Rock N Roll Hall of Fame and the countdown.

So today made the decision to watch a program on my DVR today that I had been skipping over because I only recorded it to see the tail end of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony on Fuse. Well I still missed the end of the concert but I figured since it was a number one countdown show of Hall of Fame artists I figured what the hell I’ll watch it anyway. It was very interesting considering I ended up singing along to every video even the Madonna “Vogue” video. Well while watching it I noticed a few things about most of the videos or songs that I didn’t notice before. So I figured I’d go ahead and list the videos to the best of my memory and give my thoughts on them. So here goes.

The number ten video was Queen’s Under Pressure (aka the song that Vanilla Ice ripped off for “Ice Ice Baby”). The one thing I did not know about this song was the fact that Queen had a very special guest vocalist on this song, the one and only David “Ziggy Stardust” Bowie. The sad part was after knowing that Bowie sang background vocals on the song I did hear it but up until that point I thought it was just Freddie Mercury.

After that the next one they played was, I think, was Prince’s “Little Red Corvette”. Yes that’s right Prince is in the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame he was inducted alongside such great acts as ZZ Top and George Harrison in 2004. Now don’t get me wrong I enjoy his music, heck “When Doves Cry” is one of my all time favorite songs, but I just had no idea he was in there.

The next video they showed was “Rock the Casbah” by The Clash. Wow this was defiantly an 80’s video I mean I remember when it was in high rotation on MTV but seeing this and then seeing newer videos it just amazes me. The thing that caught my eye was the fact that the video was starting to remind me of a bad joke, “So a Rabi and an Arab are driving around Texas …” wow the 80’s were great, we didn’t have to worry about being politically correct.

The next one was “Vogue” by Madonna. All’s I can say about that video was I completely forgot how hot she was when she was younger, but now that she’s in her 50’s she’s more plain looking to me. Then of course who can forget the infamous cone bustier with what looked like she stuck two ice-cream cones to her chest.

After that they finally got back to rock with “Back in Black” by ACDC. Now this whole show was taped at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame annex in NYC and throughout the show they showed various displays. Well before this video they showed Angus Young’s school boy outfit. I found out that he first put it on as a dare and the crowd liked it so much that he made it his gimmick.

After that they played was the song “Drive” from one of REM’s best albums. Although I think they could have chosen a better song from it I would have picked either “Everybody Hurts” or “Man on the Moon” but whatever.

Now the next song they played was a true classic Michael Jackson’s “Smooth Criminal.” What little I saw of this video, thanks to my sister’s dog insisting on shutting my singing up by attempting to attack my face and ears with her tongue, was that I could swear that the dancers in the club were doing the thriller dance. I mean you’d think he’d have come up with something different.

The number three song they played on the countdown was another 80’s classic “Walk This Way” by Run DMC and Aerosmith. The funny thing is this version was almost never made. Run and DMC didn’t want to cover a rock song, but Jam Master Jay convinced his band mates otherwise and the rest is history.

The number two song on the countdown was “Where the Streets Have No Name” by U2. Seeing this video made me realize how much intestinal fortitude Bono has. He saw that the cops were going to shut down the concert before it could even start so he just says screw it and starts playing anyhow until the cops finally get to the roof of the building and make him go.

Then they saved the best for last, “One”, by Metallica. I just love this song and the video is amazing. I just loved how when they were inducted into the hall of fame they included Jason Newsted as part of the band even though he quit the band almost ten years ago. One of the rumors I heard was that they offered Dave Mustane to be inducted with them since he was the original rhythm guitarist but he declined because “he was going to be out of the country”, but I think it was just because he’s still holding a grudge against Kirk Hammet. Oh and one final thing that caught my ear was the host comparing Kirk Hammet to George Harrison.

So that was my viewing experience I’d love to hear what you all think of the songs or videos.

Random Bachelor Card of the Day: ”Find a scary, muscle-bound guy at the bar and challenge him to an arm-wrestling match (or just ask to take a sip of his drink).

Yeah this is one of those that I’d love to watch someone else do it but I wouldn’t want to do it.

949 Words. Sorry it was so long but once I get into talking about music I sorta loose track.

An intro to One Breath.

Wow so now the contest is down to the final four. We have Stray Hairs whom writes some lengthy blogs that are pretty interesting, then you have The Priestess Warrior who also writes some long ones that are interesting oh and by the way since you like dragons keep your eyes glues to my Dragon God story because after a while you will definitely see many stories with them in it, after that we have the Hobbit she is a wonderful person whose blogs I love reading and am happy to so I am good friends with her, however the final competitor is me and I don’t plan on loosing I don’t care if during the middle of the night I have to sneak over to the college and use their Internet to post during Midsummers since from what I have been told we are still required to blog during Midsummers but we will see. There was a rumor going around that during that weekend we would be able to call a truce, and that’s one rumor that I hope comes true.

