Metal Nirvana Coming Soon

It's been a slow winter in terms of going to see live bands for me. There's been literally nothing that motivated me enough to get off my butt and go stand in a club to wait for those first notes to come on from the band.

So you might imagine how stoked I was to learn that one of my current favorite bands -- Arch Enemy -- would be coming to play in Philly at the TLA on May 9. PERFECT! The spring is without question, the best time of the year for metal shows. Unlike the winter, you don't have to drag around a coat while you're at the show. Perhaps more importantly, it's before the awfulness of summer package tour concerts (the sunburn, the drunk frat boys, the shitty raft of other bands between you and the guys and you want to see play -- you know, that kinda stuff). Needless to say, I quickly negotiated a kitchen pass for the night and bought a ticket. Awwww yea.

So how cool was it when I found out that in just about a month (April 24) the mighty High on Fire would be coming to decimate my favorite club for a metal show - the Troc. Frankly, at the moment, there is no band I'd rather see more. If you asked me to pick one band to see - it'd be these guys.

Not since going to NYC to see Enslaved in November have I had this kind of anticipation about upcoming shows.

What next? A Boris / Electric Wizard double-bill?

Some Serious Badassery

Over the past few weeks I've been discovering High on Fire. Good fucking god, what a genius body of heavy metal. Its as if they've taken the hardest, most seriously bad ass parts of the hard rock and metal cannons, cut away any of the frivolous shit associated with any of those elements, and distilled it into a nearly perfect heavy metal band.

I cannot fucking believe it's taken me this long to catch on to these guys. Wow.

Check out this live clip of to "Cross the Bridge," live in San Francisco, 2005.

Or

Their video for "Rumors of War."

Bill Maher "outs" Tom Brokaw

Is it just me, or did Bill Maher just tell Tom Brokaw that he dresses like a elderly gay man?

Showtime's "The Tudors" Inspires History Jones: Thoughts, observastions, and things i oughtta study up on about 16th Century England

What were the immediately preceding tensions between France and England?

What were the prevailing art and music trends at the court of Henry VIII?

How quickly does the Catholic Church fall into chaos?

How does protestantism gain hold in England?

What are the subsequent steps that occur in order for the new order be spread and consolidated?

Yes, 'tis baked...A yummy sandwich to enjoy.

Ingredients

• Four forkfuls of good, crunchy saurkraut
• One spoonful of horseradish
• Three spoonfuls of dijon mustard
• Chopped chunks of leftover chicken, turkey, or ham
• English Muffin, Bagel, or some other yummy bread item
• Good hunka cheese - either American, Cheddar, or Swiss

Steps

• Mix all ingredients in bowl
• Place equal scoops of the mixture on opposite halves of the bread
• Top each half with generous portion of american, swiss, or cheddar cheese.
• Bake in a toaster oven or under a broiler for 3-4 minutes .

Dude, don't zone out while the heat is on your sandwich...

Remove from heat and enjoy.

like a spike-adorned pendulum between dark blasts of light-speed death metal...

As someone who appreciates excellent writing, not to mention someone who loves me some death metal, I was truly impressed by a two-and-a-half-year-old review I recently read in Decibel. Check out this sentence by Kevin Stewart-Panko in a review of The Red Chord's "Clients" album:

Clients swings like a spike-adorned pendulum between dark blasts of light-speed death metal (artificial harmonics included!) to infectious and effective basic power chord progressions and back to violent expressions of technicality all played with the fervor of a starving pit bull gnashing on the flesh of a mail carrier, and the screams of your postie are what vocalist Guy Kozowyk appears to be interpreting with his dexterous vocal battering.

By the way, I have this album, and his description couldn't be any more right on.

Merle Haggard says he smoked pot with Hillary Clinton on Willie Nelson's bus.

I saw this happen live last night. It was a pretty freaking strange moment... and the implication was very very clear (as this blogger describes pretty well). Bill Maher was so stunned that he didn't really know what to do with the bombshell that had just been dropped, and he basically just ended the interview right there.

