Soilent Green\A Perfect Murder\Into the Moat\Watch them Die

July 27 @ Ascot Room, Minneapolis

Mainly stoked to get a chance to catch WATCH THEM DIE and SOILENT GREEN. First band was already on stage as I walked thru the door. Little displeased to find out it was WATCH THEM DIE -- who's in charge of deciding what order they play? I liked what I heard but didn't have much time to get a real good feel for them. Decided to get a beer only to find out the cooler wasn't stocked. Only mixed drinks and red bull (who's in charge of stocking the cooler?). I only caught 2 songs from them but by the time I was finally settled in they were done. They had a nice aggresive, straight ahead metal sound. Had the look of a band. Skinny dudes with shaved down heads and lots and lots of tatoos. I really wished I would have shown up a bit earlier. They will be on tour this fall with EXODUS and 3 INCHES OF BLOOD. Unfortunately the closest this tour gets to us is Des Moines on a Thursday. Maybe they'll hit Chicago, would definately be worth checking out.

Next up was INTO THE MOAT. They should have been the opener. They opened with some song that was some kind of metal jazz fusion type thing. All over the freakin place, pure chaos.
The second song reminded me of a train wreck. Except a train wreck has more structure to it's sounds. Vocals were slightly better than the sound of screaming humans that you would hear while a train wreck is occuring. Took the time to count the crowd and had about 40 people in attendance. Surprisingly about 6 of them were nice looking females -- definate bonus.

A PERFECT MURDER took the stage next. I ended up really enjoying these guys. Definately have PANTERA as one of their influences. Sound was an early Phil/PANTERA vibe. Vocals were also reminiscent of early Phil/Pantera. Although it wasn't the COWBOYS FROM HELL Phil where he's really singing but the early stuff where he's screaming/singing that sounds OK as opposed to later where Phil had the annoying scream only going on (did I confuse anyone with all that?). Just a nice straight metal sound, very enjoyable.

Last up was SOILENT GREEN. They ended things up with a decent performance. Singer also sounded like Phil Anselmo but I would catagorize him as the later more annoying Phil. The bands sound to me was somewhat unique. They used a lot of irregular beats on a regular basis. Would have some real nice slow metal parts (with the irregular beats) and jump into speed metal for parts before going back into the slow stuff. Solid performance. One thing of note, during SOILENT GREEN's performance their must have been about 8-10 security guards watching the floor. So about 1 security guard for every 4 people. I guess with Dimebag and the recent COC stabbing their must be security issues for metal shows???

How I rated them:
1. A PERFECT MURDER -- Liked them well enough to buy their CD. Good so far. (3-1/2 on a scale of 5)
2. SOILENT GREEN -- I liked them but something seems to be missing to get them to the next level. Not sure what that something is though. (3 out of 5)
3. WATCH THEM DIE -- I really wish I could have caught their whole set. If so I probably would have had them at #2. (Didn't see enough to give a rating)
4. INTO THE MOAT -- I appreciate their effort but I just didn't enjoy them. (1-1/2 out of 5)

It's time to officially get ready for Brainerd!!!!!

It's getting close to NHRA @ Brainerd time again!!! This will be my 11th straight year. Beer, grillin', fast cars and fast women. All the things I like. This is one of the best pics that I've taken there. 2 years ago -- Kenny Bernstein.

Faster Pussycat w/Pretty Boy Floyd

Friday August 5 @ Triple Rock Social Club 10PM

Thoughts on WICKED WISDOM

Chris Harris of MTV.com reviewed the opening show of this year's Ozzfest, which took place Friday (July 15) in Mansfield, Massachusetts. An excerpt from the review follows:"The scorched asphalt of the Tweeter Center's parking lot started to fill up at the unforgiving hour of 9 a.m., when one of this year's most anticipated (if for all the wrong reasons) bands was welcomed onto the stage by tour manager 'Big Dave' Moscato: WICKED WISDOM, the aggressive new metal target fronted by black-garbed Jada Pinkett Smith. The 'Woo' star was greeted with relentless booing and 'f--- you's from a furious sea of extended middle fingers as her five-piece band launched into 'Fakeness', a KITTIE-like tune that featured an almost spoken-word delivery from the headbanging Jada, spattered with unintelligible barks and growls."'You think I don't know, don't you?' she asked the crowd. 'But I do.' Pinkett Smith laughed off the 'you suck' chants and the concertgoers ridiculing her with grossly exaggerated moshing and neck-snapping headbangs through WICKED WISDOM's entire 20-minute set capped by a DISTURBED-ish track called 'You Can't Handle This'. Screaming 'Go Red Sox!' would have been Jada's best option for scoring applause.


I actually feel kind of bad for Jada and Will. Thru various articles that I have been reading it does appear that they both have a real love for this music. Their interest should be encouraged not mocked. They have money and could easily fund a record label (maybe Will already has a label -- what self respecting rapper doesn't?) and bring new bands to the forefront. Instead it appears that most people's minds are made up before the show starts. If they suck they suck but it's only a 20 minute set. Plus she's hot, I can pretty much sacrifice 20 minutes out of my day to watch her pretty much do anything she wants. We need more babes in metal, don't scare her away boys!!!!

I'm not real sure what's the problem. Is it because she's a woman? or because she's from hollywood? or because her husband's a rapper? It's probably not just one of these items but probably a combination of them all. After all we've had women (by the way where the heck is Lita Ford -- time for a comeback) and hollywood celebs and rappers (although I think ICE T's street tough image made it an easy crossover -- plus everybody loves a dude pimpin' ho's!!!). If you couple all those factors with the fact that most (but definately not all) "metalheads" are either young boys that fashion themselves as rebellious or anarchists OR drunken rednecks and you start to see the problems that Jada's dealing with. As for me, I look forward to the opportunity to watch her band. And if they suck I'll stare at her boobs for 20 minutes and instead of flippin her off I'll wipe the drool off my chin and give her some applause :-)

Amy Hayes

This is one of my favorite pictures. Me and Amy Hayes (Playboy model and boxing announcer).

