Image credits: © 2009 Ernest L Sewell, IV | ℗ 2009 Fourth Productions | All Rights Reserved. | May Not Be Reproduced or Used Without Express Written Permission of Ernest L Sewell, IV.

Image credits: © 2009 Ernest L Sewell, IV | ℗ 2009 Fourth Productions | All Rights Reserved. | May Not Be Reproduced or Used Without Express Written Permission of Ernest L Sewell, IV.

What the hell is that thing?!

Inspired by robot point-of-views in various movies.

Intruder Black

Huey Lewis & The News - FORE!

1. "Jacob's Ladder" (Bruce Hornsby, John Hornsby) – 3:33
2. "Stuck with You" (Hayes, Lewis) – 4:29
3. "Whole Lotta Lovin'" (Colla, Lewis) – 3:30
4. "Doin' It (All For My Baby)" (Cody, Duke) – 3:39
5. "Hip to Be Square" (Gibson, Hopper, Lewis) – 4:05
6. "I Know What I Like" (Hayes, Lewis) – 3:59
7. "I Never Walk Alone" (Nielsen) – 3:44
8. "Forest for the Trees" (Fletcher, Gibson, Lewis, Loggins) – 3:28
9. "Naturally" (Colla, Lewis) – 2:52
10. "Simple as That" (Biner, Castillo, Kupka) – 4:27
The European and Japanese version had "The Power of Love" (from Back to the Future) as track 8, pushing the other three tracks down a notch in sequence.

While Huey and the band had released two albums between 1980 and 1982, it wasn't until 1983 that they had a huge note of attention with the release of Sports. The singles and the videos kept coming through 1984. Sports went 7x platinum, and back then, that was fantastic! It's since received Diamond status. They had a slew of Top 10 hits, and their first #1 with that album. But it wasn't the apex. It was the warm up, the pre-show, if you will.

While riding the wave of "The Power of Love" and "Back In Time" from the Back To The Future movie in 1985, the next year saw the parade of FORE!. It was truly packed with hits, yet it only garnered 3 million in sales. This tragedy in pop music was odd to me. A great band, who played and wrote their music, along with other great songwriters like Kenny Loggins and Bruce Hornsby, and Reed Nielsen of Nielsen/Pearson fame. Yet despite the 3 million sales mark (which is still respectable), the album still garnered three #1 hits ("Stuck With You", "Hip To Be Square", and "Jacob's Ladder"), and a bunch of top 10 hits. Huey and the News were still going strong.

A very cute and funny take on Frankenstein's monster was the muse for the "Doin' It All For My Baby", and they did quite well. Each character was perfectly matched to the band member playing it. A 3-hour tour trapped on an island was the setting for the big hit of "Stuck With You". (Imagine a video actually going with the story of the song?! GO FIGURE!) "Hip To Be Square" proved just that, with close up camera shots of the band while they simply performed the song. Snake eye camera shots on Huey's microphone, or on the bass player's hand, were the norm.

Huey and the News went on to record four more studio albums through 2001, which is a bit sparse for most fan's taste.

I much prefer FORE! over Sports. Every single song is so solid, catchy, and flows perfectly into the next. It was truly the height of their creativity and talent. That's not to dismiss Small World, Hard At Play, or Plan B or their album of old 50's covers Four Chords and Several Years Ago (which is SO spot on with their style and attitude).

FORE! just stands out as one of the truly great, and dare I say it PERFECT pop/rock albums of the 80's, and greatly overlooked as such.

* * * Single Pick Of The Day: "Naturally". Nothing fancy, just pure vocal talent, showcasing their talent in an a capella song. No auto-tune or vocoders here!!!! * * *

Yes, I really do have a stalker. I have for about five years, and it's always ongoing. Here's what spawned me to say something about it.

Recently an online person I'm acquainted with sent me an email with the subject line asking "Is this REALLY you?". The body of the email asked, "I would imagine if this is REALLY you and this REALLY happened you would do everything in your power to get out of this situation... Seriously!" I read the following and found it hysterical, but typical. Read it first, then I'll explain.

