Van Halen – Tattoo from Van Halen on Vimeo.

Any music fan knows that when their favorite musician(s) releases new material, the moment you hear it, it can be a very special moment. That moment has occurred for me 8 times since the late 80s with the band I’ve followed since 1986: Van Halen. Today, VH released their first single “Tattoo” from their new album A Different Kind of Truth (release date Feb 7). It’s been nearly 8 years since VH’s last new song (“It’s About Time” off The Best of Both Worlds with Sammy Hagar; the band also recorded 2 rather forgettable songs with Sammy). The forthcoming album will be the first studio album for the band since 1998′s Van Halen III with Gary Cherone. The last time they recorded with David Lee Roth was in 1996 for “Me Wise Magic” and “Can’t Get This Stuff No More” from Best Of, Volume I. Truth is the first studio album with Dave since their landmark 1984 album. The new album will also be their first with Wolfgang Van Halen playing bass.

My thoughts on the new song “Tattoo”? It ain’t bad, but it ain’t great either. The lyrics have Dave written all over them: “Mousewife to bombshell in the time it took to get that new tattoo”. Wasn’t crazy of the repetitive chorus at first, but it has actually grown on me. Alex and Wolf maintain the foundation with a solid groove. And Eddie’s guitar is heaven; his signature “brown” sound is back in full force.

I had my doubts on whether Wolfgang could play with the band. But after watching this video of VH performing “She’s a Woman” at their Cafe Wha? show last week, he proved me wrong. The audio isn’t great, but you can clearly hear Wolfgang tear it up on the bass.

People are going to inevitably compare the new stuff to VH from both the Dave and Sammy eras. I don’t expect A Different Kind of Truth to rival any of their classic albums; most bands can’t, and I don’t think that’s the intent. It is 2012, and three quarters of the band are pushing 60 (Wolfgang turns 21 in March). I mean, come on – look at the Rolling Stones, for crying out loud. I’m just happy to listen to the band, and it’s exciting to hear new material from a group who is clearly having fun together once again. If there’s anything that gives me goosebumps, it’s listening to Eddie play. I anxiously await the arrival of the new album.

Now the only thing I haven’t done yet is see them in concert with Dave…

When I first heard of Beatles Rock Band, I was skeptical. I’m a huge fan of the Beatles thanks to my parents, my uncle, and my cousin. But I never thought that it would be fun to play their music a la Guitar Hero. Then D saw the game’s presentation during the E3 convention in the spring, and he noted he liked some of the songs; this prompted him to borrow some of my Beatles albums. My buddy Scott has told me that the beauty of these music games is that it exposes younger generations to the music we enjoyed when we were their age.

My curiosity piqued as the release date quickly approached for Beatles RB. The internet was full of buzz surrounding the game and the re-release of remastered versions of the band’s complete catalog on CD. My only dilemma was for which game system should I buy it for. Not wanting to get burned like I did with GH Metallica, I decided on the Wii version.

The game is not difficult like GH Metallica, nor is it challenging. It does have a good selection of songs, but they could have added more (where’s George’s “I Want To Tell You”?). You can also purchase more song downloads from the online store, although I have yet to access it. I currently enjoy playing guitar on “Day Tripper”, “And Your Bird Can Sing”, “Birthday”, and “Here Comes The Sun”. Having bought the “band” version (guitar, drums, and microphone), it also allows me to play like Ringo (more difficult than one can imagine), or sing along with any of them. I’m no singer, but I’d like to think I have good tone (you certainly won’t catch me at karaoke night anywhere). What is really nice about Beatles RB is the feature of singing harmonies on their songs. I always wanted to learn John Lennon’s harmonies on Paul McCartney’s tunes; now I can (at least, on the songs that are featured on the game).

What I also enjoy is being able to hear these songs remastered. The songs sound so much better than what I currently own on CD. Because of this, I desperately crave owning the Beatles Stereo Box Set (wish list here)!

This game isn’t for just the casual gamer; you must be a fan of the Beatles and their music to enjoy this game. I still feel that GH Metallica is a more complete game, but Beatles RB is not too far behind and is just as fun.

Once you’ve been tagged… (1) Turn on your MP3 player. (2) Go to SHUFFLE songs mode. (3) Write down the first 15 songs that come up–song title and artist–NO editing/cheating, please. (4) Choose some number of people (more than zero, fewer than all) to be tagged. It is generally considered to be in good taste to tag the person who tagged you. (Edit: If you’ve already done this note and had the nerve not to include me, feel free to just forward your original one my way — these things take too much work as is.)

If I tagged you, it’s because I want to know more about your musical tastes, or at least a random sampling thereof.

(To do this, go to “NOTES” under tabs on your profile page, paste these instructions in the body of the note, enter your 15 Shuffle Songs, Click ‘Preview’ below to tag 25 people (in the right hand corner of the app) then click Publish, the little blue box at the bottom of your screen).

1. Every Breath You Take – The Police
2. The Way I Am – Eminem
3. God Is A Bullet – Concrete Blonde
4. Sunday Morning – No Doubt
5. Kite – U2
6. (Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay – Otis Redding
7. Hanging On Too Long – Duffy
8. No Leaf Clover – Metallica
9. Morningside – Sara Bareilles
10. Again Today/Hiding My Heart – Brandi Carlile
11. In The Meantime – Spacehog
12. Save The Last Dance For Me – The Drifters
13. Ain’t It The Life – Foo Fighters
14. Atlantic City – Bruce Springsteen
15. On My Way – INXS

Late Thursday afternoon, my manager had just given me my annual evaluation. When I returned to my desk, my coworker broke the news to me that Michael Jackson had died. I was shocked. But that was it. No tears, no real sadness. I watched a portion of Dateline’s special later that night. I read the updates that poured out of Twitter and Facebook, a mixture of sadness and mockery. Not wanting to get sucked in, I avoided it like any other media event Michael Jackson was involved in.

News of his death brought back memories of “Billie Jean”, the Moonwalk on the Motown 25 special, Eddie Van Halen playing on “Beat It”, the “Thriller” video. However, I steered clear of being a fan when the weirdness took over. I really thought he could put out a new album of great music, but I think he tried too hard to top himself instead of being himself. And the media circus always outdid what he put out from the studio. From the plastic surgeries to the accusations to the trial, I cared less about Michael Jackson.

After nearly 2 days since the announcement, the sadness is starting to kick in. I tried searching for my copies of Thriller and Bad but could not find them. Frustrated, I played disc 1 of HIStory, and I had forgotten how awesome his music is; my childhood has come back to me. He will be missed by millions, myself included. Rest in peace, Michael Jackson.

It’s about time iTunes is freeing its content from copy protection. I started purchasing music from iTunes in 2004. But in the last year, I made the move to Amazon’s MP3 store. Amazon sells songs with no DRM, at variable prices, and in a 256 kbps MP3 format. With the latter, I can play the song on any device, on any computer, using any media player. With iTunes, their format is still in their proprietary AAC format, which means only an iPod can play the file. Now I realize I currently own an iPod, but if I want to stream my music to, say, Daniel’s Xbox 360 or our TiVo, it won’t play AAC files, only MP3. The nice thing about iTunes going DRM free is that I can now convert the file from AAC to MP3 (you can’t do that with AAC’s with DRM).

I can also upgrade previously purchased songs from iTunes to the DRM-free formats. The bad news? I have to pay roughly $.30 per song to upgrade, and I’d have to do it in bulk. That’s almost $100 in one shot (NO thanks). Amazon is still my #1 choice for digital music, but if I can’t get it there, I know now that I can rely on iTunes.