Morning all,
Just a quick add-on to the Iron Maiden mania that has been swirling around sunny old Hatsukaichi for the last few days. A chum of ours over here in Japan, we'll call him "Mike" for that is his name - an officer, a gentleman and indeed a prince among men, managed to sidle up to this guy in a smoky bar following the gig and procure his autograph for little old me.
So now I have personalised notes from him AND Jason Gunn!
Hell yes. I move in rarefied circles.
That is all.
B.
Monday, October 30, 2006
Friday, October 27, 2006
...everything i need to know i learned from going to see iron maiden live in concert last night...
- black is the new black.
- no really. it is.
- if you are stuck in a fashion quandry, ALWAYS go for the black, leather, tapered pants.
- black, leather tapered pants with "iron maiden" embroidered down the length of both legs will catapult you to the top of the fashion stakes. for all of eternity.
- having the enormous curtain in front of the stage drop during the playing of a recording of an iron maiden song, to reveal the band playing that very song and segueing in, live, as they stand in what appears to be the smoking ruins of a somme battlefield, is a very effective way of starting a rock n' roll show.
- 2 guitars are better than 1.
- 3 guitars are better than 2.
- 4 guitars are better than anything.
- 5 minute guitar solos are good.
- 7 minute guitar solos are better.
- if you cannot see the drummer, even when he stands up and raises his sticks above his head, because there are so many damn drums and cymbals in the way, then you should have bought ear plugs.
- if, half way through a 7 minute guitar solo, an enormous battle scarred tank raises from behind the stage, taking up the entire width of the theatre, and it slowly turns to face the audience, and an 8 ft tall eddie-the-head, raises out of said tanks turret, scans the crowd with red LED eyes and fires the tanks gun in time to the drum finale joining the end of the 7 minute guitar solo, the crowd will go APESHIT.
- if bruce dickinson ever, ever asks the crowd what time it is, the answer will always, always be "2 minutes to midnight"
- when utilising acoustic guitars during an iron maiden show to highlight your range of abilities, be sure to still have your axe strapped and ready to go. i would suggest some sort of acoustic-guitar-stand that allows you to strum, as well as to peel away and "shred" at a moments notice, leaving your acoustic guitar seemingly floating in space, allowing you to return at the plaintive end of the song as the lights go out and play a mournful acoustic "bookend".
- just because a drummer sits behind a three layer stack of drums during the entire show, it is no reason for him not to wear black, leather tapered pants, or at the very least black denim - because old drummers in bike shorts coming out to take their final bow can be very disturbing for the crowd.
- lead singers down-trouing bike shorts clad drummers during their final bow will always be funny.
- a 17 foot tall dude-on-stilts dressed like tommy atkins with an eddie-the-head head piece that has red flashing eyes, waving a union jack and strolling about on stage during "the evil that men do" will... (see above note re: crowd going APESHIT.)
- the crowd-wailing bit at the beginning of "fear of the dark" translates perfectly into japanese.
- wearing a flag adorned with skulls as a cape is generally seen as a little odd in polite company. unless you are about 8 feet tall, hairy, german, heavily tatooed around the face and hands, have 6 mates who look the same as you and are at an iron maiden concert, in which case, you can do whatever the hell you like.
- dudes wearing suits and carrying briefcases to iron maiden concerts look out of place.
- dudes wearing suits and carrying briefcases to iron maiden concerts rock the hell out.
- too much dry ice is not enough dry ice.
- my wife rules for buying me a ticket.
berin, age 31.
- no really. it is.
- if you are stuck in a fashion quandry, ALWAYS go for the black, leather, tapered pants.
- black, leather tapered pants with "iron maiden" embroidered down the length of both legs will catapult you to the top of the fashion stakes. for all of eternity.
- having the enormous curtain in front of the stage drop during the playing of a recording of an iron maiden song, to reveal the band playing that very song and segueing in, live, as they stand in what appears to be the smoking ruins of a somme battlefield, is a very effective way of starting a rock n' roll show.
- 2 guitars are better than 1.
- 3 guitars are better than 2.
- 4 guitars are better than anything.
- 5 minute guitar solos are good.
- 7 minute guitar solos are better.
