AND SPEAKING OF JEFFREY MORGAN’S MEDIA BLACKOUT #247!

Don Kirshner – 1934-2011 (R.I.P.) :: Exactly one year after Alice Cooper trashed the debut episode of Don’s In Concert program in 1972, the Kirsh was back with an even hipper show called Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert that single-handedly defined rock ’n’ roll television. Bonus points for shamelessly including his own name in the show’s title; a sure sign of promotional genius if there ever was one! And speaking of geniuses...

Ernie Kovacs – The Ernie Kovacs Album (Columbia) :: Strangely believe it, but today would have been Ernie’s 92nd birthday so light up a Dutch Masters in his honor! And speaking of honors...

Edie Adams – Here’s Edie (ABC) :: While you’re at it, why not torch a Muriel for his beautiful better half? And speaking of torches...

Freddie Mercury – “Hey Big Spender” (Wembley) :: He’s no Edie Adams.

Iron Butterfly – Concert & Documentary: Europe 1997 (MVD Visual) :: Prog rock’s greatest group ever reunites for a trippy head-expanding show which is ably augmented by some seriously pseudo-psychedelic solarized video that’s so strong I get a contact high just thinking about it!

Dwight Howard – Shoot For The Stars (Razor & Tie) :: The good news is that Orlando Magic all-star Howard sounds like Will Smith when he gets in the vocal paint. The bad news is that if I’d had an encouraging album like this to listen to while I was growing up in the ghetto, I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. I coulda been somebody instead of a rock critic, which is what I am, Charlie.

Elvis Presley & Will Smith – “In The Wild Wild Ghetto” (Charlie Wattstax) :: Exactly!

Jake Shimanukuro – Peace Love Ukulele (Hitchhike) :: This instrumental full band outing blends bravura covers of “Bohemian Rhapsody” and “Hallelujah” with original compositions that showcase Jake’s dexterity and uncanny ability to delve into realms of atmospheric ambience that expertly echo Mike Oldfield during his ethereal Ommadawn days.

Fantazzmo – 1: Enter The Fantazz (Supernova) :: Where to begin? With the sex-sodden soiree “Superman”? The power pop pud “I Know You’re Mine”? The ska-fuelled ballad “Drown Your Lies”? The shock rockin’ “We Are Waiting For You”? The atmospheric instrumental “Eternal Abyss”? The punky palpitation “Souls On Ice”? You decide!

SIZZLING PLATTER OF THE WEEK: Andy Creeggan – Andiwork III (Bongo Beat) :: Ernie Kovacs loved music more than you and I ever will so it’s only fitting that there’ve been a number of posthumous Kovacs albums released since his untimely death in 1961. But if television’s original pioneering visual genius had actually played an instrument in a studio all night instead of playing cards in a sauna all night, then this is the wonderfully weird and wonky record that he would’ve come up. It fact, it’s one of the most creatively inventive instrumental musical albums to come down the pike since Columbia released Peanuts: The Incomparable Comic Strip Comes To Life in 1962—and that’s definitely saying something you blockhead!

It’s been real!