Some metal reflecting

So this past weekend, as I stated in my previous entry,I had the pleasure to go to one of the better metal shows I've seen in a long time. Anthrax, Testament, and Death Angel. Let's break down the bands playing:

Death Angel-I don't have much exposure to their material. Many, many moons ago I had one of their albums (Act III) and wasn't really impressed. There was one song on that album that I thought was OK but could do without the rest. So when they took the stage I wasn't sure what we'd see. Wow. That's all I can say. Death Angel kicked some serious ass. I was both amazed and overjoyed at how heavy their set was. I am converted and have already checked out their older stuff.

Testament- The band I was the most excited to see. I've missed Testament many times over the years. The worst being in 2010 when I saw them play a show with Exodus and Megadeth. I opted to buy a shirt during Exodus and figured I had plenty of time to make it back in for Testament. Thanks to the fucktard working the merch table I made it back in for the LAST song of Testament's set. So when Testament blasted onto the stage the whole place went nuts. What can I say? They were simply amazing. Not one dud song in the whole set. Chuck Billy,Testament's singer, introduced the song "Over the Wall" by daring fans to come over the security rail. Not two notes into the song and one person was being pulled out by security. Billy kept count during the song of how many people came over. In my 21 yrs of attending metal concerts, never have I seen more insanity or the power of metal and thrash displayed. It was simply the purest definition of what this music is about. In my opinion, Testament stole the show. The crowd was insane from start to finish. There wasn't one fan in attendance that wasn't headbanging or slam dancing (I refuse to call it "moshing" just because that's what trendy fucks label all wild concerts with).

Anthrax- This being the fifth time I've seen Anthrax, I somewhat knew what to expect. Over the last 10 yrs Anthrax hasn't changed their set list much. Most of the same songs were played from the other times I've seen them. The only real new addition was the songs from Worship Music, which were great. Seeing some of the songs from Worship Music live has renewed my interest in the album. It's not that I don't like it, the album in general just didn't click with me. I guess I'm still stuck in the '85-'87 era of Spreading the Disease and Among the Living. Speaking of the album Spreading the Disease, I was ecstatic when Anthrax played the track "Medusa". This song is a rare gem that was pretty much put to rest after the Among the Living tour in 1987-88 with sporadic performances during the reunion tour. Again, wow. Note for note perfect and it couldn't have been better. It's like someone popped a copy of the Spreading the Disease CD into the PA. Joey Belladonna is the voice of Anthrax.This old metal head smiled for the entire 4-5 minutes of the song. I'm a die hard supporter of that man as a singer. He seems to be getting BETTER with age. In fact, I didn't listen to Anthrax for about 6 yrs after Belladonna was fired in sheer protest. John Bush was OK, but it just wasn't Anthrax when he was singing.
Now that my review of the show is over, let's talk about a few things. Metal shows, and especially thrash shows are wild. Sometimes they are just fucking insane. I've seen fist fights, people crushed on the security barrier, even garbage cans thrown on stage during the show. My point being is that it's nuts. So to the woman that was close to the front who started throwing punches during Anthrax: what did you expect? It's wild. People are slam dancing and head banging. It's inevitable that you going are going to get pushed around and slammed into. Was she expecting fans to just stand there? I don't know and I don't get it. It's just a given. You have to fight to keep your spot. If not you'll find yourself pushed to the back very quickly. And on the other end of the spectrum was the fact of how many younger fans were in attendance for these bands that have been around for 20+ years. All three bands had three albums out before some of the younger fans were even born. But, it shows that there's a new generation of metal heads. That this music will go on into the future. Enough rambling. Cheers
P.S.- If anyone dares read this follow me on Twitter @troll827

