Tag: 1992

There Is Only One Batman

Posted on by Mike

This is one of those passings that many of us, not just me, could say did not see coming. I’d received a text on Friday, November 11th from my ex, simply reading “Kevin Conroy”. I asked why she brought him up and you don’t want to know my reaction to her response. Celebrity deaths mean shit to me. But this was not the usual celebrity death.

Kevin Conroy wasn’t an ordinary celebrity with longevity. No one voice actor in history since Casey Kasem as Shaggy in the Scooby Doo cartoons has EVER had the distinction of being a generational representation of a nationally recognized character the way Kevin was in regard to his affiliation with Batman, and the way he should sound. It’s rare for anyone to have that uniqueness, that natural ability, but Kevin was IT, in the same way that Mark Hamill, who before 1992 was just known as Luke Skywalker from those gay ass Star Wars movies, would be considered to be the single greatest Joker of ALL TIME.

It was 1992 when, on the heels of the release of Batman Returns, FOX premiered Batman: The Animated Series. It was infinitely darker in tone, making this supposed kid’s show appear to have more in common with Batman Returns than the campy Adam West show I just watched two years earlier, or even the old Batman cartoon from the late 60’s featuring Olan Soule as Batman and Casey Kasem as Robin. The show premiered on a Saturday. The episode was titled The Cat and The Claw, Pt. 1. Click here and skip to the 1:51 mark to see and hear for yourself why you’d be absolutely deaf if you didn’t shit yourself the moment you heard Kevin Conroy say “So… our new cat burglar’s a woman.”

With that one simplistic line, it was made clear that this Batman would be far more serious than what my eight-year-old self was accustomed to. It was darker, it was huskier, as Kevin himself said several times, and it was drenched in all things intimidating. The strangest part is that, even in 1992, I just knew that I was going to read every Batman related comic I’d go on to buy in Kevin’s voice. I also expected to hear his voice in any other Batman cartoon that would be released after Batman: The Animated Series. I don’t need to be told that I wasn’t that only one, and we were all right.

Over the next three decades, we’d be fortunate enough to hear Kevin resume his role as Batman in several incarnations of Batman: The Animated Series, including two absolutely stellar Justice League based shows, multiple straight to DVD releases, and subsequently, the CLASSIC Arkham video game trilogy. Neither of those three games, Batman: Arkham City in particular, would be the same without Kevin’s dark, brooding Batman. Only Kevin could properly articulate the process of Batman slowly losing his mind within three increasingly intense stories.

Anyone else could have tried to put their own spin on it. At this point Kevin’s voice was considered THE gold standard in which all other Batman voices were supposed to amount to. But it’s never the same and, for the purpose of this trilogy, authenticity WOULD have been examined and NO ONE could NATURALLY make Batman feel authentic the way Kevin Conroy could. This is something that’s been going in and out of my fucking brain as I’ve been watching playthroughs of all three Arkham games ever since the news of his passing was released.

But that’s why there will always be one Batman. That’s no one’s fault. Of anyone who’s portrayed him in live action movies and those who portrayed him in animated films, there’s only one man who had this natural ability draw from the memories of his rather shitty childhood, which I will not discuss here, and combine that with his Julliard training to relate to the tortured soul that is Batman. It’s Kevin after all, who came up with the idea the Bruce Wayne is the disguise and Batman is the real person, not the other way around. I caught that immediately in ’92 when I’d see a scene in which Bruce would talk to his colleagues in a rather high voice, but when he was alone again with Alfred, that voice would just DROP a whole two octaves because he no longer had to pretend.

It’s the total opposite of Clark Kent and Superman, or any other Superhero. It’s probably an accurate representation, as well, of how most people feel on a day-to-day basis. That’s why it worked. Some will say Michael Keaton started it in his first Batman movie. But what he was doing was mixing a standard talking voice as Bruce Wayne with a whisper when he was Batman, probably to conceal his true voice so no one could ever identify him. But it’s not the same as Kevin’s groundbreaking approach. Kevin’s approach evoked far more emotion regardless of the tone of any episode of any show or movie he appeared in over thirty years.

I’m going to end this by thanking Kevin. This isn’t just another piece of my childhood being taken away from me; this man defined a major portion of my fucking life as a whole. That’s not an everyday occurrence.

