Upcoming Events

Sept. 5 -- Still Remains @ Ascot
Sept. 6 -- Therion @ Ascot
Sept. 10 -- The Atomic Punks @ POV's
Sept. 13 -- ZZ Top @ Mankato
Sept. 13 -- Obituary/Napalm Death @ First Ave
Sept. 17 -- Fat Tire 40 @ Hayward, WI
Sept. 18 -- Billy Idol @ Myth Nightclub
Sept. 19 -- Apocalyptica @ Quest
Sept. 24 -- Queensryche @ Myth Nightclub
Sept. 25 -- Beyond Fear(featuring Ripper Owens) @ Star Central
Oct. 2 -- Krokus @ Star Central
Oct. 2 -- Black Dahlia Murder @ Quest
Oct. 2 -- Foo Fighters
Oct. 3 -- Every Time I Die/The Red Chord/The Estoric/High On Fire @ Ascot
Oct. 7 -- 2 Live Crew @ Station 4
Oct. 8 -- Stryper @ Club 3 Degrees
Oct. 9 -- Brides of Destruction/Adema @ Station 4
Oct. 13 -- Nashville Pussy/Zeke @ 400 Bar
Oct. 16 -- Michael Graves(Misfits)@Nomad World Pub
Oct. 21 -- H.I.M. @ Quest
Oct. 24 -- Exodus/3 Inches of Blood/Watch Them Die @ Station 4
Oct. 29 -- Prong/Impaler @ Station 4
Nov. 12 -- Audioslave
Nov. 13 -- BLS
Nov. 16 -- Children of Bodum/Trivium/Amon Amarth @ Quest
Dec. 5 -- Reverend Horton Heat/Supersuckers @ First Ave

Very Sad News -- Copied from Blabbermouth

VOIVOD guitarist Denis "Piggy" D'Amour passed away Friday night (August 26) at approximately 11:45 p.m. due to complications from advanced colon cancer — so advanced that the disease had spread to his liver. D'Amour slipped into a coma Thursday night and died less than 24 hours later in the palliative care unit of a Montreal hospital, surrounded by family and friends. He was 45 years old.Quebec City newspaper Le Soleil reported yesterday that D'Amour — who was diagnosed with colon cancer earlier in the summer — first entered the hospital for a routine operation, but several complications led his doctors to suspect more problems. Then the grim verdict was revealed: the cancer, already too advanced, was inoperable.Only two months ago, D'Amour was in the studio working on the 14th album from the Canadian thrash-metal pioneers VOIVOD. More than two dozen tracks are believed to have been demoed for the CD, for which the group recently inked a deal with The End Records. However, the band were forced to put studio work on hold while bassist Jason Newsted (ex-METALLICA) was treated for tendonitis.In a recent interview with Billboard.com, Newsted spoke about the material slated to appear on the group's next CD. "It's the most complete demos I've ever been involved in," he said. "[VOIVOD singer] Snake has already chosen his effects — exact timing of milliseconds for delay. We've had a long time to develop the demos, so there's about 23 or 25 songs that are absolutely listenable right now."Newsted was a huge fan of VOIVOD before he was invited to join and he remains a great admirer to this day. "They created something a long, long time ago that may have been emulated many, many times since — but nobody can do it like the original," he offered.Prior to his hospitalization, D'Amour laid down guitar tracks for a reunion CD from the legendary AUT'CHOSE, a '70s band from Montreal. That album is expected to surface next summer.

A Couple More

1st pic is me w/a Smurf -- Shawn Gann. Then we have one of Super Mike with one of his fans that was dazzled by his amazing stunts. Highlight of his show had to be the "heelclickers". Tough to pull off on a moped.

A Little Brainerd News

It just keeps getting better year after year. This was my 12th straight year for NHRA racing action @ BIR and I'm already planning for lucky #13. So many cool things this year. Had a lot of drivers come to our campsite once again. We also hung out with Pro Stock Biker Shawn Gann early in the week. My personal highlight was signing some young ladies bottom. As you can see from the pics above, BIR pulled out all the stops and brought in daredevil "Super" Mike to entertain the crowd with very dangerous moped stunts. In the other pic you can see "Super" Mike stopped by our campsite with Morgan Lucas. Please note that "Super" Mike always wears the proper protection. More pics coming in the following weeks.

Today's news is LOTS better.

Exodus, 3 Inches of Blood and Watch Them Die have added Twin Cities to their tour. Oct. 24 @ Station 4 (used to be Ryan's). Great news after yesterday's Ozzfest and Nashville Pussy news. My goodness there are a ton of Metal shows in Sept., Oct. and Nov. Will be updating calendar soon.

Egypt this Saturday @ Urban Wildlife. They closed the next door part of the bar where bands played to make into a strip joint. Now the bands play right in the bar itself. I'll be at this one as Egypt RAWKS!!!!

Brand New Sin named as opener for BLS on new tour. Very nice.

MN Boxing Update

A few tidbits of info for you.

From MN Boxing (check out my links on the right side of page):
Minnesota's middleweight state champ Chris Holt (12-4)of Detroit Lakes will be boxing Olympic gold medalist Andre Ward (4-0) this Thursday August 18th in San Jose, California on Fox Sports Net.Jason Litzau has signed a 4 year promotional contract with Main Events. . Main Events plans on bringing TV cards to Mn featuring Litzau! Jason will be fighting on the undercard of Arturo Gatti's next HBO fight in January. - Source: www.TheAmericanBoys.com

Also from the MN Boxing message board:
There is a group of fans watching the fight (Chris Holt) on the big screen at CR's Sports bar 8:00 p.m. 763-780-1585

I don't think Holt stands much of a chance in this fight as local boy Kenny Kost (who is probably a better fighter than Holt) has already lost to Ward. Kost did rock Ward early so Holt always stands a punchers chance as it appears Ward may have somewhat of a weak chin.

