LEMMY: 49% MOTHERF**KER, 51% SON OF A BITCH (DVD)

Lemmy. Sure his full name, Lemmy Kilmister, is as well known in rock and roll as anyone but just say Lemmy and there is almost no one on this earth who has owned an album/CD/MP3 that doesn't know who you are talking about. The raspy voiced rock music legend is the star of this wonderful documentary created by directors and producers Greg Olliver and Wes Orshoski. The filmmakers follow Lemmy from his modest if cluttered Hollywood, CA apartment to his favorite hangout nearby and his travels throughout the globe as the driving force behind his iconic band Motorhead.

Olliver and Orshoski are obviously Lemmy fans so this is not a hard nosed journalistic documentary of Lemmy's life but more of a celebration of a hard rock and metal icon. If metal, thrash and hard rock have a Godfather, his name is Lemmy.

If there is any surprise of all the things we learn about Lemmy the man is that he has a softer emotional side that we get a few short glimpses of. His tale of losing his first and only love to a heroin overdose in 1973 is one. Lemmy only talks about it briefly but it seems obvious to me it has affected him and his attitude towards relationships as well as his thoughts on heroin. Another glimpse of the heartfelt Lemmy would be in his cluttered, overstuffed apartment in Hollywood when he is asked what the most precious thing in that apartment is to him. He responds "my son" who is seated on the couch right next to him.

There are lots of clips of some other rock icons and musicians throughout the film who offer a short quote or story about Lemmy. "Motorhead transcends all forms of music movement"-Dave Navarro, He's the "hard rock Johnny Cash"-Duff McKagan, "Captain Hook"-Alice Cooper, "Lemmy should be a verb"-Lars Ulrich, "Lemmy is a legend, baddest motherfucker in the world"-Dave Grohl. There are countless others and they all have one thing in common, they all love Lemmy and you will too after you see this film.

Finally, you can't have a film about Lemmy without some great music. There are some great performance clips of Lemmy integrated into the film including a version of Damage Case  with Metallica on stage in Nashville in September of 2009 and his staple, Ace of Spades with Motorhead in Berlin in July of 2008.

Lemmy fan or not you will enjoy this film. It is available in DVD and Blu-Ray and can be ordered at:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddvd&field-keywords=lemmy%3A+49%25&rh=n%3A130%2Ck%3Alemmy%3A+49%25&ajr=3

"WE ARE MOTORHEAD AND WE PLAY ROCK AND ROLL" - Lemmy Kilmister

EDDIE TRUNK'S ESSENTIAL HARD ROCK AND HEAVY METAL

The world of hard rock & heavy metal has an ambassador and his name is Eddie Trunk. If you are a fan of the genre it's unlikely you've gone without hearing or seeing his work. Whether it was his first DJ gig at New Jersey's tiny little WDHA-FM, his world famous Friday/Saturday Night Rocks shows first on New York's  WNEW-FM and still going strong today as Friday Night Rocks on WAXQ-FM in New York, his early VJ stint on a fledgling VH1-Classic and the hugely successful That Metal Show also on VH1-Classic. Eddie also hosts a national radio show on Sirius-XM's Boneyard channel aptly named Eddie Trunk Live.

Eddie now brings his experience, expert knowledge, passion and unconditional love of music to the masses in book form.

Eddie Trunk's Essential Hard Rock And Heavy Metal is a collection of 35 bands and artists that the writer feels are the most essential to the genre and why it still resonates with it's fans, old and new, more than forty years after Black Sabbath's 1970 debut. There is a shout out at the end to another twenty seven bands that didn't make the cut but deserved mention. There will be room for debate on why some artists made the book and others didn't but that just adds to the fun of the discussion this book undoubtedly will make among the genre's following. In the end it's hard to argue with a book that has a forward written by the Metal God himself, Rob Halford.

All the big names are there. AC/DC, Metallica, the aforementioned Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Slayer, Thin Lizzy and Eddie's beloved UFO to name a few. With each of the top 35 Eddie shares their history, his stories of either seeing the band live or his personal interaction with them and sometimes both. My favorite features though are the "did you know" or "underground classic". Eddie shares facts about artists you probably didn't know and he also shares information on songs or CDs of your favorite performers you weren't aware you should be listening too. For you horror fans out there Eddie also mentions that Eddie Van Halen thought about replacing David Lee Roth when he left the band with Scandal's Patty Smyth. Shivers.

The most refreshing thing about Eddie is that he is brutally honest about his feelings. This is what makes him so successful on radio and television. No matter how much he loves a band or musician, no matter how big of a fan he is, he will not hold back when he disagrees with something they do. Kiss putting Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer in Ace & Peter Criss make-up for instance. Eddie is known to be a big Kiss fan and even does a Merry Kissmas episode of his radio show every holiday season in which he only plays Kiss. That said he is not going to see them do something he disagrees with and not voice his opinion.

The book has a glossy look, well thought out layout and some great photography. A must read for any head banger.

I already have my request for the sequel. Essential Hard Rock And Heavy Metal Guitarists. No rush Eddie, we'll be enjoying this one for some time to come.