Commando 5231-5234

Commando 5231-5234 is out today in the UK (note the D-Day theme on this lot). Just google “Commando Comics” should you want to subscribe.

(Covers courtesy of Commando)

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Babymetal Glastonbury Festival shocker

The (sold out) Glastonbury Festival in the UK has gone public with the 2019 bill, and Babymetal is to perform at the Other Stage (said to be the best of the lot) on Sunday June 30. The amazing thing is that Babymetal are also performing a (second) night at the Yokohama Arena back home on June 29, so they will actually be resting on a flight on their way to the UK. Glastonbury Festival is a big deal. UK media, not least the BBC, will be all over it. In fact, when the BBC revealed the bill today, they showed a picture of Su-metal and Moametal to go with the story, taken at the Rob Halford collaboration at the APMAs in 2016. For UK fans, this is a shocker. No tickets available unless you pay up hard earned cash to shady figures. For Babymetal, it will put them in front of a huge audience that have never seen them before. The media exposure alone will be terrific. Of course they will play London on July 2 before heading back to Japan for more arena shows.

Well, they are obviously ready to work hard for top exposure. Got to love that.

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Worst May ever?

Mid-Sweden today. In the last 12 hours I have seen snow, hail, rain, all topped by a nice storm. All I have to say is, how crazy is this?

Have a day off tomorrow, no sun in sight for days though.

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Sakura Gakuin 2012 Photo Book

Added a third Sakura Gakuin Photo Book to the old collection through eBay recently, and like the others it was published when the gals in Babymetal was still part of this School Project. In other words, you get a lot of good stuff from the formative years of what is now a legendary offshoot from Sakura Gakuin. Seen on the cover of this book we have Ayaka Miyoshi, Ayami Mutou and Airi Matsui, all of whom has gone on to fine careers in the Japanese entertainment industry. Looks like all three has signed this book too, which makes it a pretty wonderful collectors item right there. I did get Suzuka Nakamoto´s autograph in the book that she had the cover of (that would be Su-metal, the singer in Babymetal), so having four autographs from the early days of this entity is not bad. Also, Ayami Mutou was in the Karen Girl´s in 2008-2010 with Suzuka, whom was the youngest of them in that outfit. The quality of these photo books is top notch, they are not cheap but they are cool. I guess this is what you could call a guilty pleasure?

(My image of said book)

(Thank you Kalle for your support)

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Talk of the day (Purple, Accept, Italeri)

DEEP PURPLE

Ian Gillan, Ian Paice and Roger Glover of Deep Purple picked up a prestigious Ivor Novello Award in London on May 23. The International Achievement Award was dedicated to the MK2 line-up and the legacy that they forged, which explains the absence of Don Airey and Steve Morse from the current band (a bit sad really that The Ivors had to go down that path). Still, good publicity.

ACCEPT

Accept will release a couple of classic albums in coloured Vinyl this summer. “Metal Heart” (red) on June 21 and “Balls To The Wall” (silver & black) on July 5 (my birthday incidentally).

ITALERI

Italian model company Italeri has issued a box called “Pegasus Bridge Airborn Assault”. It comes out as the 75th Anniversary of D-Day (June 6 1944) is coming up. You can basically build the Commando assault on the famous bridge in 1/72, which is pretty cool. Great looking box art too. I see a lot of publications on D-Day out there right now. There was a bunch of those five years ago as well.

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Gearing up for the music room

I showcased this old Whitesnake poster on this blog on April 29. I spent a small fortune in getting one framed and it will be on display in the downstairs music room (final major project in the man cave). For now it will have to wait for that room to take shape.

Down to the left you can see Sweden Rock Magazine (issue) 5 2019, which I bought on the same day as I picked this up. The magazine features Whitesnake (or David Coverdale) on the cover and it will give you an idea of the actual size of this poster.

(My image of said objects)

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Talk of the day (Whitesnake, Nazareth, Crystal Viper)

WHITESNAKE

Whitesnake entered the German charts at #3 with “Flesh & Blood” last week. It is the highest entry they have ever had in Germany.

NAZARETH

The first six Nazareth albums are now available on Vinyl, different colours for all of them. Excellent opportunity to add some classic Nazareth to the old collection.

CRYSTAL VIPER

Polish Metal outfit Crystal Viper are recording a new album. It will be titled “Tales Of Fire And Ice”. Best Metal band out there outside of Judas Priest.

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Nothing to see here

Went out to check if I had mail…

(My images)

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Commando 5227-5230

Commando 5227-5230 is out tomorrow in the UK. Just google “Commando Comics” should you want to subscribe.

(Covers courtesy of Commando)

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Talk of the day (Babymetal, Rainbow, Whitesnake)

BABYMETAL

Congratulations to Babymetal for reaching 50,000,000 YouTube hits with “Karate” today. It is the third most popular video, second only to “Gimme Chocolate!!” (102,000,000) and “Megitsune” (57,000,000). They are sitting on a very solid platform, but can they repeat the early hype in the years ahead?

RAINBOW

Ritchie Blackmore has dusted off an old Blackmore´s Night tune called “The Storm” and re-recorded it as a digital Rainbow Single. It will go out on May 17.

WHITESNAKE

The new Whitesnake album stormed the Japanese charts and reached a very respectable #1 position on the day of entry. This is not a Hard Rock chart or anything like that, it really was the best selling album by any artist in the country. Also, there is another issue of Sweden Rock Magazine coming out, the second in a row with David Coverdale on the cover. Maybe the time has come to bow out in style? People are very supportive and it is always great to leave when things are looking good. David will be 68 on September 22.

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