Vanda vs Campas

I don't see many ways Vanda can win this fight. Unless Vanda has improved his jab and defense enough from the Lowry fight it should be pretty tough to keep Campas from outworking and overwhelming him. Campas is just to solid and workmanlike for Vanda's limited skills to overcome. Vanda doesn't have the power for a puncher's chance coupled with the fact that Campas is rugged and can take a punch. Campas has fought top quality opponents while Vanda's opposition has been weak. All this leads me to believe that Campas will just throw a lot of punches and eventually wear Vanda down. This will lead to a stoppage in the last half of the fight or a lopsided decision with onlookers viewing a very battered and swollen Vanda face. Vanda's only chance is to discover a jab that can keep Campas off of him. Then use combinations to the body to slow Campas. Campas is not quick but Vanda will need to slow the volume of punches. When Campas stops throwing as many punches then Vanda can work the body and head and possibly take Yory Boy out if he lets his hands go and throw punches. Vanda has had a tendency to not throw punches for long periods of time and he must overcome this. Despite all his problems I would still like to see Vanda win because it means more big time boxing for Minnesota. However, on this night I feel we may be in store for a long lopsided fight with the visitor victorious. I look forward to a quality night of boxing and a chance to check out some hot ring card girls. Now if only boxing goddess Amy Hayes were in attendance!!!!

Mike

Cedar Lake Speedway

This year has the potential to be one of the best ever Masters weekends at Cedar Lake Speedway. The combined talents from the Polydome WDRL & Lucas Oil NARA series will be on hand along with some of the midwest’s best WISSOTA regulars. The car count should be large & the talent level stellar. Then for the first time the IRA 410 Sprint Series has been added to the Annual weekend event. Just imagine late models, sprints, & dirt…OH MY! This event has become a tradition for a group of us as I’m sure it has for some of you who are reading this post. I LOVE this facility; it’s location, the track itself, the WisconSIN cheese curds, the track management & employees, the backstretch bar, & the beer girlz.(Some who have danced on the bar itself in years past.) The backstretch bar(does it have a name?) has provided this race fan with some memoriable moments. Unfortunately they have revolved around one of Scott Bloomquist’s crew members(the notorius LAST-CALL BEER SHOTGUNNER) & WisconSIN’s own Wildman Dan Schlei..lei…lei…lei…lei…per!!! At one Master’s weekend Mr. Schleiper probably had more than enough of two of our group as they were both well past a .999 blood/alcohol level & repeatedly yelling out cat calls of “Schlei…lei…lei…lei…lei…per”…not knowing mind you that the whole time Dan Schleiper was standing right behind them. Myself & Steve Shaver got a kick outta this as I told Mr. Shaver “That it must be rough sometimes to have to actually put up with us drunken, race fans?” “Mostly humorous & harmless we are but I’m quite sure ANNOYING at times?” Also no one but NO ONE shotguns a can of beer like that Bloomquist crew guy…I don’t know if he’s still employed by Bloomquist but I bet he fits right in with the ROCK & ROLL atmosphere that Bloomquist personafies? Usually one of our group does the annual cookie toss, although it’s never been myself…a record that I am NOT in a hurry to break. Well here’s to the 7th Annual running of the Cedar Lake MASTERS, the Annual Saturday trip to the “Lochness” (or as I like to call it “The Good, the Bad, & the Ugly.), WisconSIN cheese curds, GOOD weather & not one, but TWO DOMINATING VICTORIES by DONNIE MORAN or John AN-DER-SON!!!


Randy

Judas Priest

June 1, Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul, MN

It's been years since I've seen Queensryche and they didn't disappoint. However, I think you needed to be a long time fan to get the most out of their performance. Most of the songs came off their first few albums and they only played a couple of their songs that received radio airplay. Band sounded good although it would have been nice if Chris DeGarmo was still in the band. It was pretty cool to hear old tunes such as "N M 156", "TAKE HOLD OF THE FLAME" and "QUEEN OF THE REICH". I wish Geoff Tate would have tried pulling off the wicked scream/falsetto at the beginning of "QUEEN OF THE REICH". But I suspect there's a reason he doesn't. Tate’s vocals were great as he didn’t miss a note which made for a very solid performance for the group.
The new Priest CD is solid and hopefully they are back together for awhile. Unfortunately there was probably only 3,000 to 4,000 fans in attendance. High ticket prices may have had something to do with that. Very large stage with plenty of room to roam about. Halford looked a little stiff, maybe arthritis is settling in the old boy. Priest has an extensive catalog so unless they play 3-4 hours something is going to be left out. I felt the biggest ommisions were “Sinner” , “Green Manalishi” and a song or 2 off of “Defenders of the Faith”. Highlights included “Metal Gods”, “Breaking the Law”, “Electric Eye”, “Painkiller”, “Hell Bent for Leather” and the 4 songs from the new album “Angel of Retribution”. This was a pretty even performance, solid all the way through so a little tough to pick anything that stuck out more than the rest. If I had to pick out the top moments I would choose “Another Thing Coming” (Yes, a bit played out but still their signature song) and “Hell Bent for Leather” (a classic song and always cool to see the cycle brought out on stage). I really liked the way Priest set the guitar players down on the lower level of the stage, in the forefront. Kind of put them on display. Halford then mostly hung out on the stairs and upper stage level. Halford himself had more wardrobe changes than Britney Spears. Black leather pants and continually changing jackets. He started with a long, shiny jacket that Liberace would have been proud of and then graduated into some type of goofy smoking jacket type thing that made me think that this is what somebody’s gay grandpa looks like (just needed a smoking pipe). Finally at the end of the show he graced us with a kick ass regular length leather jacket. He looked pretty bad ass for an old man. Keep in mind Halford pretty much singlehandedly brought leather into metal and this final ensamble didn’t disappoint.
All in all a pretty cool night. This was pretty much the perfect tour for me to catch Queensryche as they glossed over all the radio songs. Actually, I think both bands geared performances for their long time fans so hopefully nobody went home disappointed.