Of course, everyone knows I live for christ. Sorry I took so long in responding, I've been in and out of the Chiropractor's office since I hurt my back during my fight with my roommate ,. Too make a long story short, he returned from his visit with his dying father to find me in his room sleeping w/my pussies (lol, no not THAT pussy) and of course blew his fucking stack! but I'm like what the fuck, it's fucking hot up in here and his is the only room w/air conditioning so what's the big deal? He swears there was cum stains on his sheets and carpet.... anyway he comes in at about a quarter past 1:am, and starts smacking the shit out of me while I'm sleeping SCREAMING at the top of his lungs! Now mind you I'm fucking naked as that's how I sleep, and of course when you're awakened by a crazy motherfucking bi-polar bitch-- slapping, punching and elbowing you, you're gonna let something out of an orifice; I fucking shit his bed. I thought it was a nightmare. At one point he actually jammed his fist between my ass cheeks like he was trying to fist me, accusing me of doing it on purpose, and I thought he was fucking around, you know how sometimes someone is just fucking around too aggressively and it seems more like a passive aggressive thing? Remember that I'm half awake at this point so I'm a bit disoriented. And as ya'll know we've gone at it before, and I don't hold back when I get pissed. I scratched his whole face up, bit his ear, shoved my dirty foot in his mouth, which of course he bit, then I had him pinned up against the wall but he somehow managed to knock me back against his dresser.....fucked up my back. He had the grit to drag me out of his room while I was writhing in pain! and then throw my fucking cats out into the living room damn near sending them into the ceiling fan. I wonder how Prince's hows are going in th UK. This is costing me an arm and a nut since my insurance only covers 50%. Plus I had to take one of my cats to the vet; he's got a fucked up equilibrium now. I'm gonna take care of my roommate, I swear to god, I ain't gonna let this shit ride, not this time. Fuck I was only in his room for a week!

Anyway Richie, I gotta go. The ass should be back in a few and I don't wanna see his face until I've worked out what I'm gonna do to him. Oh, and he actually tried to delete all my videos and shit off my MAC, and delete my YT and myspace accounts LOL he's such a fag.... can't even do that right.
--
Ernest L Sewell, IV
East Greedbush, NY

Can we even notice that there is no East GREEDbush, New York? hahahaha When I asked the person where they found this, they said they found it on a newsgroup, alt.music.prince. I immediately knew what was up. alt.music.prince is a text newsgroup, which is sort of message board. Newsgroups were around in the very, VERY early days of the internet, eons ago. alt.music.prince is obviously a newsgroup about Prince. Back in the late 90's and early 00's, it was a good place to be, with lots of Prince information, as well as great chatter about other music, movies, or whatever. There were a lot of regulars there, and we all got along for the most part. But then the trolls showed up. A couple of us had the pleasure of having stalkers. Stalkers to the point that they would change their display name to ours, or something similar, and pose as us online. I got the biggest brunt of it. They'd spell my last name in different ways, like "Sewer" (boring), or "Sevvell" to appear as Sewell.

This drip of slime has been really harsh in their addressing of people on alt.music.prince. When they referenced "Richie" in the above nonsense, it's about a man in Ireland (remember, this troll/poser/stalker has never met any of us, nor have we interacted with them beyond alt.music.prince). Richard lives with Crones Disease. The stalker, posing as me, said that Richard had died of AIDS, and that I gave it to him. It was good for them because Richard had long left alt.music.prince, so his absence fed into his "death". How pathetic of the cocksnot who wrote it. Also, I've never met Richard, obviously since I've never been to anywhere in Europe, or even close to Europe, in my life. It was horrible, because Richard was a good guy from what I knew of him, and to my knowledge, he's still alive and well, despite his disease. It was vicious for no good reason other than the joy of a probable middle-aged man sitting in his mom's basement, in his underwear which are stained with Cheeto dust, as is his Wii and PS3 controllers, and in the corner is a pile of empty Dr. Pepper bottles, all the while posing as me, and trying to inflict heartache and pain on innocent people. Someone needs a life! BIG TIME!

