Hasta La Gadget!

When you cast out a fishing line, you would imagine you’re going to have a wriggling aquatic creature on your hook when you pull it out. This beloved summer pastime isn’t for everyone, since not everyone is fond of sitting on a boat for hours, hoping to catch a single fish. If you’re aiming to turn that fish into dinner, then you’ve also got the fun of gutting and cleaning your catch afterward, which is not for the faint of heart.

If you want a more bountiful catch without all the work, then you might like these Firebuggz Fire Fishing Poles. These are for toasting marshmallows, roasting hot dogs or cooking other meats and veggies. It consists of a maple wood handle and stainless steel frame to help you evenly cook your food without having to get too close. You only need to crank the handle and enjoy your haul.

This set comes with 2 fishing pole roasters, 2 Crank-Eez roasting tools, a fishing pole stand, and a bag to carry everything in. The poles measure 34.5” long, while the line is 21”, and when you flick your wrist, your food will flip back and forth, making sure your snacks get even heat. This is no cheap trinket at $99, and while it is likely built to last and would be fun to use, whittling a stick or getting a more traditional roasting stick would likely be cheaper.

Available for purchase Amazon
[ The Firebuggz Fishing Pole will let you fish for S’mores copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

Jaguar has revealed its most powerful car ever, the Jaguar XE SV Project 8, a super-exclusive performance version of the XE sedan. The car, which so far has only been shown wrapped in camouflage, will be the handiwork of the Jaguar Land Rover Special Vehicle Operations (SVO) team, responsible for previous production-limited models like the F-TYPE Project 7. Indeed, only … Continue reading

Award-winning composer Christopher Lennertz (Supernatural, Identity Thief, Horrible Bosses, etc.) reunites for a fifth time with director Seth Gordon (The Goldbergs, Horrible Bosses, Identity Thief) to score Baywatch, the big-screen reboot of the blockbuster ’90s TV show and shares a track titled “Pier Rescue.” Featuring Pearl Jam’s Michael McCready, it combines orchestral, rock and electronic elements, an interesting counterpoint to the irreverent movie. Paramount Music releases the soundtrack today and La La Land Music will release the CD on June 6.

DAN FOGELBERG / LIVE AT CARNEGIE HALL and THE DEFINITIVE ANTHOLOGY

Although many critics dismissed Dan Fogelberg and his music as some sort of soulless, singer-songwriter pap, his songs were far from shallow and always deserved a more respectful examination from the know-it-alls. That opportunity presents itself in 2017 with two double-disc releases: An assembly of many of his popular recordings titled The Definitive Collection and the revealing Live At Carnegie Hall, recorded April 17, 1979, right before his run of overplayed radio hits from the double album The Innocent Age. In contrast with his musically challenging but increasingly more heavily produced studio albums like Nether Lands, Live At Carnegie Hall expertly presents a side of the artist many probably never know existed—Dan Fogelberg, the understated performer.

During his lifetime (1951-2007), he was never the cover boy or even the focus of many music magazines despite his being more flexible and talented than many of his contemporaries and the rock stars that energized magazine sales. Regardless, Fogelberg displayed his musicianship by eventually and expertly playing virtually all the instruments on his albums, reaching a point where including sidemen or even guests like Joni Mitchell and Emmylou Harris was completely unnecessary.

Live At Carnegie Hall features no band nor excess. It’s just Fogelberg and his guitar or piano, totally focusing on his songs and their arrangements without distraction. Among its twenty-six tracks, there isn’t one bad or questionable performance presented, though his low-speaker, occasionally eerie banter voice can be a bit disturbing. But there was an explanation for the Ben Carson approach: It was a Carnegie Hall concert and he admits to being “scared s**tless” in his rap before the second disc’s “Part of The Plan.” And in that prestigious setting, you can be sure many, many other performers get scared s**tless as well.

Regarding the material, the first disc features many of his most popular songs including a Toscanini piece (“Paris Nocturne”) and revisits with a couple of old friends such as “Stars” and “To The Morning.” But it’s disc two that really pulls the curtain back on Fogelberg, his material, subtle humor and impressive musicianship. The artist’s guitar workout, “Full Moon Mansion,” is performed so well, it makes one wonder why he never recorded a full-on instrumental album. Also on that disc, he introduces two “new” compositions—his future seasonal staple, “Same Old Lang Syne,” that greatly benefits from a bare bone presentation, plus “Beggar’s Game,” an eventual fan favorite.

