Robin Gibb - Rest In Peace

I just read that less than an hour ago the world lost one of its greatest musicians ever existed. Robin Gibb, one of the founders of of the legendary Bee Gees died at 62 after battling illness.

Last time I saw Mr. Gibb on TV was during a game show where his wife accompanied him, and the last time I have sen a picture of him on newspaper when the news broke up of him battling cancer, and later on when he went into a coma. The last time I heard his Maurice was from his work on the Anniversary of the Titanic, where he composed a breath taking classical music piece.

As a very long time fan of the Bee Gees, my sadness is beyond apprehension. I grew up considering the three legendary musicians (Robin, Barry and Maurice) as one of my favorites, all time favorite.

The Bee Gees and their music has always occupied a place in my music library, and in my heart, and will be that way, forever.

Rest in peace, Mr. Gibb. Your voice, your music and your presence will be missed. Forever.

Chelsea vs Black Sabbath

I am not a sport person, and not a type of person who follow champion's league or any other sport competition.

A colleague of mine asked me to show some love to Chelsea when they were qualified to the quarter final. Since then I started to follow their matches.

I am so Happy for Chelsea becoming Europe's champions yesterday in the penalty shootout against Bayern Munich yesterday. Through out the match, there was a noticeable pressure from the German team on scoring.

I think that Chelsea's trainer, Di Matteo, already foresee that, and decided to setup the plan of 8 defending while attempting to opening a gap through Bayern to have desired score.

Fair to say that I can consider Robben as the star of the show. Truly he was a football bulldozer smashing the field in the hope of either making a goal or attempting to score one himself. There are other notable stars who showed stunning performance from the German team, like Ribery, among others.

But the one and only who would take the credit for this match is the one and only Didier Drogba from Chelsea who made the turn on his team favor.

It was a game of professional, a joy as well as a thrill.

But...



Why on earth did the match coincided with Black Sabbath concert in Birmingham? I am sure that a lot of people among the 2,000 die hard fans have the thrill doubled by attending the masters of heavy metal gig while their minds tuned in to the events in Germany.

Note: Yes, I am putting Bill Ward picture with the rest.

I read that Black Sabbath gig was professionally filmed! and they played "Wheels of Confusion" and "Dirty Woman" too? I will get the DVD when it comes out.

Mike Portnoy

Back in March, there was a big fuzz regarding the Mike Portnoy's interview, which as usual, his words were taken out of context, instead of consider it as  a warm and genuine expression of feelings from a great musician towards his fans..

I gave my opinion on Twitter about this, and it was an honor to see the legendary drummer  re-tweeting me.
Like many, I was very sad when I heard of Mr. Portnoey's departure from Dream Theater. I was extremely frustrated, to say the least.

I have seen Mike with Dream Theater live in Ahoy, The Netherlands two years ago. This was his last European tour with Dream Theater. It might be another reason I was frustrated!

Nevertheless, as I mentioned on twitter, life goes on, there were decisions made, and both Mike and DT are moving on now with their lives. Both are successful, in fact very successful - their past and present music is a proof for eternity. Any Dream Theater fan realize  that both had enough from this breakup affair, emotionally above anything else - read interviews and imagine the impact.

As loyal fans, it is not fair to keep hammering on this issue, and for Mike Portnoy, he doesn't owe anyone anything, not even a small justification to what he say or do.

See, I look at it like that: magnificent musicians like MP and Dream Theater (among others) are part of our lives, because we fans love their music, go to see them in concert, buy their CD's, and above all make time to listen to, read and watch their latest news through all sorts of media streaming exist on the planet.

That's why, we need to give them space, to help them to remain creative so we remain share these beautiful moments with what they make.