There is absolutely nothing true in the above stalker's post, not even the details they put in. Literally.....NOTHING. Plus, I mean come on people. Look at the spelling and grammar alone. Although I slip up at times, that is not how I type or speak online, at all. It's like some 7th grader did it. Comical. I'm kind of surprised that after five years, this nonsense is still going on. What a waste of time! I saw one of the recent stalker posts, and they even took the time to check my YouTube page, and type my letter to CNN, seen here, and then alter it to sound more "controversial", and haughty. It's almost satire at this point. The slimeball's posts don't really effect me. I don't think about them or read them or keep up with them. I'm only reminded of them on the very rare occasion that someone asks me "is this you?" I can at least appreciate someone coming to me to ask if it's me or not, rather than assuming it is me. My mom emailed me a few years ago because she was googling me (WHY?) and found some racist laden post on a message forum on some website. The N word was dropped, along with other horrible statements. My mom emailed me, not too concerned but curious, and asked if it was me. I told her just to look at the original poster's email. It was the same IHateWhiteComedian@hotmail.com, which is obviously not me. The "issue" was resolved faster than it was brought up.

For the record, my main hub has been, and will probably always be, LJ.

If that ever changes, I'll post it on LJ first. Anything else anyone reads or says about me isn't real unless I say so. And isn't it that way with anyone?

Watch. That loser will read this, and post another version of it on the newsgroup. It's weird because there's like 3 people on alt.music.prince, and the rest is just spam that shows up. Who exactly are they trying to talk to anyway??? Prince fans are some weird motherfuckers sometimes.

Image credits: © 2009 Ernest L Sewell, IV | ℗ 2009 Fourth Productions | All Rights Reserved. | May Not Be Reproduced or Used Without Express Written Permission of Ernest L Sewell, IV.

Image credits: © 2009 Ernest L Sewell, IV | ℗ 2009 Fourth Productions | All Rights Reserved. | May Not Be Reproduced or Used Without Express Written Permission of Ernest L Sewell, IV.

Image credits: © 2009 Ernest L Sewell, IV | ℗ 2009 Fourth Productions | All Rights Reserved. | May Not Be Reproduced or Used Without Express Written Permission of Ernest L Sewell, IV.

Image credits: © 2009 Ernest L Sewell, IV | ℗ 2009 Fourth Productions | All Rights Reserved. | May Not Be Reproduced or Used Without Express Written Permission of Ernest L Sewell, IV.

....is positively one of the best voices in the industry. I picked up his "Live In London" Blu-Ray today. It was filmed for his 25Live tour, on the last two nights in London. I'll try to keep each song's high points to a minimum.

The 45 minute documentary on the DVD is worth the effort alone. Called "I'd Know Him A Mile Off!" is a great look behind the scenes of the tour, the interviews, the rehearsals, the sound checks, and him constantly hopping into the back of a car to get to, or leave the venue, sitting on planes w/ his partner Kenny Goss, and even a funny moment at one of their homes, where Kenny (who I always forget is SO southern, as he is from Texas) is explaining that George likes a more minimal and modern look to the furniture in the house, whereas Kenny wants a big couch to curl up on. Looks as though GM got his way. Also in the docum, at one check point, the security guards, who have blocked off an avenue, says they won't let his car through. The driver, and a manager, tell the security police that GM is in the backseat. With a glance, GM is dismissed as "a look-alike". He walks off. Finally the manager gets out of the car and insists they get through. The security guard walks up to the car and demands I.D. The manager pushes him back. Security looks in the car and says, "I'd know him a mile off. That is not George Michael." GM is hysterical, calling the whole incident "brilliant" (and it really is!) GM wanted to stay to show them I.D., just for the sheer sake of filming it and capturing a great moment on film. They drive through the check point, and the camera catches the security guy flipping off the car, with GM in it. haha

As far as the concert, every song is spot fucking on. He starts with "Fastlove", using the extended mix in a slightly shorter form. The extended mix uses a different chorus later on, singing "Everybody needs a little fast love, baby....", and then has a chant of "who da man, who da man, who da man, goddamn!", and then goes into a funk ridden version of "I'm Your Man". As the song ends, GM says "I wouldn't do that to you. You didn't think it was over did you?" and goes into the regular version of "I'm Your Man". The energy stays high during "Flawless", and even he jokes that "this is probably the gayest cover I've done". (I guess he called it that because it's heavily based on The Ones song "Flawless"). He slows it down for a bit, and during "Father Figure" and "You Have Been Loved", his voice is so pure and spot on!!! He's right in the middle of his 40's, and he's still one of the best voices in the industry.