- if you cannot see the drummer, even when he stands up and raises his sticks above his head, because there are so many damn drums and cymbals in the way, then you should have bought ear plugs.
- if, half way through a 7 minute guitar solo, an enormous battle scarred tank raises from behind the stage, taking up the entire width of the theatre, and it slowly turns to face the audience, and an 8 ft tall eddie-the-head, raises out of said tanks turret, scans the crowd with red LED eyes and fires the tanks gun in time to the drum finale joining the end of the 7 minute guitar solo, the crowd will go APESHIT.
- if bruce dickinson ever, ever asks the crowd what time it is, the answer will always, always be "2 minutes to midnight"
- when utilising acoustic guitars during an iron maiden show to highlight your range of abilities, be sure to still have your axe strapped and ready to go. i would suggest some sort of acoustic-guitar-stand that allows you to strum, as well as to peel away and "shred" at a moments notice, leaving your acoustic guitar seemingly floating in space, allowing you to return at the plaintive end of the song as the lights go out and play a mournful acoustic "bookend".
- just because a drummer sits behind a three layer stack of drums during the entire show, it is no reason for him not to wear black, leather tapered pants, or at the very least black denim - because old drummers in bike shorts coming out to take their final bow can be very disturbing for the crowd.
- lead singers down-trouing bike shorts clad drummers during their final bow will always be funny.
- a 17 foot tall dude-on-stilts dressed like tommy atkins with an eddie-the-head head piece that has red flashing eyes, waving a union jack and strolling about on stage during "the evil that men do" will... (see above note re: crowd going APESHIT.)
- the crowd-wailing bit at the beginning of "fear of the dark" translates perfectly into japanese.
- wearing a flag adorned with skulls as a cape is generally seen as a little odd in polite company. unless you are about 8 feet tall, hairy, german, heavily tatooed around the face and hands, have 6 mates who look the same as you and are at an iron maiden concert, in which case, you can do whatever the hell you like.
- dudes wearing suits and carrying briefcases to iron maiden concerts look out of place.
- dudes wearing suits and carrying briefcases to iron maiden concerts rock the hell out.
- too much dry ice is not enough dry ice.
- my wife rules for buying me a ticket.
berin, age 31.
Monday, October 23, 2006
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
....run to the hills...(da-dadada-da-dadada)...
So yeah.
My wife totally rules.
Birthday Prezzie = ticket to IRON MAIDEN!
Tee hee hee hee.
Giggling like Fanta laden child (you know, before the headaches and vomiting)
I've been a closet fan of Iron Maiden for a long time. (As it transpires, you can take the chap out of Tokoroa....etc etc)
I think it must trace back to a YMCA camp I attended as a youngster. There were dozens of cheery faced youngsters such as myself there, and one TERRIFYING walking cliche of a metal fan, complete with the combat boots, the black-on-black-on-black ensemble, the trench coat, the array of safety pins (handy though they be), the poor hygeine, the well practiced sneer and the raising-of-the-horns to signal "Yes", "No", "Understood", "Good Morning", "I Hunger" and "May I Kill You Now".
He had been shipped off to "enjoy the invigorating countryside" by some sort of youth offender program. (I guess). We were all perhaps 11 or 12 and this guy was maybe 16 and unbeleivably terrifying. He had to shave more then than I do now as a 31 year old for gods sake.
He turned out to be in my cabin, and after some initially tense social manouvering, we reached an amicable agreement for co-habitance: I agreed that he could play his Iron Maiden et al tapes all day, every day, at whatever volume he desired and he agreed not to make fun of my yellow shorts with sunbathing frogs on them and to not eat my spleen when I was sleeping.
It worked out well.
For some reason we gravitated towards each other and I spent a fascinating week while the other cabin inhabitants feigned sleep or ran into the night screaming as he (I can't for the life of me remember his name - I think it might have been Satan) ran me through the intricacies of "Metal". There they were in all their glory, Judas Priest, Motorhead, Sabbath, Uriah Heap (what in the hell happened to Uriah Heap?), Slayer, Megadeth, Metallica....all this at a YMCA Camp people!
Village People be damned.
