Archive for June 2011
Classic Buttons
I was never much of a button collector but I bought a few. Here are 2 of the 3 I know that I had. The other was a Stryper button from 1985 (my first metal show) that I lost a few years back.
The Yngwie one came from Triumph/Yngwie 1986. Thomas’ dad took us to the show. He sat in the rafters while we stayed close to the front. Triumph was on the Sport of Kings tour and Yngwie was on the Trilogy tour. Jeff Scott Soto had come back into the band for the tour. Don’t really know why Boals left but we were all happy to see JSS on stage. Both bands were great. I couldn’t afford a shirt so a button was my souvenir.
The other is from Iron Maiden/Anthrax in 1991. I am pretty sure that I bought a Maiden shirt that likely disintegrated shortly after the show.
Yngwie and Anthrax buttons (click to enlarge)
I’ve seen Poison 3 times? What the hell is wrong with me?!
As I’ve been digging through all of my old ticket stubs recently I noticed one thing that has not left me at ease. Yes. I’ve been to 3 Poison shows. I mean, what the hell? I detest that band. I find their style of music to be of the utmost poseur category. I have a lot of friends who like them and that’s fine, but I don’t. Looking up who they were on tour with, it all starts to make a little sense.
The first time was in 2002 and they had Cinderella, Winger and Faster Pussycat as openers. Prior to this I had only seen Winger once in the late 80s and they were great live. I hated Cinderella back when they came out but over the years grew to appreciate them a little more. Faster Pussycat always sat well with me, even though they did some silly stuff too. But Poison? Blech! I will admit that they are entertaining live to a degree, I only wish I could have just turned their sound off completely. Their music and Brett Michael’s voice annoys me to no end. The other three bands put on a great show. It was worth the $10.
Poison Hollyweird World Tour 2002
Next up was 2003. Wait…what? I saw them 2 years in a row even? Shoot me now! At least I got free tix to this one. Vince Neil and the Bach-less Skid Row opened up. Awful. When I saw Skid Row in 1991, they were great but then again they had a great frontman at the time.
Poson Harder, Louder, Faster Tour 2003
Finally I saw them again in 2006. What is my f’ing problem? Ah, Cinderella opened up. Since seeing them a few years prior, I knew they were likely to put on another great show…and they did even though Kiefer’s voice was having troubles. Poison? Blah…again. My ticket says $10, but I think I got these for free.
Poison 20th Anniversary Tour 2006
If any of you ever see or hear me inclined to go see Poison again, please berate me and talk me out of it. I promise it wouldn’t take much to do. :)
King Diamond – August 16, 2000
In 2000, I still had my online music store (Acacia Music) and was still getting into shows free that had bands on Century Media and Metal Blade Records as they were my 2 main wholesale distributors. Lucky me. This King Diamond show at famed Jaxx Nightclub was certainly one of them. Shdaows Fall, Deep and Babylon Whores opened up this show.
After the show I was hanging out behind the venue hoping to meet the King. I did get to speak with Andy LaRocque for a little bit and had him sign a few CDs for me, including my Death CD that he played on. He saw that both Chuck Schuldiner had signed it and asked me where I got his signature. Cool dude.
Someone tapped me on the should and said, “There’s King!” He was getting in a car, no makeup on and I just put my hand out and said, “King, thanks for all the great music over the years!” He shook my hand as he was getting in the car and said, “Thanks! Gotta run, man. Thanks for coming.” Perfect. I was totally happy with that.
Meeting UDO/Raven – June 17, 2000
My good friend Nyk invited me to stay the weekend with him in Northern Virginia the same weekend that UDO and Raven were playing Jaxx Nightclub in Springfield. While I’m not the biggest Accept or Raven fan, I knew that we would be on the guestlist because at the time, Nyk was friends with John Gallagher of Raven. It would also be a good opportunity to get some more sigs in The Book. Raven’s drummer at the time was Hasselvander from Pentagram, a band that I am a HUGE fan of, so the chance to meet him is worth the trip in itself. And to be clear, I love Restless and Wild and Balls to the Wall but I’m not as familiar with their other albums. I owned Metal Heart and Russian Roulette at some point but I really don’t remember either one of them. And Raven? I’m not a fan…at all. There, I said it. Talented dudes, but not my thing.
The day of the show we have dinner with the Gallagher brothers and they were super nice guys. If memory serves me well, dinner was at an Asian place. A few Raven fans spotted them and came over to say hello. Honestly, prior to that day I wouldn’t know those dudes if they were standing next to me.
They take off for the show and we bum around for a bit then head there ourselves. We’re on the list and get to go in the “upper room” above the bar while one of the opening bands was on. Hasselvander was up there and let me tell you, he is one of the coolest dudes around. We talked about Pentagram quite a bit as he was still involved at the time and his connection with Blue Cheer and his new band, Hounds of Hasselvander. He was putting on some eyeliner and with it he can really pass for Ozzy. Fun dude. He signed the book as well the Gallagher brothers and I went back to put it in the car. It’s a bit of a pain to lug around all night.
Right as Raven was going on, we were just standing a ways back from the front and I turn to go get a drink or something and bump into this little stocky dude. I said, “Oh, sorry man. ” and he replied with “No problem.” And instantly it hit me. It was Udo! He must be about 5’1″ or so. I shook his hand and asked him to sign my ticket (see below).
Both bands put on great shows, no matter if I liked the music or not. The musicianship was top notch for sure.
Ticket signed by Udo...flip it over and you can almost make out his name.
Raven sigs in The Book on their page. (click to enlarge)
Slayer – Seasons In The Abyss Concert Ticket And More…
Since today is the International Day of Slayer, I thought I’d post this Slayer memory.
February 17, 1991, 10 days prior to my 21st birthday. Slayer and Testament invaded The Boathouse in Norfolk, VA. Slayer was promoting Seasons In The Abyss and testament was on The Souls of Black Tour. I had seen testament at least once before and they were awesome. To this day they are one of the best bands I have ever seen and I try to catch them every chance I get. I had never seen Slayer before this night and I wasn’t much of a fan of the Seasons album but liked everything before it. I remember going to buy my ticket and complaining that it was $15. Hell, I was only making about $6.50/hr or so at the time.
It was an awesome show though. Both bands delivered. Testament was phenomenal and Slayer was probably more intense than any band I had ever seen. There were mosh pits everywhere during Slayer. Like a fool I decided to get into one at the back of the venue. I may have gone around the circle once or twice when I fell over some dude who hit the floor in front of me. My face lands square on his back and I thought I broke my nose. Luckily there was no blood but my nose has been slightly off center ever since. Damn that hurt.
On the wall in various parts of the venue were printouts as seen below with the band’s photocopied autographs. I snagged one immediately when we walked in. After the show the staff was trying to clear the parking lot and a few of use were trying to ditch them and see if we could meet some of Slayer. I was able to get about 30 seconds with Kerry King who walked out with a towel around his neck. I asked him to sign the back of this piece of paper and he asked what I thought of the show. I told him I thought it was great. He signed it, shook my hand, thanked me and got on the bus after a few other folks got to talk with him for a moment. Total class act that night. Jeff Hanneman came out and had a group of guards around him. No one got close so we bailed.
It was a pretty cool night and overall an awesome show. I got to meet Lombardo several years later and will talk about that meeting some other time.
Slayer sign (click to enlarge)
Kerry King's autograph
The Metal Files 
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