Finally, the St. Paul Pioneer Press is reporting that Matt Vanda's next fight will probably be at the end of October at the Target Center once again. No opponents have been mentioned at this time.

OZZFEST cancelled!!!!

This morning is full of disapointments. Star Tribune announced that Ozzfest will not be coming to this area as to many bands already have tours scheduled for our make up date. You could see this coming. I had checked several of the bands websites shortly after the original cancel and noticed that many were already booked. The Float Rite promoters really screwed this up. The concert should have went on as planned without Black Sabbath. Most concert attendees would have been happy with an extended Iron Maiden set that was done at the other venues that Sabbath cancelled. Instead we got left out.

Pure joy this morning to find out Nashville Pussy is finally coming here. More joy when I find out Zeke is one of the opening bands. Absolutely NO joy when I find out the date is Oct. 13. I'll be in KC watching Nascar. It's going to hurt to miss this one. For those of you interested it will be at the 400 Bar.

Hank III

August 15 @ First Avenue

J.B. Beverley & The Wayward Drifters opened the show. The band featured a stand up bass as well as a banjo. They ended up putting on a very nice performance. Some of the songs had an old school country feel while others were a nice rockabilly sound. At times the banjo shined including their rendition of the theme to Bonnie & Clyde. (3 on a 5 scale).

I have to admit I knew very little about Hank Williams III before this show. I did know that he was the grandson of Hank Williams Sr. and son of Hank Williams Jr. I didn’t know that he is the bass player for SuperJoint Ritual. A band that I like a bunch. I also didn’t realize his musical tastes are so varied. The show started as an old school country show. The band had a stand up bass, violin (or do they call that a fiddle?) and steel guitar.They played songs off his country CD as well as songs from Hank Sr., Hank Jr., Merle Haggard and a couple other legends of old school country. Although all songs were played a little more upbeat than the original form. Hank III wore his hair in a long Willie Nelson type pony tail with his hair pulled back and cowboy hat. Towards the end of this set the hat came off and the hair was let out giving him the look of most of today’s metalheads. At this point the band started ripping out songs in Hellbilly/Psychobilly fashion. At this point it became a lot of fun to watch the violin player as he was really rippin’ to keep up with the very fast paced music. I also must mention what a trip it was to watch the bass player throughout the show as the guy is a freak. Had a Mohawk going on and his style of play as well as facial gestures made him very entertaining. This was the first time I have ever seen a mosh pit break out during old school country songs. Some of the crowd was entertaining to watch as alcohol/drugs played a role in much of the behavior. There were definitely some people tweakin’. After a handful of songs the band took a break so that Hank’s band the Assjacks could set up. Gone were the violin, steel guitar and stand up bass. What was left was Hank on guitar, the bass player back on a traditional bass, the drummer (who was very, very good) and a backup vocalist. A large part of the crowd left at this point as the country part was done. The Assjacks came out and played for about 40 minutes. Their sound started with a punk/hardcore feel (including a Black Flag cover) and progressed to hardcore metal in the SuperJoint Ritual vein. This is by far the most diverse show that I had ever been to and I must admit I really enjoyed the performance. Without a doubt I will be back next time Hank III is in town. (3-1/2 out of 5).

LET'S GET READY TO RUMBLE!!!!

The week is finally here. Pic is from last years Saturday night Mardis Gras action. I've been saving my beads all year.

Cancellations

Please note following shows have been cancelled or postponed:

Aug. 5 Faster Pussycat -- cancelled
Aug. 7 Ozzfest -- postponed, tentatively Sept. 10
Aug. 19 Los Straitjackets -- cancelled

Metrodome

Not much going on this week so I thought I would rant a bit about the Metrodome. I know everyone is against this place but I'm going to be sad to see it go. I enjoy going to baseball games at this facility mainly because of weather reasons. Anybody that has been outside the last couple weeks knows why going to a game with an inside temp of 69-72 is OK. Also how many games in April and May are you going to have to sit thru during a light drizzle? Honestly, there are only a handful of nights every year that are ideal for sitting outside in an outdoor stadium. Wait until you have tickets for a Sunday afternoon game and you have to sit thru a scorching hot day. As a former season ticketholder for the Sioux Falls Canaries I can tell you those days are pure misery but as a baseball fan I sat thru them. The Dome has gotten better. The new turf seems to be working out great. I don't know why they can't work out the lighting so balls can be seen better but I'm sure they could if the time and/or money was invested. The main problem is the lack of revenue from luxury boxes. And that can't be fixed without a major overhaul. So I will renew my tickets if/when we get a new stadium but honestly I would prefer the Dome.

Ribfest

Once again Ribfest was lots of fun this year. Very good performances from Jimmy Van Zant (who plays Renegades in Burnsville this Friday) and Ted Nugent. A decent showing by April Wine. And even Rick Springfield was worth standing through. I scored a slot in the Miller VIP tent this year so tough to give a detailed account of all the acts. Highlights included for Jimmy Van Zant -- Freebird. Sure it's a played out song but when you here it again you realize there's a reason it's played out, it's an awesome song. April Wine -- Sign of the Gypsy Queen. A classic song that was really cool to hear live. Rick Springfield -- watching him dance around stage pretending to play guitar. Elvis was more realistic. They actually did turn his guitar on/up for his solo but otherwise it was turned off. Uncle Ted -- pretty much any time he talked, very entertaining. He did tone his act down for this public performance. The other highlight was the way he came firing out of the box. Dog Eat Dog, Wango Tango, Wang Dang Sweet Poontang, Great White Buffalo. Damn, that's impressive.

New club in Maplewood

http://www.mythnightclub.com