Simple Man Entertainment

Welcome back my friends to the third official installment of Simple Man Entertainment. I know that this blog has been very erratic with postings, but as I have a lot of irons in the fire I really don’t want to waste your time or mine with mediocre material. As a result I spend a lot of time watching, reading, and listening to all sorts of material in an effort to find the real gold nuggets in entertainment out there in order serve you up the best in any genre I recommend for you to sample.

With that being said I think I may have found something within the genre of music. Now I will tell you that these guys are not major headliners…..yet, but they have the talent and ability to be so, and the bands name is Downseed. Before I go any further I would like to thank a friend of mine Chrystal Mahan very much for bringing these guy’s to my attention.

The band Downseed was originally formed in 2000, and promptly took its place at the forefront of melodic heavy rock. The original lineup toured all over the country as well as being featured on radio shows, websites, and appearances in interviews. However after such a short period of time the band went on hiatus in 2001 to recover from the heavy toll all of that placed on them and ultimately split up.

However in 2005 they reformed the band with all new members except for original member and front man Matt McConnell. They also kept the tunes the original members performed on their roster, but looked to make new music more in keeping with the times that the group chose to re-forge themselves within.

Since the time of Downseeds reformation they have undergone several changes in the lineup of its members. The 05 incarnation consisted of Matt McConnell on vocals, Nate Cupp on guitars and vocals, Billy Davidson on drums, Phil Murray on bass, Brian fork on guitars, and Jack Carpenter on samples and keyboards. These guys were the new foundation for a hard hitting in your face sound that I think is off the chain.

However the current line up, which has changed to include Mike Green in place of Brian fork. In 08 Phil Murray would leave for personal reasons to be replaced by William Szcezpanik on bass and Billy Davidson left the same year being replaced by Dan Cribbins on drums. Jack Carpenter was replaced by Eean Lee on Keys. Mike Green would also leave and his axe duties picked up by Matt giving us the bands current lineup.

I will say this I listen to all kinds of music and I listen to hard rock and metal in particular, and these guys are some of the heaviest dudes I have heard come along in quite a while. I think these guys also have the potential to go all the way to the top with their current lineup as long as they avoid the pitfalls that seem to plague so many great, talented, young bands. I really look forward to seeing them in the national spotlight, and very soon I hope.

I am putting some links to the bands website, MySpace, and YouTube page on here as well as one of their videos. I hope you all enjoy them as much as I have. Have an awesome week and I will be back again soon CIAO4NOW!!!!!

http://www.myspace.com/downseed

http://www.youtube.com/downseed

http://www.downseed.com/

Welcome my friends to the 2nd installment of Simple Man Entertainment. I know I’m supposed to write about the movie “W” but to be honest I haven’t had the time to watch it again, but I will soon. Today I want to talk a little bit about a series of books I have been reading off and on for years. The series of books I want to talk about is the Shannara saga’s by Terry Brooks. Terry Brooks is a writer of fantasy fiction and epic fantasy.

There are five parts to the Shannara saga’s beginning with Shannara and the first book First King Of Shannara and ending in the Genesis Of Shannara and the last book The Elves Of Cintra. The other three parts of the saga are The Heritage of Shannara, The Voyage Of The Sherle Shannara, and The High Druid Of Shannara, which is the part I just finished. I will be starting part five The Genesis Of Shannara very soon.

If you are into fantasy fiction or epic fantasy I would recommend this author highly. I would put Terry Brooks in the same category of great authors in these genres as J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. As great as The Hobbit and The Lord Of The Rings and as well the Narnia saga’s so are these stories every bit as great within the same genres.

Terry Brooks has the ability to create this great, wonderful, magical, and savage world, and then draw you into it. His character development is outstanding with each of the characters having their own very unique abilities, personalities and backgrounds. He also has a great sense of the topography of the world that he has created within the four lands, which is the setting for much of these stories.

