Thor: The Canadian Heavy Metal Band You've Never Heard Of

One of the most outrageous heavy metal acts is one you've probably never heard of. Yet , Thor, from Vancouver, British Columbia, has been hard rocking for decades. The band's onstage theatrics are much like the American group KISS in many ways, with very elaborate stage shows and heavy uses of lazers and special effects, and led by a championship body builder by the name of Jon Mikl Thor.

Since the late 70's, and with the debut of the pretty good 1977 album, KEEP THE DOGS AWAY, Thor has been hard rocking Canada, but has really completely failed to make much of a dent in the United States market, despite some of the very best stage shows of any musical act. Today, after more than 30 years, the band still plays shows and still records albums. In fact, the band is working on a new album right now, and has a great catalog of 10 studio albums, 4 live or compilation albums and 5 EPs. That's an impressive catalog for a band that's mostly meant for Canadian market consumption only.

Early in the career of the band, Thor would use a three level stage, and Jon Mikl Thor would battle with lazer generated dragons onstage. Canadian kids thought this was great. It was like Canada's own version of KISS. Thor was like a real life comic book hero-type. But it never really caught on outside of Canada.

But the debut album, KEEP THE DOGS AWAY, has recently been reissued as a 30th anniversary edition by the band. And while most of the band's songs are always largely forgettable, they were still a great footnote in the Canadian heavy metal scene and probably deserved far more success than they actually attained for all of the effort. Afterall, Jon Mikl Thor spent a lot of time in gym to get that ultra muscle-bound look. At least you could listen.

CD Universe does a real nice job offering as many of Thor albums still in print as possible. Check them out. This is a pretty good heavy metal act that went nowhere, but worth a listen or two.

Dr. Conrad Murray Will Probably Have To Surrender On Manslaughter Charge On Thursday

Dr. Conrad Murray, the physician who prescribed Michael Jackson the drug that supposedly caused his death will likely have to surrender to authorities on Thursday at the earliest. The doctor will likely face a recommended $25,000 bail amount, which is a standard that Los Angeles County D.A. usually sets. Further, he could face up to four years in prison on the involuntary manslaughter charge.

For such a high profile doctor, this is a sad end to his career. And, apparently, mounting legal bills and court appearances at this point have already made life difficult for the doctor as he failed to appear in a Las Vegas courtroom today to answer a complaint for a $131, 838.37 bill owed a medical imaging company, and lost the case because of failure to show.

Toyota's Loss Is Ford's Gain

The bad publicity hitting some Toyota models has apparently resulted in a 16% sales drop for the brand during January, where the company for the first time in many years after fell short of the 100,000 units sold mark in the U.S. market. At the same, both Ford and GM noted some healthy sales gains. Ford sales rose 25% from a year earlier, while GM noted a 14% jump to 146,315 units sold. These healthy auto sales figures might suggest that the economy is finally growing again, and the deep global recession might be easing.

While GM received financial aid from Washington, Ford was able to better manage through the recession on their own.

Cd Preview: Rob Zombie HELLBILLY DELUXE 2

Rob Zombie is back! After spending much time working on horror movie projects such as HALLOWEEN 2, and wrangling around with recording contracts after spending 18 years with Geffen Records, the long delayed, HELLBILLY DELUXE 2 is finally out today on his new Roadrunner Records label. One of the most apparent themes running through the new song titles is Rob Zombie's absolute love for those bad B movie horror exploitation films.

"Werewolf Women Of The S.S." sure sounds like a recipe for one of the most outrageous exploitation films since "Werewolves On Wheels", that bad biker/horror film exploitation film mixture. And titles like "Mars Needs Women" have already made it through the B film grind.

Some music critics might say that Rob Zombie songs often fall into a certain "schlocky groove" genre. Well, yeah, often they do. But, that's alright. His outrageous songs about Frankenstein, werewolves, witches and martians are pure fun to the horror movie fan set, regardless. But the album does tread a little new ground with the heavily orchestrated, "The Man That Laughs", a 10 minute epic, or plenty of homage to those bad 1960's garage type bands, with plenty of vocal distortion, and that underlying heavy driving guitar and keyboard riffs sound.

As usual, Rob Zombie rocks real hard here, and although he claims that he was able to write this album even faster than most any album ever, still the songs seem good enough to satisfy any longtime fans. It's been a whole two year wait since his EDUCATED HORSES album, and this effort seems well worth the wait to me.

Cd Universe is offering this cool new album at just $14.54 right today, which is a whole lot better than a bite from a werewolf or vampire or a silver bullet or stake through the heart.

The bottom line: +++(Three out of four stars, good)

Conan O'Brien Pays Production Staffers Out Of His Own Pocket

Conan O'Brien has stepped up in a generous offer to his nearly 50 production staffers who are union cameramen and other workers, and has paid them six weeks of full salary out of his own pocket. The kind offer has made these workers very happy according to a report from TMZ.

Some staffers were left out of the $43 million severance package deal that Conan O'Brien struck with NBC, so O'Brien decided to right this wrong on his own.

During a writer's strike, both Conan O'Brien and David Letterman showed support for their staff writers by growing breads as a form of protest until the strike ended.

Dr.Conrad Murray May Be Close To Being Charged In Michael Jackson's Death

Dr. Conrad Murray may be very close to being charged with some crime in connection Michael Jackson's death according to some reports from TMZ and other informed sources. According to another TMZ report, there was an important meeting at the L.A. County District Attorney's Office last Friday related to the Jackson death.

According to a TMZ report, Dr. Conrad Murray could be charged with involuntary manslaughter as soon as this week. Such a serious charge would end the doctor's career and will almost certainly land him in prison for several years.

Actor Rip Torn Acts Bizarre After Court Appearance

Actor Rip Torn had more great moments today as he looked unkempt and bizarre and spoke in some sort of foreign language rather than English after his arraignment hearing for breaking into a closed bank with a gun. It was another "trainwreck" classic performance by the actor.

According to the police report, the actor was heavily intoxicated, shoeless and with his pants unzipped at the time of his arrest. It had to be a lovely sight.

At one time, Elmore "Rip" Torn's good looks made a real favorite of female movie fans. But that train seems to have long since past the station.