HANSON BROTHERS
hansonbrothers.net ♥ myspace.com/hansonbrotherscanada
The information I have on this It's a Living CD/DVD release is that it will be available sometime in November. At first glance, I thought those "Mmmbop" kids did not aged very well. As it turns out, this is yet another long line of confusing 'Hanson' band names. However, since they are Canadians, I wonder sometime if their name wasn't inspired by that hockey movie?

What's nice about this release is that the CD and DVD are on the same disc, so holding the disc can be tricky since you don't want to touch the data surface. My DVD player had a bit of a problem reading the DVD side, but it eventually worked out. There's no menus, it's pretty much a direct VHS transfer.

The show was recorded at the Coaldale Motor Inn in Alberta, Canada and shows off how punky and fun they are. Songs like "We're Bad" comes off sounding really great (love that oui oui thrown in there).

The song that I think the record label is using as promotion is "Stick Boy", which sounds like a late 70s UK song. When the bassline kicks in, it's the only sound you hear, except for the audience screaming.

Like typical punk songs, most of these songs are straight under three minutes... so they can squeeze in 27 tracks - all under an hour.

It's obvious to me these guys are into 70s garage punk that the Ramones made famous, but tend to lean towards the Sex Pistols as well. Plus, they also seem to have a love of all things hockey and cabbage. Fans of 70s punk with humor should definitely give this band a chance.

I thought I should also mention that the DVD video is called "All Grain Brewing with Johnny Hanson". It was overall enjoyable and it made brewing fun and easy. Even with the cheesy/corny self-aware "acting" from Johnny Hanson this production was well thought out and actually looks like some work was done in production!

By the way, I especially liked their Ramones cover, retitled appropriately as "Blitzkrieg Hops" with such catchy lines as Hey you! Let's brew!. It's obvious to me that these guys take their beer seriously, yet do not take themselves too seriously as demonstrated by their humor.

Good news is that they will be doing the touring thing:

11/27/2008 The Anza Club - Vancouver, BC
11/28/2008 King Cobra - Seattle, WA
11/29/2008 Berbati's Pan - Portland, OR
11/30/2008 Great American Music Hall - San Francisco, CA
12/02/2008 Harlow's - Sacramento, CA
12/03/2008 Echo - Los Angeles, CA
12/05/2008 Brick By Brick - San Diego, CA
12/06/2008 Hollywood Alley - Mesa, AZ
12/07/2008 Launch Pad - Albuquerque, NM
12/09/2008 Red 7 - Austin, TX
12/11/2008 Mojo's - Columbia, MO
12/12/2008 Reggie's - Chicago, IL
12/13/2008 High Noon Saloon - Madison, WI
12/14/2008 Triple Rock Social Club - Minneapolis, MN
12/15/2008 The Aquarium - Fargo, ND
12/17/2008 The Bandlander - Missoula, MT
12/18/2008 Ray's Golden Lion - Richmond, WA
12/19/2008 Hell's Kitchen - Tacoma, WA
12/20/2008 Sugar Nightclub - Victoria, BC

It's a Living is available from the band's own label, Wrong Records (this is a myspace page because my antivirus tells me their official site is infected with a worm).

BOB DYLAN
bobdylan.com ♥ bobdylanjesus.com
W♥M readers will have noted that I'm a big Bob Dylan fan and so I was pretty interested in the release of Inside Bob Dylan's Jesus Years: Busy Being Born... Again! DVD that's being released today, October 28^th.

Just for background purposes, fans who's followed Dylan's career would've noticed Dylan becoming all religious on them in the late 70s. This time period is better known as "The Jesus Years" and saw two albums of Christian gospel-inspired albums, Slow Train Coming (1979) and Saved (1980).

Director Joel Gilbert tries to answer how a Jewish folk singer from Minnesota ends up finding Jesus through various interviews and theories.

Some people thinks it's because of Dylan was always searching for something or seeking truth, he needed help in the struggle of his life's problems (this theory might be moot since I think at this point in his life, Dylan was pretty successful and well-known). Some speculated that Dylan's went through a religious/supernatural experience.

There's a lot to like about this documentary. First of all, its vision and direction and pacing comes from mega-superfan Gilbert, who's previously did at least four other Dylan documentaries - including Bob Dylan World Tour 1966 and Bob Dylan World Tours 1966-1974 Though the Camera of Barry Feinstein. He definitely knows what he's doing with his latest documentary.

I also liked the editing style, which is filled with background music (so there aren't any awkward silence moments) and transitional relocations (such as driving) are done in a way that's interesting.

There are things I didn't like - but these are very minor complaints. Some of the interviews, I felt could've been dropped - especially if it's not of or relating to Bob Dylan. I didn't like seeing the director in many of the frames (sorry Joel!), I feel that the director should be behind the camera, not on camera...

My main complaint is that their main subject, Bob Dylan, does not make an appearance. It's like tip-toeing around the answer, you know? There's obviously many reasons for this, I'm certain Dylan does not want any part of this to begin with.

Despite my minor complaints, the documentary was put together quite professionally. Features some great editing, watchable, and definitely worth your time if you're a Bob Dylan fan.

Bonus features on the DVD includes new interview footage, interviews with the late producer Jerry Wexler and pastor Bill Dwyer, and the full movie soundtrack in MP3 format by Dylan tribute band Highway 61 Revisited.

You can pick up the DVD (with bonus MP3s on the disc) at bobdylanjesus.com