He pumps it back up with "An Easier Affair", name checking Rupert Murdock at the beginning of it, and quickly mentions it's about living your life, and not giving a fuck (his favorite word apparently) about what anyone says. The lyrics say that too of course. I love that song, and have since it came out on the TwentyFive CD/DVD set. He gets into "Everything She Wants" and the audience goes wild for it! Slow down again with "One More Try", which is just him and the six backup singers standing in a squared U shape, singing the song in a near gospel style, and knocking it out of the arena. He sits, and people go nuts when they hear the first notes of "A Different Corner". Voice again, spot on. He gets political with "Shoot The Dog", and plenty of anti-George Bush/Tony Blair animation (from the video), as well as a huge inflatable of GW. GM runs up to it and pulls open the front of his pants. Out pops a huge English bulldog, locked snout to crotch on GW's front side. (Tony Blair sucking GW's dick, in case you didn't get that.) He also gives a huge shout out to Barack Obama.

There is a 20 minute intermission, but we only see 5 minutes of it. He plays the video of "John and Elvis Are Dead", then immediately the stage lights up and "Faith" starts to ring out. Next is rather interesting. He sings "Spinning The Wheel", which is a song I missed early on, but caught it a few years after. Once the song is over, he goes into a deep club mix of the song, and resings the whole song as a remix. The light show is fucking amazing during this song alone.

He sits down to sing again. He talks about the footage the audience is about to see, and how they filmed it for this song in the show. He said the women in it are not models, but real people, and were gracious enough to let a crew invade a few moments of their lives. They are prostitutes in a brothel (much like the actual video to the song). He sits and sings "Roxanne", explaining that he did a cover album when he was having a hard time writing music. It's his favorite song on the album. He dedicates "My Mother Had A Brother" to his late mother, and his uncle (her brother). He then dedicates "Amazing" to his partner Kenny Goss (who it's written about), and to their friends Gary and Gary's partner, who are both in the audience somewhere.

He sings "Fantasy", which I only know from Ladies and Gentlemen, The Best Of, which might be its only album. He continues with one of three encores, the first being "Outside", which includes a cop's sunglasses, and uniform top. The next encore is "Careless Whisper", which the audience damn near provides vocals to make it a duet. The last song is "Freedom '90" which the audience loves as well. The three bonus tracks, listed below, are just as incredible.

GM mentions at one point that this is the longest show of the tour, but the audience has made it worth it. The show itself seems to be about 2:10, plus the three bonus tracks, which levels out closer to 2:25-2:30.

The DVD is a MUST for any GM fan. GM stated this would be the only show he would release in its entirety (which SUCKS), but even though it's the only one, it's SO worth the effort to find it. There are no other features on the DVD, other than what I've already listed. There are 3 audio tracks, including PCM, DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio, and Dolby Digital 5.1. The Pop-Up Menu feature is available on the Blu-Ray, which is the "Performances" menu, over the concert, opposed to the Main Menu wallpaper. It's in full 1080 HD as well.

Also, there are several shots of GM changing clothes in the quick change room between songs. That man is still hot, shirtless, and otherwise. He obviously dropped a bit of weight for the concert tour, but his freakin' hot chest hair is all still freakin' hot on him. Also, apparently GM likes a diet/caffeine free coke and Tanq right after the show (it's in the car waiting on him to pour it).

