 3

    I am still having fun with that Metallica story I started a few weeks ago. So here is Chapter 3.

    –Current Day–The City Of Carpe Diem–

    “You are being discharged”, said the Doctor to Fixxxer, however the words could have been said to anyone, as Fixxxer was fixated on Walter Cyanide. From when they made eye contact, Fixxxer just got a “Han Solo” bad feeling about the situation.

    “Do you want to exit from the front or the back as there are a lot of reporters out there waiting for the sole survivor,” adds the Doctor. Fixxxer pays no attention to the treating Doctor. He only has eyes on Dr Cyanide. Fixxxer notices Dr Cyanide take a call.

    ——

    Cyanide answers it with a simple hello.

    “So let it be written, so let it be done, you’ve been sent to kill the chosen one, you are the creeping death” said the voice on the other line.

    ——-

    Fixxxer notices the eyes of Cyanide fade to black and it unsettles him. Just like the bus driver’s eyes.

    Fixxxer takes a brief glance to the left of him and he notices that the Doctor that just treated him is outside treating another patient oblivious to what is happening in Treatment Room 1366.

    That brief moment of not paying attention is unsettled as Fixxxer feels a cool breeze on the back of his neck. Suddenly Cyanide is in his face however for some reason Fixxxer sensed the move and without any thought he moved out-of-the-way of the coming attack.

    Cyanide comes at Fixxxer again with various combinations of martial arts and boxing. He is so quick that Fixxxer is on the defensive and struggling to keep the blows from hitting him. And that was when Fixxxer felt a blade enter into his left abdomen and make its way up to his heart. Fixxxer grabs a hold of Cyanide’s hands and tries with all his might to stop the blade from going up any further.

    The door to the treatment room opens again.

    “What the hell?” gasps the Doctor that only a minute ago was treating Fixxxer? In his shock he drops his pen. Cyanide exits the room with a speed the Doctor has never seen.

    Then the dropped pen hits the floor.

    –Current Day–The City Of Carpe Diem Sanatorium–

    Sweet Amber Sowhat screams in pain again.

    Mysteriously, a gashing wound from her left abdomen up to her ribcage has just presented itself.

    The nurses rush to her assistance, scanning the room for an assailant or a weapon that could have caused the injury.

    –The Judas Kiss Backstory–Someplace in the 1930’s–

    Her name was Judith King once upon a time. She was born into an average middle class family. Her father worked at the local steelworks, earning $80 a fortnight and her mother was a housewife raising six kids.

    Then her father got retrenched. He didn’t say why.

    Afterwards and for reasons only known to him he couldn’t get another job. The bills kept on piling up and the bank kept on sending letters warning foreclosure. To Judith it felt like the world had turned its back on them. The fire of hope that burnt bright in her father’s eyes was dead and gone.

    Her father became fearful when he got retrenched and the first thing he purchased was a gun. When asked why, he replied with the following words;

    “I cannot tell you why”.

    The inevitable day came and the Sheriffs came knocking. Her father was passed out on the lounge due to another bout of drunkenness the night before. Eventually he woke up and answered the door.

    “Are you Reginald King?”

    “I”.

    “I have a court order asking you to vacate the premises right now. Can you and your family please step outside?”

    Just like that the King’s lost everything, their home, their possessions and their memories. By the end of the week, Judith King lost her father to the same gun he purchased to protect himself.

    It was a selfish goodbye.

    On the day of Reginald King’s funeral a storm had blackened the sky like never before. Judith King was thirteen years old. The funeral took place on Friday the 13. That would be the last day she saw her family.

    –The Judas Kiss Backstory–Ten Years after the Disappearance of Judith King–

    “Rise today as “The Judas Kiss”. Recite this vow as I have become your new god now”. Her new god was cloaked. The only part visible was his lips.

    “So bow down, sell your soul to me, I will set you free and pacify your demons. Bow down, surrender unto me, submit infectiously and sanctify your demons.”

    “Now repeat back to me the final mantra”.

    “Into the abyss
    I cease to exist
    No one can resist
    The Judas Kiss”

    –1978–The City Of Devils Dance–

    E.B has just left the house of his brother Tomas, when from the corner of his eye he noticed two people walking out of a lane fifteen metres away.

    “No” said E.B as he began to run.

    E.B ran from the footpath to the middle of the road before he was set upon. E.B was not scared of a confrontation; however the moment was not the best.

    There was a flurry of blows that each assailant tried to plant onto E.B’s body; however the assailants failed to make any impact. Actually one of the assailants ended up getting his neck snapped in the process when E.B deflected that persons own hands back at him.

    That just left E.B and the other assailant who was now unmasked.

    “The Judas Kiss” exclaims E.B. In a way he feels proud. The Armerous only send “The Judas Kiss” when it is of vital importance to their cause.

    “I feel honoured that I would be the one to take your life tonight”, adds E.B.

    The Judas Kiss says nothing.

    Her history of cold-blooded killings precedes her and she is confident as she starts her attack. However E.B is special and more than able to handle her attacks. After an intense 20 second barrage, The Judas Kiss steps back and for the first time in her life she is worried. She musters up enough energy for another frantic onslaught however E.B just seems to move away and deflect her most powerful punches without any effort.

    The Judas Kiss has never really had to battle for this long.

    With her fists and fighting styles having no impact, she is starting to resort to weapons. Star Blades begin to whirl through the air towards E.B.

    Just like his favourite comic book character Magneto E.B sticks out his hand and in the same way that Magneto can manipulate all types of metal; the same can be said about E.B.

    And that is how the reign of “The Judas Kiss” ended by having all of the star blades that she threw at E.B travelling back to her at a speed that she was not fast enough to avoid. Each star blade found a vital organ to embed themselves in.

    A third man watches the fight from the alley. He is hooded and his lips are visible. Once “The Judas Kiss” took her last breaths he frowns and proceeds to walk away.

    Standard