Well enough of my babbling on about my future victory. Since I’ve had so much fun telling you all about the different stories of my past I figured since today was a boring day I’d do another Eric story. This one deals with when he was in a great metal band by the name of One Breath. One breath was starting to become a really great band with a huge following when it came down with the fatal disease known as Lead Singers Disease. Lead Singers Disease is a common band killer it happens when the lead singer’s head just keeps on growing and growing until it pops. That is a sad day because everyone has put hard work into the band however the singer thinks that he can just run the band booking shows without consulting other band members.

Now before anyone asks me no I do not play an instrument or sing , I was the drummer’s (my best friend Eric’s) own personal roadie, drum technician, and so on. Basically I would set up the drum set and test the microphone levels on them as well.

Seeing as I only have a few more words left I’ll do a brief talk about when they opened up for the band Mushroomhead. Yes that’s right they opened for them in the in the same place that was starting to become a normal place for them to play. Well I’ll tell you the full story another day since I am falling asleep while writing this.

Random Bachelor Dare Card of the Day: “Offer to buy a drink for the first girl who delivers her thong to you.”

Not sure if I’d want that dare or not because I’m not sure I’d want it after she was wearing it that’s kinda gross.
482 Words.

A Chapter in the Spee-D-Foods Saga

Well yesterday I had so much fun talking about some of my past experiences that I figured tonight I’d do a different chapter the chapter I will call the Spee-D-Foods Saga since this mainly deals with the year or so I worked at a convenience store in Stow, OH by the name of Spee-D-Foods. Working there was like watching a soap opera and occasionally being sucked into the storylines.

Well first of all let me do the whole disclaimer thing. The stories you are about to read are true to the best of my knowledge and memory names have been changed to protect the innocent and not so innocent. Ok now that that’s out of the way let me introduce you to the main cast of characters. First there is Rick, the store manager; then you have Rick’s wife and mother to their son, also an employee, by the name of Missy; another key player was a fellow employee who became the assistant store manager Stacy. There are other minor characters but for today’s part of the saga I’ll start with the juiciest story of all.

Our story began around Thanksgiving time, I think, well one day when Missy and Stacy were working together a man came in and Missy started to flirt with him. Well this guy, I’ll call him Bill, kept coming in whenever Missy would work, and they would flirt with each other. Well eventually Stacy convinced Missy to ask him out. Bill, seeing that Missy was not bad looking, said yes. Well many nights Missy and Stacy would go out and they would meet up with Bill at one of the bars.

This went on for quite some time eventually involving me to help cover. Yes, unfortunately, I helped out this little fiasco but it was mainly because I had a thing for Stacy but looking back I regret it and would not do it again. I was young, yes early twenties is young, single and had a thing for Stacy I was blinded so get over it. Anyhow back to the story, well helping them out helped me out as well you see I was offered to run a spot light for my best friend Eric at an exclusive New Year’s Eve party for a lot more money than I would have made if I worked at the store. So when Rick told me I couldn’t get it off even though Missy wanted to work it with Stacy I came up with a plan with help from Stacy and Missy. On the 29th while I was working I pretended to be getting sick so sick that I had to be sent home early by Stacy whom I was working with that night. Well I was sent home I went to Youngstown and called off on the 31st. Well the night of the 31st after the store was closed Stacy and Missy went out and partied like they planned.

This kept up for a few more months until one day after Stacy either quit or got fired, I forget which, she came in and told Rick the whole story, minus the whole part of my fake sickness. She told him how Missy and Bill even made out in the restroom and how they would make up stories to tell Rick so that he would watch the security tape of days other than when Bill and Missy would make out in the store. Rick confronted Missy about it and they fought. Missy even yelled at me thinking I told and Rick yelled at me for not telling him. After things calmed down Missy apologized to me and things got back to normal, or as normal as they can be at Spee-D-Foods.

Random Bachelor Card of the Day: “Find a girl with a cell phone. Ask for her number. Then, go back to your table and call her. Ask her if she thinks you’re hot. (or talk dirty to her)”

That could be a fun one to do, if you have a working cellphone.

676 Words

My time at X-Fest '01 with Eric

Well I was sitting here trying to figure out what to write my blog about while at the same time trying do work on the Phoenix Projects website for our Midsummers festival when I started thinking about some of the wild times my best friend, Eric and I used to have. So I figured I’d tell at least one of the stories and I could get at least 400 words out of one of those.

First off let me tell you about what he does for a living. I’m sure many of you have been to a concert of some kind, weather it was a huge one or a small one most concerts all have one thing in common; stage lighting. Well Eric’s job is to bring the lights, set them up, and sometimes does the show. Well many times I would help him out and in return I would get in to the concert for free.