Other stellar moments come earlier in the program in a quartet of loosely linked compositions, the first of which finds Fogelberg cleverly slipping a recognizable passage from Rogers & Hammerstein’s “My Favorite Things” into his interpretation of Luiz Bonfá’s “Manhã de Carnaval.” Next comes his “Guitar Etude #3” that includes a scat vocal that replaces Tim Weisberg’s original flute part from their Twin Sons Of Different Mothers release. He then noodles a quick “Joy To The World” riff while readying his cover of Elliott Delman’s “Plastered In Paris” that serves as an innocuous prologue for “The Chauvinist Song.” Supposedly, the latter’s lyrics were going to be so shocking that he preps the audience before delivering its “controversial” conclusion: “Call, no matter where you are, no matter near or far. But don’t reverse the charge, no chick is worth that much…” The cad! Okay, Fogelberg’s humor is meh but charming, and contained within his short, clever monologue segues throughout the concert, he reveals a particularly human Dan Fogelberg, again, not the perfectionist buried beneath thickly layered albums.

There are a couple of mastering or sourcing flaws such as “Song From Half Mountain”’s complete audio dropout at 0:05, and a tape drag and slight dropout at 0:44 on “Sketches Summer.” Plus there seems to be a disorienting “Sketches Summer” hiccup within “Sketches Winter” that might be a mastering error, a weird redo during the performance, or Fogelberg “artistically” repeating the passage. The good news is that Bob Ludwig expertly mastered the album from whatever he grabbed the audio from (soundboard cassettes?) and was able to salvage Fogelberg’s excellent adventure. Personally, this two plus hours of magic makes me both appreciate Dan Fogelberg and his music all the more and yearn for a time when the pop charts and airwaves were safe havens for intelligent, creative artists.

DISC ONE

Nether Lands

Once Upon A Time Stars

Crow

Old Tennessee

Song From Half Mountain

(Someone’s Been) Telling You Stories

To The Morning

Paris Nocturne

Sketches Summer

Sketches Winter

DISC TWO

Next Time

Manha de Carnaval

Guitar Etude No. 3

Plastered In Paris

The Chauvinist Song

Full Moon Mansion

Beggars Game

Same Old Lang Syne

All Night Long

Morning Sky

Souvenirs

Illinois

Part Of The Plan

There’s A Place In The World For A Gambler

Along The Road

Dan Fogelberg’s The Definitive Anthology gathers many of his hits and usual suspects but what can a compiler truly achieve with a project like this beyond a light introduction? Fogelberg was an album artist, each project being a singular, artistic statement, so even with thirty swings of the bat, no home run is possible considering Fogelberg’s creative intent. And though every track presented seems spot on, it’s still missing essentials such as “Dancing Shoes,” “Souvenirs/The Long Way,” “Stars,” “Old Tennessee,” and certainly a few others. My feeling is an already over-anthologized Fogelberg just isn’t a proper candidate for a series like this though Real Gone gets kudos for good intentions. If you only want Fogelberg’s hits, the biggest ones are sequestered within a little project he titled Greatest Hits. Otherwise… On the plus side, The Definitive Anthology does sound great—the best audio of any Fogelberg collection—and it contains great material that has a fine sequence. It has interesting liner notes and is definitely worth owning if you never picked up his four-disc Portrait box set. But “Definitive Anthology”? With Dan Fogelberg, not sure that’s possible…

DISC ONE

Phoenix

Sweet Magnolia (and the Traveling Salesman)

The Language of Love

Part Of The Plan

Same Old Lang Syne

Run For The Roses

Illinois

Nether Lands

There’s A Place In The World For A Gambler

Tucson, Arizona (Gazette)

Beggar’s Game

Heart Hotels

Believe In Me

She Don’t Look Back

DISC TWO

Nexus

Make Love Stay

Seeing You Again

Hard To Say

Missing You

As The Raven Flies

A Love Like This

Longer

Rhythm Of The Rain

Magic Every Moment

The Power Of Gold

Lonely In Love

To The Morning

Leader Of The Band / Washington Post March

CASSANDRA MAZE’S “WAIT” EXCLUSIVE/PREMIERE

Vancouver-based, alternative dance-pop singer and multi-instrumentalist Cassandra Maze (say that ten times fast) shares her new video for the song “Wait.” Co-written by Maze and Tanner Aguiar, it’s the first single from her forthcoming EP Velocity coming this summer from Zone Records. The song showcases Maze’s vocals over a hard-driving beat that emphasize the self-empowering themes of the song.