Track list (copied from Wikipedia):
1. "Waiting (Reprise)" (Michael)
2. "Fastlove" (Michael/Rushen/McFadden/Washington)
3. "I'm Your Man" (Mihcael)
4. "Flawless (Go To The City)" (Michael/Alexander/Wooden/Turnier/Matthew/Stumm)
5. "Father Figure" (Michael)
6. "You Have Been Loved" (Michael/Austin)
7. "An Easier Affair" (Michael/Cushnan/Ambrose/Flynn)
8. "Everything She Wants" (Michael)
9. "One More Try" (Michael)
10. "A Different Corner" (Michael)
11. "Too Funky" (Michael)
12. "Shoot The Dog" (Michael/Flynn/Jackman/Oakey/Burton)
13. "John and Elvis Are Dead" (Michael/Austin)
14. "Faith" (Michael)
15. "Spinning the Wheel" (Michael/Douglas)
16. "Feeling Good" (Bricusse/Newley)
17. "Roxanne" (Sting)
18. "My Mother Had a Brother" (Michael)
19. "Amazing" (Michael/Douglas)
20. "Fantasy" (Michael)
21. "Outside" (Michael)
22. "Careless Whisper" (Michael/Ridgeley)
23. "Freedom 90" (Michael)

There are three bonus tracks on the regular DVD set (2nd disk), and on the BluRay:
* "Precious Box" (Michael)
* "Jesus To A Child" (Michael)
* "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" (McCall)

The only low point to the DVD is knowing its the only concert he'll ever release. But I'm happy w/ this one.

Keep an eye on the graphics on the huge ass LED screen he's on. There are often times red, blue, yellow, green, purple, and orange lines/shapes on the screens. Each one is a direct feed from different audio feeds, and each one reacts to that feed. GM's is red, the drums are blue, the background vocals are green, etc. So with each song, not only does the actual pattern they've programmed change, but the reaction of each one is different. "Outside" is really good with this. The graphics are 2D flyovers of LA, and the skyscrapers have the colors in them. There was a huge write up on GM's site about the technology used in the concert that had never been used before. That alone is amazing too.

Image credits: © 2009 Ernest L Sewell, IV | ℗ 2009 Fourth Productions | All Rights Reserved. | May Not Be Reproduced or Used Without Express Written Permission of Ernest L Sewell, IV.

Outtake:

Image credits: © 2009 Ernest L Sewell, IV | ℗ 2009 Fourth Productions | All Rights Reserved. | May Not Be Reproduced or Used Without Express Written Permission of Ernest L Sewell, IV.

Image credits: © 2009 Ernest L Sewell, IV | ℗ 2009 Fourth Productions | All Rights Reserved. | May Not Be Reproduced or Used Without Express Written Permission of Ernest L Sewell, IV.

Image credits: © 2009 Ernest L Sewell, IV | ℗ 2009 Fourth Productions | All Rights Reserved. | May Not Be Reproduced or Used Without Express Written Permission of Ernest L Sewell, IV.

Tree hugger.

I took some tree pictures this evening. I realized one 2' tree in a corner has yet to have decorations. I'll have to spruce it up before I take another picture. I also took some close up pictures of some cooler ornaments I have on the tree. ALL of the Christmas pictures are coming up in the next day or so.

I kind of enjoyed the light flare that reflected back onto my lip, so I left it.
Black Hugs

This is just a quick close up shot of the tree. A bit of a teaser, if you will. Check the picture for notes.

The tree is a golden "champagne" (the official color). The ornaments are a more burnt/darker red, dark amber, and gold. Very sparkly. The ribbons I cut myself. they're a burnt burgundy with gold detail.

I'll have a more well lit picture, and detailed picture soon, once I know it's how I want it. But I think it's pretty much done.

Big On Black

Just here.

It's been a day of decorating, and a lot of nonsense, which I won't go into. I'm just spent at this point. You know, tired, blank, and ready for bed. The Christmas tree looks good, and I'll be uploading pictures soon of it. But for now....I'm looking forward to the new pillows I bought the other day. They're good, and I slept really well last night.

Here On Black

Image credits: © 2009 Ernest L Sewell, IV | ℗ 2009 Fourth Productions | All Rights Reserved. | May Not Be Reproduced or Used Without Express Written Permission of Ernest L Sewell, IV.