Upcoming Shows of Interest

Thursday July 21 -- Scum of the Earth/Brand New Sin @ Star Central
Friday July 22 -- Split Lip Rayfield @ Lee's Liquor Lounge
Wednesday July 27 -- Watch Them Die/Soilent Green
Friday July 29 -- April Wine/Ted Nugent @ Ribfest, Harriet Island
Friday July 29 -- Skid Row @ POV's
Friday August 5 -- Faster Pussycat/Pretty Boy Floyd @ Triple Rock Social Club
Friday August 5 -- Jakyl @ POV's
Sunday August 7 -- Ozzfest
Monday August 15 -- Hank III @ First Ave
Monday August 15 -- Thor @ Triple Rock Social Club
Tuesday August 16 -- Cinderella/Ratt/Quiet Riot/Firehouse @ St.Paul
Friday August 19 -- Los Straitjackets @ Turf Club
Tuesday August 23 -- Hammerfall @ Fine Line
Wednesday August 24 -- Midnight Evils @ First Ave
Friday August 26 -- Motley Crue @ State Fair
Saturday September 10 -- The Atomic Punks @ POV's
Tuesday September 13 -- ZZ Top @ Mankato
Tuesday September 13 -- Obituary @ First Ave
Monday September 19 -- Apocalyptica @ Quest
Saturday October 8 -- Stryper @ Club 3 Degrees
Friday October 14 -- Nazareth @ Star Central
Monday December 5 -- Reverend Horton Heat/Supersuckers @ First Ave

Reverend Horton Heat

Will be here 12/05/05 @ First Ave w/Supersuckers

YESSSSSSS!!!!!!

"American Boy" Jason Litzau wins on ESPN

Jason Litzau barely passed his big test Friday night vs John Nolasco in what turned out to be a very entertaining fight. The first six rounds were close fought rounds with Litzau winning the majority of them. The seventh was being won by Litzau until he was knocked down near the end of the round. Somehow he survived the round but at the bell headed to the wrong corner. Litzau was clearly out on his feet and the fight could have been stopped at any time by the referee. However, the fight was allowed to continue and Nolasco made a huge mistake by not pressing matters in the eighth. He not only allowed Litzau to regain his senses he was so inactive that Litzau actually won a very boring round. The ninth and tenth rounds were very entertaining as a fully recovered Litzau dominated Nolasco to the point that he nearly knocked him down on several occasions. Litzau was awarded a very close split decision. Nice to see our Minnesota boy gain a win on a national stage like ESPN. This victory should ensure future appearances on ESPN. Maybe even a rematch with Nolasco.

Ms Mudslinger

June 30, 2005 Lee's Liquor Lounge, Minneapolis, MN

Lee's is definately one of my favorite places. I've really liked the place from the first time I walked into the joint (w/Mark Rogers to check out KNUCKLE DRAGGER -- I wish I would get a chance to see them again!!!!). Tonights first band was THE "expanded" MERCURIES. I think that everybody that knows me realizes I'm not a fan of country music. THE MERCURIES are a country band. That being said I must say that I really enjoyed their performance. I'm not a fan of "modern" country but these guys have an old school country sound. You can definately see the roots of rockabilly within the songs that they play. I did recognize 2 of the songs they played but was unfamiliar with the rest. Musically the band is very solid and plays well together. No instrument overwhelmed the others (they had 7 members on stage -- 38 SPECIAL would have been proud). I find the vocals to be very interesting. I would not categorize the lead singer as having an amazing voice. What I would say is that he has a solid voice that fits well with the songs. His voice just kind of draws you into the songs and makes them very enjoyable. In my opinion this is a much more important trait that merely sounding incredible. Several very cute girls on hand for the show and lots of dancers. Actually the thought of asking any of these babes to dance is intimidating as it became apparent that many of these people spent hours and hours at dance classes and practicing. Some of the couples were really fun to watch with all the intricate manuevers they were pulling off. A very nice and enjoyable set pulled off by THE MERCURIES.
The headliner for the night was ROSIE FLORES. I had never heard of her before and after a visit to her website found out she plays Honky Tonk which means little to me as I had no idea what that means. As it turns out Honky Tonk must mean rockabilly because that's how I would categorize her. Her set was just great!!!! She had an upbeat country/rock sound. More upbeat than JACK KNIFE & THE SHARPS but definately not up to the speed of pyschobilly such as REVEREND HORTON HEAT. She played some covers and some of her own songs which I guess she has gained some recognition with. I think the highlight was probably 2 nice upbeat JOHNNY CASH songs that I had actually never heard before. She has a nice voice, plays guitar well and just has a real pleasant on stage personality. AND I just love the sight of a stand up bass!!!! Something about them just gives a real nice sound. I would definately go check her out again. Overall another fun night of hanging out and listening to good music and musicians. PLUS Lee's serves Hamm's so I suckered myself into trying one. Not to bad, Hamm's really is the Beer refreshing!!!!
P.S. -- It was really fun to hang out w/Janis and her father but I found it rather odd that on several occasions they brought up the VIKINGS win over the packers in the playoffs (VIKINGS are 1-0 alltime in the playoffs against the pack). I guess they must have been impressed with the giant can of whup ass the VIKES opened that day.