Music

Got some new cd's last night.

Early Man -- 3 songs, pretty good. You hear the vocals a lot more than you do live. Good CD but can't do justice to the fact that these guys just RIP live. Someday I hope I get a chance to see them again. If and when it happens I'll be chuggin beer and right down front!!!!
Egypt -- Production isn't great but you can tell the songs are decent. These guys are way better live though.
The Atomic Bitchwax -- A little disappointed in this one. Seemed to me like 1 was guitar driven. The vocals are to much in the forefront on 3. The music doesn't "take you away." I haven't heard 2, so maybe there has been a progression to this but after my initial listen I would definately prefer to listen to 1. There are a couple songs that stick out initially, maybe my viewpoint will change after a couple listens.
Debris Inc. -- Pretty solid. Couple songs that are just really catchy. Couple songs that you wonder why they're even on CD. Very pleased with CD though.
Alabama Thunderpussy -- Only listened to first couple songs but LOVE this so far. Very anxious to go home and listen to tonight. Music is just freakin awesome. Vocals are a little rough but don't detract from music (unlike BONGZILLA who's music is pretty good but vocals are among the worst I've heard -- along with THE MIGHTY NIMBUS). In fact, I get a feeling once I get used to vocals they may actually add to sound. CHECK OUT THE LINER NOTES, OUR OWN RYAN KITTLESON WAS GIVEN A THANKS!!!!
Mastodon -- Didn't get a chance to listen to yet. Anxious to hear as they will be appearing at OZZFEST which is going to be awesome this year. Hopefully I like so I have another killer band to check out.
Also I recommend a couple CD's that Ryan told me about:
THE ATOMIC BITCHWAX -- "1" --- Basically a very guitar driven, 70's fuzz rock sound. Very sweet. Ed, guitarist from MONSTER MAGNET plays on this which I didn't realize before I purchased. He's a very cool guy!!!!!
SUCKING IN THE 70's -- 2 CD collection of various popular 70's songs done by various stoner rock bands. I like this one a lot. Right now hard for me to pick out a favorite song pretty solid all the way through (maybe the Sabbath and Whitesnake songs stick out a bit).
GOATSNAKE -- Get anything from them. Doom rock (correct me if I get my terms incorrect Ryan, I'm relatively new to stoner/doom rock) basically a real slowed down Black Sabbath vibe.
BURNING BRIDES -- They have a hard rock sound that I think most of you would probably enjoy.
July is shaping up to be a very good month for shows:
July 6 -- Los Straitjackets (I've mentioned these guys again and again, your missing if you don't see them -- if you like music then you can enjoy the Straitjackets)
July 7-- Sounds of the Underground (bunch of good bands but highlights include GWAR, CLUTCH and LAMB OF GOD -- i might have to take a 1/2 day to see this)
July 8 -- Cardboard Vampryes (members of Alice in Chains, The Cult and Motley Crue --OK, I realize it's Corrabi but he was in CRUE)
July 15 -- The Atomic Punks (best tribute band in the world -- they do David Lee Roth Van Halen better than VH could right now)
July 16 -- Doors of the 21st Century w/Ratt,Cinderella,Quite Riot (Doors are awesome, Ian Astbury rules!!!)
July 21 -- Scum of the Earth with A Brand New Sin (I believe SCUM has guitarist from White Zombie/Rob Zombie so should be interesting. The 1 song I've heard from SIN is good. Reviewers claim they are great live)
July 27 -- Watch Them Die and Soilent Green (never heard either band but maybe worth checking out????)
July 28 -- Rick Springfield (Rockin Ribfest)
July 29 -- April Wine and Ted Nugent (Nugent is Nugent what can you say. If you've never seen him then you've missed out. Here's a chance to see him for free. Believe it or not April Wine is one of the bands that I've never seen but have desperately wanted to catch. Very excited for this. Rockin Ribfest)
August 7 -- Ozzy w/Sabbath, Iron Maiden (supposed to be playing only the early stuff), BLS, Shadow's Fall, The Haunted, Trivium (I love these guys) and Jada Pinkett Smith (or whatever her name is -- things could get ugly when she get's onstage. The metal community isn't happy with her selection. Rumors of Will Smith possibly performing also). To many good bands to name them all!!!!
August 19 -- Los Straitjackets (back @ The Turf Club. I prefer the First Ave show because Turf Club will be very packed.)
August 23 -- Hammerfall (nice old school metal sound)
August 26 -- Motley Crue
September 13 -- ZZ Top (Mankato)
October 14 -- Nazareth (These guys are pretty good in concert)

June Events

June 3 -- On A Pale Horse @ The Uptown Bar
June 3 thru 5 -- Twins vs Yankees
June 7 -- Deicide @ 4th St. Station
June 9 -- Amateur boxing, horse racing @ Canterbury Park
June 14 thru 16 -- Twins vs SF Giants
June 17 -- Pro boxing (Fox Sportsnet) @ Xcel
June 23 -- Amateur boxing, horse racing @ Canterbury Park
June 24 -- Pro boxing Matt Vanda vs Yory Boy Campas (PPV) @ Target Center
June 25 -- Stephan Percy @ 4th Street Station