The Montreux Jazz Festival was started in 1969 by the late Claude Nobs, and is renowned worldwide as one of if not the great Jazz festivals held; everyone who is anyone wants to play at this yearly event. Now, with consent from the festival and the artists, Eagle Rock Entertainment is making these concerts available for the first time on CD.

SANTANA AND MCLAUGHLIN: LIVE AT MONTREUX 2011 is one such concert…and what a concert it is!

In the annals of television comedy, some pairings are simply classic to the point of everlasting. I thus posit that the partnership of Leonard and Sheldon has already made that list (although Sheldon might point out that it would be more proper to call the team Cooper and Hofstadter, because traditionally comic pairings are known by their last names, the listing would be alphabetical, and -- most importantly -- it would list him first).

However, to simply reduce THE BIG BANG THEORY to nerdy roommates Leonard and Sheldon (Johnny Galecki and Jim Parsons) would be grossly unfair, because the show's success is due to its ensemble nature. The science squad would be woefully incomplete without the acerbic man-child Howard Wolowitz (Simon Helberg) and innocently naive Raj Koothrappali (Kunal Nayyar).

You’ve heard your friends talk about it. The sound of dice clacking together, as they're rolled with fervor, echoes within the walls of your local game shop. The collective groan, and/or sigh of relief, when the dice reveal the player's fate, sends a chill down your spine. "What's happening?" You ask yourself. "What is this mystical game that mixes superheroes with dice?" As you approach the tables, in awe, you discover...that you have absolutely no freaking clue what's going on!

Well, it’s time for you to get involved and be a part of the hype!

Blue Sky Studios and 20th Century Fox have debuted a brand new trailer for the upcoming THE PEANUTS movie. As part of their marketing campain, they've also set up a website where everyone can 'Peanutize' themselves! It's a clever idea to get people to share how they would look in the world created by Charles Shulz. Each image comes stamped with the movies release date to keep it in the front of everyone's minds as the viral campaign looks to invade social media. You have the option of saving your image as an avatar and as wallpaper for your desktop.

Your personal peanuts pressman has perpetrated his own picture for posterity

From the press release:

Welcome back to Critical Blast’s weekly look at what new comics you should check out each week.   Just a warning, I make these picks pretty much a week BEFORE I actually get to read any of these comics, so if something is a stinker, I take no blame on that.  Let's get to it! 

Comics shipping this week

The NFL is all about parity. This year, however, it's full of 'have's' and 'have not's'. According to ESPN, since 1990, only 22 of the 160 teams to start 0-2 have made the playoffs. With a total of 9 teams still seeking their first win of the 2015 season, let's take a look to see which ones have the best chance of turning things around and marching, or in some cases stumbling, into the playoffs.
 

His name is Barry Allen. And he is the fastest man alive.

When CW's SMALLVILLE began to introduce additional DC Universe characters, the trend was to stay away from anything that looked like a costume if a hoodie could suffice, finally giving way to the traditional Superman costume in the final episode. When ARROW debuted, it was, to a degree, still the hoody look, with some leather armor and facepaint added. It seemed the super-suits were definitely a no-go area for the network. So when they announced THE FLASH was coming, I was wondering what the new outfit would look like. I was ecstatic to see that it looked very Silver Age -- and that Grant Gustin was able to pull the look of Barry Allen off without it appearing to be a convention cosplay (which I love, but not in a television show).

Today, we are wrapping up our coverage of JOURNEY TO STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS.  

Like the last two reviews I did, these books are both classified as Young Adult books. SMUGGLER’S RUN stars Han and Chewbacca. LOST STARS introduces two new characters that have a major impact on the STAR WARS universe. More on that later.

With television premieres starting this week, let's take a look at the top 5 most anticipated shows for the 2015 Fall season. With two returning series, and three new ones, I've compiled a list that's diverse in both genre and network.

The Muppets - ABC (premieres 9/22 8:00 pm)

Another week of entertainment and pop-culture is in the books. The end of Summer is drawing nigh as the morning air has begun to greet us with a chill. Apples and pumpkins are beginning to become the flavors many people turn to, for their drinks, in the form of cider and coffee. With all of that comes a new fall television lineup! But before we can get to covering all the new and exciting shows, let’s revisit the events of last week with your…

Didn you notice someone missing from last night's Emmy Award ceremony? How about the former "Big Three" -- ABC, CBS and NBC? Oh, they were there, but with the onset of original programming offered through Internet channels, their presence is more of a token than ever. (We've discussed in the past, at length, that this was coming.) It was hard enough for traditional, free broadcast channels when the cable networks entered the fight, but with the advent of Netflix and Amazon, the competition for market share just got that much stiffer.

Cheap Pops - September 20, 2015
by Chris Delloiacono, Mike Maillaro and Jeff Ritter

This week!

Last week, we covered the “modern” Doctors.  Today, we wrap up our coverage of Doctor Who by going back to talk about all seven classic Doctors.  I tried to list my favorite episodes for each Doctor, but I have to admit, the titles for many of these serials were so generic that I may have missed some.  

Lots to cover here, so let’s get started:

1602: WITCH HUNTER ANGELA 3 by Marguerite Bennett, Kieren Gillen, Stephanie Hans, Frazer Irving

There's an interesting, long-standing trope in comic books that posits a superhero creates his own villains; that before the arrival of the superhero, there were no super-threats to the city he calls home, and that they are attracted there solely because the hero exists there to fight them.

The theme of GOTHAM runs counter to that proposition, putting forth the story of the titular city at least a decade prior to the arrival of the Dark Knight who would make Gotham City a name known around the world. It's a grim place, where the forces of law and order and the forces of the criminal underworld aren't pitted against each other but rather are entangled so much as to be indistinguishable one from the other.

I've been a fan of SUPERNATURAL for a very long time. I still remember when I first watched the show. My future wife, Patti, and I were in the midst of a cross country journey, and we stopped in Missouri for a couple days to visit my close friend Daron. He got us hooked by watching several episodes of the fledgling show's first season DVD. We picked up our own copy of the season as the journey took us to states further on down the road, and a love for the series was built traveling much the way Sam and Dean Winchester do in the series.

Loosen the noose and slowly step off the chair. Climb back inside from that window ledge. Shut the engine off, put out the cigarette and open the garage door. The Philadelphia Eagles are 0-1 to start the 2015 season, but there's no reason to write them off just yet. As a matter of fact, I'll give you 5 reasons why the sky isn't falling (yet).

According to the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America), KISS is now #1 with the most Gold Album Record awards. With 26 albums and 4 solo albums under the KISS brand (released simultaneously), a feat never duplicated, they have earned a total of 30 Gold albums. They have also acquired 14 Platinum and 3 multi-Platinum albums over the years.

A true testament of their longevity that spans across four decades.

From the press release:

“Congratulations to KISS – the new Gold standard for albums by American bands,” said Cary Sherman, Chairman & CEO, RIAA.  “What an extraordinary achievement for an enduring band.  Forty years later and the band is still rocking.  Congratulations to KISS on their Gold album milestone and continued success."

Welcome back to Critical Blast’s weekly look at what new comics you should check out each week.   Just a warning, I make these picks pretty much a week BEFORE I actually get to read any of these comics, so if something is a stinker, I take no blame on that.  Let's get to it! 

Comics shipping this week