According to Maze…

“Tearing the clock from the wall and smashing it to bits represents taking control of your life and disrupting the errant path laid out before you. In doing so, you can get back on course.”

Exactly. What she said.

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The past and present collided Thursday night at the “Wonder Woman” premiere in Hollywood. 

Gal Gadot, who plays the DC heroine in the new film, and Lynda Carter, the original “Wonder Woman” star, both attended the event and had a total love fest on the red carpet. 

“I just love her very much,” Gadot said of Carter while speaking to Entertainment Tonight. “I think that she’s such a special woman.” 

To express just how much she admires Carter, Gadot literally bowed down to the actress. And judging by the photos, the feeling was mutual. 

“Wonder Woman” opens June 2. 

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President Donald Trump released a statement in honor of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month of fasting, on Friday.

“On behalf of the American people, I would like to wish all Muslims a joyful Ramadan,” the president wrote.

Unsurprisingly, much of his message focused on terrorism.

He continued: “America will always stand with our partners against terrorism and the ideology that fuels it. During this month of Ramadan, let us be resolved to spare no measure so that we may ensure that future generations will be free of this scourge and able to worship and commune in peace.”

Trump’s statement diverged from Ramadan greetings released in previous years by President Barack Obama, who spoke about celebrating and honoring the contributions of Muslims to American society.

“As Muslim Americans celebrate the holy month, I am reminded that we are one American family,” Obama wrote in his 2016 statement for Ramadan. “I stand firmly with Muslim American communities in rejection of the voices that seek to divide us or limit our religious freedoms or civil rights.”

Obama also acknowledged the millions of refugees, many of them Muslim, who have been displaced by war and crises around the globe.

In his message, Trump acknowledged some of the key themes of the holiday, including fasting, acts of charity and community engagement. He also referenced recent attacks in the United Kingdom and Egypt to point out that such “acts of depravity… are directly contrary to the spirit of Ramadan.”

The president, who just over a year ago said “I think Islam hates us,” has distanced himself from earlier negative comments about the faith. In a speech to leaders of 55 Muslim-majority countries Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Trump insisted he had nothing against Islam, itself.

“This is not a battle between different faiths, different sects, or different civilizations,” he told the leaders gathered for an Arab-Islamic-American summit. “This is a battle between barbaric criminals who seek to obliterate human life, and decent people of all religions who seek to protect it. This is a battle between good and evil.”

Read Trump’s full statement for Ramadan below:

Statement from President Donald J. Trump on Ramadan

On behalf of the American people, I would like to wish all Muslims a joyful Ramadan.

During this month of fasting from dawn to dusk, many Muslims in America and around the world will find meaning and inspiration in acts of charity and meditation that strengthen our communities. At its core, the spirit of Ramadan strengthens awareness of our shared obligation to reject violence, to pursue peace, and to give to those in need who are suffering from poverty or conflict.

This year, the holiday begins as the world mourns the innocent victims of barbaric terrorist attacks in the United Kingdom and Egypt, acts of depravity that are directly contrary to the spirit of Ramadan. Such acts only steel our resolve to defeat the terrorists and their perverted ideology.

On my recent visit to Saudi Arabia, I had the honor of meeting with the leaders of more than 50 Muslim nations. There, in the land of the two holiest sites in the Muslim world, we gathered to deliver together an emphatic message of partnership for the sake of peace, security, and prosperity for our countries and for the world.

I reiterate my message delivered in Riyadh: America will always stand with our partners against terrorism and the ideology that fuels it. During this month of Ramadan, let us be resolved to spare no measure so that we may ensure that future generations will be free of this scourge and able to worship and commune in peace.

I extend my best wishes to Muslims everywhere for a blessed month as you observe the Ramadan traditions of charity, fasting, and prayer. May God bless you and your families.

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