Well, it hasn't been a month

As you can see from the title, it's some kind of accomplishment that it hasn't been a month since my last entry. Hell,I don't even think it's been a week yet. Still working on pharmacology in my paramedic class. Still hate it. I understand WHY we have to learn all of this, it's just a pain in the ass. I thought that anatomy and physiology was tough. This Saturday is my mom's birthday (happy birthday mom) and also I get to relive a little bit of my of my teenage years by seeing Testament and Anthrax. This deal is also made more sweet by the fact that I'll be seeing them in a tiny club where you are literally 5 ft from the band performing. Always a lot of fun and it's doesn't cost $100 for shitty seats up in the nose bleeds. It always amazes me how expensive concerts are these days. Back in 1991 when I first started going to live shows, all tickets were $20 and every show was general admission. It was an endurance test to see how long you could take the freezing cold (I'm looking at you Metallica in northern Indiana in the middle of November) just to get a good spot to see the show. I remember thinking that it was expensive but a good deal to go to Lollapalooza in 1996 and tickets were $42. Then, as 2000 started, things started to get crazy. My wife and I went to see Aerosmith in 2001 and paid $65 for tickets that were damn near the back of the arena. It seems that greed has won out again. All of these bands that have made millions of dollars charge the most for their shows. Why? Because they know people will pay the price. The same goes for sporting events. We sometimes go to minor league hockey games and it amazes me how inflated prices are. $2.50 for a bottle of water? Even at a local grocery store a CASE of water (24 bottles) is usually around $4. Again, people will pay the price. I'm guilty of it too. What really makes my head spin is the cost of alcohol at events like this. I'm not a real big drinker by nature, but I'll have a beer every now and then. One such occasion were at a hockey game and I bought a bottle of beer. Oh my god! $6 for one bottle. Then you see people walking around with four or five empty cups (that are comparable in price)and realize that supply and demand really does work. If the only beer you have available is $6 a bottle, then if you want a beer that's what you'll pay. Very random this time around. From paramedic class to concerts to ticket prices to beer prices. If anyone actually reads this, follow me on Twitter Follow @troll827

No motivation

Well, what I thought I might do weekly has now turned into monthly-namely this blog. I wrote one out last month with the intention of doing one the next week. I didn't. I've been such a slug lately when it comes to things I need to be getting done. I'm behind on both my clinical time and studying for my paramedic class. We had Christmas break and I haven't been able to get back into the groove of things. Enough of my whining. Let's discuss a few things that really burn my ass.

1.If you are going to be posting something on the Internet with the potential that thousands (or millions) of people are going to read, use the goddamn spell check. It's easy. There's even a little icon on the top. Nothing looks more ignorant than when someone posts something, whether it's Twitter, Facebook, etc., and tries to use a word that is spelled wrong. These are things that I spot right away and think what a dumb ass the person is for trying to spell something they can't. Play the game that you're good at and stick with what you know.

2.Learn the different forms of words. Your, there, and then have different spellings that mean different things. This is stuff that we learned in elementary school and junior high. The fact that YOU'RE (see, I used the right form) in YOUR (different spelling, different meaning) 20's or 30's and can't differentiate the forms of words is disturbing. It looks like our educational system has truly failed. Study the chart to see what I'm talking about.

3.Smartphones are very prevalent these days. If someone has a cell phone, more than likely it's a smartphone. They are truly wondrous devices that can do many things. One thing they also have is a full keyboard. Please, type out the whole fucking word when posting something or sending a text message. It's not cute (I find it very annoying) or witty when someone sends a text that says "U" instead of "you". Some smartphones will auto correct that to the correct word and just feeds into the laziness of the person typing the wrong word.
And lastly...
4. I live in northern Indiana. It gets cold here and sometimes we get a lot of snow. Personally, I despise both. I don't really like the cold and I HATE to shovel snow. So here's a couple points of contention with me: 1)Don't tell me how much you LOVE snow and that it's so great and winter is the best season ever. Chances are that the person telling me this isn't the one who has to go out in it or is the one who is shoveling the driveway three times a day. 2) If you live somewhere warm, don't give me weather updates every day talking about how warm and nice it is wherever you're at. If it's 3 degrees where I'm at I don't want to hear how it's 75 degrees and sunny where the person in question is at. Chances are it will make me hate you. Every day. And conversely...3)Don't live (or move) somewhere that is warm year round and then complain about how you miss the snow and that you wish you were here.  It will make me hate you even more.
 That's enough rambling and bitching for this entry. Hopefully I'll become more motivated with everything and it won't be a month. Follow @troll827