In Memory Of Nick Menza

Posted on by Mike

“TELL ME THIS ISN’T TRUE! I woke at 4 AM to hear Nick Menza passed away on 5/21 playing his drums w/Ohm at the Baked Potato.”

Well Dave, it’s true, sadly – not to mention extremely random!  Guess this serves you right for trying to low ball the guy just last year, eh?

I woke up very late today, having slept in after a very long powerlifting meet, which I’ll write about another time.  My girlfriend woke up after I did when I realized we slept the entire morning and she went to her phone.  “Holy shit!”, she said with the look of sheer shock on her face, and that when she showed me the Blabbermouth article:

“Former MEGADETH Drummer NICK MENZA Dies AT 51”

“WHAT?!”  I proceeded to read that he had passed out on stage in Studio City, Ca last night, three songs into a set with Jazz Fusion band OHM and was pronounced dead on arrival, most likely of a heart attack.  How ironic.  Because a heart attack is exactly how OHM’s last drummer, David Eagle, died just a year ago.  To further add to the irony for those of you who are completely unaware, OHM is fronted by ex-Megadeth guitarist Chris Poland.

A lot of musicians have been dropping like flies all year, most of them I truly could give two shits about but THIS is just a tad too random for me.  And it bothers me because this guy was seriously such a great drummer.  Everything he did, whether it was complicated or simple, sounded amazing because his feel was perfect.  Every time.

It definitely showed on those four albums he did with Megadeth, even on Cryptic Writings, the beginning of the band’s downfall as far as I’m concerned.  Listen to anything off his first two albums with them alone, Rust In Peace and Countdown To Extinction, and you’ll probably have no choice but to agree that he was probably the most athletic drummer Megadeth ever had.  Gar Samuelson was jazzy, Chuck Behler was damn good too, but neither Gar or Chuck had Nick’s energy.  Oh, it also helped that he had an incredible physique to go with that ability!

I wrote an article about Nick just over a year ago, not too long after I began this blog.  At the time it had been revealed that both Nick and Marty Friedman were in talks with Dave Mustaine regarding rejoining the band, prompting a full-on Rust In Peace-era reunion.  Problem?  Mustaine wanted to pretty much low ball Nick to the point that he’d be getting pennies in plain English.  Not too long before that he approached Mustaine during NAMM and Mustaine completely brushed him off – very immature for a guy that said he fired Nick from the band back in 1998 because of his immaturity.  Hey Dave, so…who’s the immature one now, Mr. Born-Again Bitch?

On top of that I’ve been seeing some recent pictures of Nick in the last few hours, he was looking really good and clearly looked like he was having a lot of fun on stage too.  My condolences go out to his family.  Here are a few tracks to demonstrate the sheer talent of Nick Menza without resorting to “Holy Wars…The Punishment Due”.

Rest In Peace Nick Menza 1964 – 2016

Practicing Riffs

Posted on by Mike

So I just uploaded two videos of myself practicing some riffs including my own original riffs.  I plan on recording some music in the next few weeks if all goes right.  I’ve said in the past that I’m retired for band life.  I don’t miss it AT ALL but I imagine that if I ever did go into that again then I’d start a raw metal band, kind of crusty and VERY offensive.

 

 

The pickups on the Destroyer sound way better than I figured they would have.  I had a wiring issue when I first played it; turned out it the top pot needed to be replaced, which was great because I really didn’t want to replace the pickups if I didn’t have to.

Final Thoughts

Speaking of offensive…so how about Phil Anselmo’s remarks at Dimebash, eh?  I’m not going to jump on the bandwagon and throw my two cents in because believe me when I tell you I’d come off as a hypocrite – and no, I’m not a white supremacist.  It’s funny that as soon as he said it was a joke made over white wine he was instantly called out because apparently he and Rita Haney were drinking alright – but not white wine.  In fact there was no white wine there at all.  But that’s not even the point because even though Phil gave a public apology as of this writing, chances are he’ll probably do it again.  The point is, for all those bands calling him out like what he did was so controversial, you obviously are all clueless to the fact that he’s done that shit before.  Hey here’s the proof for you’re viewing pleasure if you didn’t think it was bad enough that he said what he said during a show that was meant to honor his fallen bandmate  – skip to the 1:57 mark for the fun parts because White Power!  Right Phil??