It really was a whole new world and this guy was so passionate about it. He pointed out similarities, influences, ideological differences and subtelties in amongst a genre I would never have willingly explored on my own. In particular he covered the bonkers, very involved and at-the-time-terrifying (yellow sunbathing frogs people) cover art, in particular that of Maiden. It's something I feel the youngsters of today, what with their "downloading" and "burning" will miss out on - it was cool.
It was a grand week. Listening to the entire "The Number of the Beast" album until the sun rises over the Hunua ranges after solving the problems of the world all night as an impressionable 11 or 12 year old with someone who might just snap at....aaaany....mooooooment......certainly leaves an impression.
So even though they are old, old, old men now, I am very, very, very excited to be going to see the Maiden live, live, live in concert. And to my nameless, terrifying benefactor, I shall raise a glass and tip my hat, even as I mark the nearest exit in case someone comes for my spleen.
IRON MAIDEN!!!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
In other news:
Saw this a wee while back and snapped it there and then. It's a hard-drive-TV-Video-Recorder doodad with a 1 Terabyte Hard drive. That's a lotta Simpsons reruns folks.
Toodle pip.
PS- do yourselves a favour and download "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" from Maidens 1984 Powerslave album. Make a cup of tea, set aside 14 or so minutes, and press
"play". You'll thank me.
My wife totally rules.
Birthday Prezzie = ticket to IRON MAIDEN!
Tee hee hee hee.
Giggling like Fanta laden child (you know, before the headaches and vomiting)
I've been a closet fan of Iron Maiden for a long time. (As it transpires, you can take the chap out of Tokoroa....etc etc)
I think it must trace back to a YMCA camp I attended as a youngster. There were dozens of cheery faced youngsters such as myself there, and one TERRIFYING walking cliche of a metal fan, complete with the combat boots, the black-on-black-on-black ensemble, the trench coat, the array of safety pins (handy though they be), the poor hygeine, the well practiced sneer and the raising-of-the-horns to signal "Yes", "No", "Understood", "Good Morning", "I Hunger" and "May I Kill You Now".
He had been shipped off to "enjoy the invigorating countryside" by some sort of youth offender program. (I guess). We were all perhaps 11 or 12 and this guy was maybe 16 and unbeleivably terrifying. He had to shave more then than I do now as a 31 year old for gods sake.
He turned out to be in my cabin, and after some initially tense social manouvering, we reached an amicable agreement for co-habitance: I agreed that he could play his Iron Maiden et al tapes all day, every day, at whatever volume he desired and he agreed not to make fun of my yellow shorts with sunbathing frogs on them and to not eat my spleen when I was sleeping.
It worked out well.
For some reason we gravitated towards each other and I spent a fascinating week while the other cabin inhabitants feigned sleep or ran into the night screaming as he (I can't for the life of me remember his name - I think it might have been Satan) ran me through the intricacies of "Metal". There they were in all their glory, Judas Priest, Motorhead, Sabbath, Uriah Heap (what in the hell happened to Uriah Heap?), Slayer, Megadeth, Metallica....all this at a YMCA Camp people!
Village People be damned.
It really was a whole new world and this guy was so passionate about it. He pointed out similarities, influences, ideological differences and subtelties in amongst a genre I would never have willingly explored on my own. In particular he covered the bonkers, very involved and at-the-time-terrifying (yellow sunbathing frogs people) cover art, in particular that of Maiden. It's something I feel the youngsters of today, what with their "downloading" and "burning" will miss out on - it was cool.
It was a grand week. Listening to the entire "The Number of the Beast" album until the sun rises over the Hunua ranges after solving the problems of the world all night as an impressionable 11 or 12 year old with someone who might just snap at....aaaany....mooooooment......certainly leaves an impression.
So even though they are old, old, old men now, I am very, very, very excited to be going to see the Maiden live, live, live in concert. And to my nameless, terrifying benefactor, I shall raise a glass and tip my hat, even as I mark the nearest exit in case someone comes for my spleen.
IRON MAIDEN!!!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
In other news:
Saw this a wee while back and snapped it there and then. It's a hard-drive-TV-Video-Recorder doodad with a 1 Terabyte Hard drive. That's a lotta Simpsons reruns folks.
Toodle pip.
PS- do yourselves a favour and download "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" from Maidens 1984 Powerslave album. Make a cup of tea, set aside 14 or so minutes, and press
"play". You'll thank me.
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