Of all the times I helped him out I would have to say my favorite was the 2001 Pittsburgh X-Fest. First off the bands playing there included Staind, Fuel, Disturbed, Saliva, Crazy Town, and Train which considering at the time Disturbed and Saliva weren’t even popular enough to play on the main stage it was pretty cool. Well one of the cool things was the crew and the rock stars both ate in the same catering room at the same time and when I went to eat Aaron Lewis was in there so in a way I can say I ate with Aaron Lewis.

Although I’d have to say the best part of it was this one girl who was working event security. She had blonde hair, that was either braided or in a slight dreadlock I can’t remember which with I think pink and/or blue ribbons in it, and blue eyes. If I remember correctly I think she was in her late teens to early twenties like I was at the time. Anyhow I remember being in one of my rare moods where I had the courage to go up to her and carry on a conversation with her a few times. If I remember correctly her parents owned a local furniture store or something. At one point during the day long concert she was telling me how she was hungry so I went back to catering and grabbed either an apple or a banana and brought it to her. Well as the night wound down we still talked and I planned on talking to her again after the concert but unfortunately things did not work out that way since she left before I got finished.

Anyway that was the time Eric and I went to X-fest as time goes on I’ll tell some of the more wild things we’ve done like the time I got literally stoned in the park, or maybe even the times we made the crazy videos or even one of the many gigs I went on with him and his band One Breath. Who knows what story I’ll remember next?

Random Bachelor Card of the Day: “Regardless of what song is playing, invite a cutie to dance the Macarena.”

Well that card could be interesting depending on the song it could hilarious too.

546 Words.

Return of the Dragon Gods Part 4

Well it’s officially a new week so that means another part of my story “Return of the Dragon Gods”. The past few parts of the story have dealt with the main villain of the story which is also the main character of these stories, Zanroar. Well this time around I’ll focus on the other villains. I’ll start with the doppelganger and maybe in this part I shall go on with the others. Well enough talking let’s get on with the story.

After about a week of trudging around with the party of adventurers and trying many times to steal the Rod of Falzure from the gnome that took it, the doppelganger came up with a plan. He needed to get away from the group first though. He left his room and went downstairs.

As he got down there the crazy Dwarven cleric who shaves his beard constantly, was down there so he went up to him trying to keep his cover. “So Neetch, are we going to go clear out that prison today or what?” Neetch just looks at him and says, “Cookie!” and then gets up and walks away. The doppelganger went to get up when the group’s bard comes down the stairs. “Make way for the great Zoey Stardust.” She yelled as she made her way down the stairs. Neetch yells to her, “Pass the remote.”

Later in the day when Neetch and the group’s half orc barbarian Ront went off to “check out the prison situation” and the paladin, rogue, and bard left somewhere in town he made his move. He took a horse and traveled to an ancient set of ruins and stood there outside. “Hey dumbass I need a favor.” He yelled. Nothing happened. “Listen, if we’re going to bring back the true Gods we need the Rod of Falzure and some idiot gnome has it. The gnome would be easy if he wasn’t always around this group of adventurers including this crazy nut job cleric of Erythnul.” Suddenly one of the gargoyles stood up. “Listen just because you’re Zanroar’s pet doesn’t mean you can boss me around. I’ll do you this favor but you’d better think twice before calling me a dumbass again. So what do you want me to do?” “Come to the town of Firechester and start attacking the Dirty Wish Inn yelling for the rod. Just leave the rest to me. I promise you this will be the last favor I ask of you ever.” the doppelganger said as he walked away.

Hours later the gargoyle attacked the inn. The gargoyle ended up getting killed during the fight. “I told him I wouldn’t ask him any more favors.” the doppelganger thought to himself. Now everyone was starting to gang up on the gnome trying to get a hold of the rod. Finally the paladin told the group, “Do what it takes to get the rod.” Neetch, Ront, and the doppelganger fought Fitz (the gnome) until he was he was dead. Before the doppelganger could grab the rod, the rogue Halfling grabbed it and gave it to the paladin.

The party picked up their fallen comrade and headed towards the temple the doppelganger followed along until he came up with a plan to grab the rod. He walked up to the paladin and told her that he’d run ahead and let the temple‘s clerics know they were coming, and ran ahead. When he got to the temple he snuck up on the high cleric and slit his throat from behind. Then with the High Cleric dead he could easily pose as the high cleric and the idiots would just hand him the rod. He quickly changed into the high cleric and met the party at the door. “Ah your friend told me you’d be coming. I’ll gladly take that evil rod from your hands.” The paladin handed the rod over to him. “Good. Now you can just go down that hallway and you can heal your friend’s wounds.” He said as he pointed down the hallway. As they went down the hall way he quickly threw the rod in his satchel and changed into a nondescript human and ran off to meet up with Zanroar.

703 Words.