As an avid reader I have spent countless hours and days lost within the pages and the world that was created by Mr. Brooks, and I always come away thirsting for more. Fortunately there is plenty more from this fantastic writer to enjoy, because he has written many other books besides those of The World of Shannara. If you like to read to escape and epic fantasy is your cup of tea then I would highly recommend this author to you to read.

For the record I will never recommend a book, movie, band, or song that I have not read, watched or listened to first. This is because it would be ethically wrong to do so and I would feel betrayed if the same was done to me, and I am not here to betray anyone. I am only here to help you entertain yourselves and hopefully broaden your horizons with what you choose to entertain yourselves with.

I hope you all have an excellent evening and a great week. I will be back again soon, CIAO4NOW!!!!!

Hello my friends, today is the official first day of this blog Simple Man Entertainment. I was supposed to write about the movie “W”, but do to circumstances beyond my control I was unable to view the movie again, which is code for my life has been insane the last couple of days. Anyway instead of “W” I am going to write about a really good movie I watched over the past weekend called FIREPROOF.

This movie takes place in Albany GA a nice little town east of Atlanta. The story is about a firefighter Caleb Holt played by Kirk Cameron and his wife Catherine Holt who is played by Erin Bethea. They are having very serious marital problems and just about come to the end of their respective ropes when Caleb’s father John Holt who is played by Harris Malcom steps in and asked his son to try one more thing before calling it quits.

The task he sets for his son is anything but simple. What he asking of his son is to wait for forty days before divorcing his wife and in the mean time to try an experiment known as “The Love Dare”. The idea behind “The Love Dare” is that after forty days you will have either saved your marriage or have figured out for sure that it is over. This is done by performing forty different dares over that time each one different from the one before.

This movie is also very much about faith. Caleb’s father and mother who is played by Phyllis Malcom are born again Christians. “The Love dare” has its roots in their newfound faith, which Caleb soon figures out. Over the course of time and with help from his friend and co-worker Michael who is played by Ken Bevel also a devout Christian he learns to loved god and ultimately his wife.

The cast of this crew with the exception of Kirk Cameron are unprofessional actors and members of the same congregation and church. Now while it may be obvious that the players in this drama are not professionals the screenplay is very well written and the people are cast in their roles very well. The soundtrack for the movie blends very well into the background making it easy to watch the movie also. This is a movie that the entire family can watch as well.

On a scale of one to ten I would have to say that this movie would certainly be an eight. While there are no car chases, explosions, or guns going off it does have its action packed moments. I would definitely recommend it to those who have a family, who are looking for a feel good movie, or are having marital problems. For those in the last category I am going to suggest that you visit FireProofMyMarriage.com. I really hope it will help you if you need it.

Well my friends that is all I have for you today, but I will be back again next week. Have a terrific day, CIAO4NOW!!!!!

P.S. HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!!!!

Well folks you all know that I have been talking about starting a new blog on entertainment for some time now, and it has finally happened. As you know I have a political blog going on as well and while I really enjoy politics, and writing about it because it is important, it is not my passion. This blog will definitely be about some of those things that I am passionate about like music, books, and the performing arts. I will even write about movies from time to time.

I also expect this blog to be very interactive between you and me. I want to know what your interests are with regard to entertainment and what entertains you. Is it music, if so what genre? Do you like to read books I do, so what do you like to read? While I watch a lot of TV I primarily watch news as it feeds me the info I need for my political blog, but I do watch a few shows like NCIS, House, 24, Numbers, and Without a Trace, but what I want to know is what do you like to watch? The same goes for movies and I do watch a lot of those.

I am sure with this blog that you will get to know a little more about me and what makes me tick, and I am hoping to learn a little more about all of you to. My first official blog will be on Thursday of this week, and it just so happens to be a politically motivated film, which is just a coincidence. The film is “W”. If any of you have seen this movie I would appreciate hearing what you think about it when I post on Thursday.

I hope you all have an awesome day today, CIAO4NOW!!!!!