10 best albums of 2007

just in case anyone cares, these are my 10 best albums from 2007

1. arch enemy; rise of the tyrant
2. the national; the boxer
3. alcest; souvenirs d'autre monde
4. queens of the stone age; era vulgaris
5. baroness; red album
6. michael ian black; i am a wonderful man
7. hoots & hellmouth; hoots and hellmouth
8. shadows fall; the threads of life
9. rush; snakes and arrows
10. leng t'che; marsmus

Bhutto's Assassination

This situation is extremely troubling for anyone who cares about peace and stability in the world. Mark my words - when the history of our days is written, this is going to be a very disturbing turning point.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071228/ap_on_re_mi_ea/pakistan

help me name my fantasy football team

here's what i've got so far:

1. threat level: midnight (the office)
   
2. sparkle magic (donnie darko)
   
3. tuna colada (caddyshack)
   
4. 
   

you know i'm right

ok, i know it's horrible, but does anyone else long for the days before jeff tweedy got his life in order?

rusty cage, motherfucker!

when college started i was wound really tight. but i always knew there was a streak down inside. one that had been carefully managed. anyway, the year 1992 was the beginning of my wilder side. the wolf was loose. anyway, here's the point...RUSTY CAGE, MOTHERFUCKER! grab a mix tape from the summer of 1992 and chances are good that you can find this among those tapes made for you by your very cool buddy who had a radio show. if not, then your friends sucked and you missed the point.

bad blood lives!

fight!!! a good old fashioned brouhaha! a dust-up! an honest-to-goodness donnybrook! i've always loved a good baseball fight. and what passes today for a solid "incident" tends to be a really low-level kerfluffal. and i should also say that this was definitely not a brawl. but i must say i am really enjoying the testy nature of tonight's phillies-marlins game. there is truly intense dislike between these two teams, bad blood (YES!) and it's bubbling pretty intensely in the airlock. nice to see some baseball with balls.

if you're still not sure about rilo kiley as a band or about jenny lewis as an incredible hottie, may i humbly suggest watching a few of their live performance clips from the various late nite shows. the conan o'brian clip is a favorite of mine, but my buddy swears by the colin ferguson clip.

what i love most about the conan clip are the sexpot eye gestures. not since "walk like an egyptian" has a rock frontwoman radiated so much sexuality using only assets above her neck. plus, when conan comes on stage at the end, you get a sense of how absolutely tiny this gorgeous little woman is. frankly, conan looks like he might be able to step on her and squish her like an insect. seriously - he looks like manute bol next to her.

just watch the motherboy XXX episode and you'll be hooked forever.

arrested development is simply the best show fox has had since the simpsons. and yes, i realize i'm passing over 24 (i hope jack bauer doesn't kill me in my sleep tonight).

please take a moment, and sign the petition to save arrested development.

what i'm into right now, part deux...BEER.

love it. mean it. dream about it. seriously. so i got that goin' for me. which is nice.

i've recently gotten into homebrewing, which is without question the...Greatest...Hobby...Ever. i can't even begin to tell you how satisfying it is to drink a beer you actually made yourself, and better yet, have it taste fantastic. it's also pretty damn cool to share it with other people and see the look on their face when they discover with their very own tastebuds that you can produce beer. perhaps it's a messiah complex - you know, turning water into wine and that type of thing.

if you've ever wondered about making beer, i would absolutely recommend that you give it a try. it's really not that expensive to get started, and with this book (a.k.a. the bible of homebrewing), any moron can figure it out. there's also a very cool community of people out there that will help and support you in learning how to make great beer.

first of all, you will develop a special bond with your local homebrew store proprietor (my guru is a dude named barry in south philly). then, once you get going -- and develop the inevitable brewing addiction -- you'll really begin to appreciate some of the awesome people and resources that are out there. i can't say enough about james spencer, a guy from arkansas who runs a weekly brewing podcast called basic brewing radio. he's just so freakin helpful. james personally answers every single brewing email question that people send to him, and if he doesn't know the answer, he'll totally hook you up with an expert who does. it's just amazing how helpful and nice this guy is, and he's a great example of the people you'll find out there in the homebrewing community.

sorry if i'm proselytizing, but it's a cult, and i get extra cigarettes if you join.

what i'm into right now, part 1...

watching my pregnant wife's belly for our baby's foot. that's right, if you've ever gone through pregancy, you know that around 5 or 6 months you can sometimes actually see the little bugger pushing and/or kicking! pretty freakin' cool.

i'm new to blogging so bear with me, at least until i start getting a bit more savvy about how to make things fun and interesting. i guess i'll just start with a few posts about what i'm into right now... jump in with some comments if you're into this stuff and want to BS about it.