At the Tampa Bay Times, I wrote an article on Morrisound Studios. They were broken into six months ago. I checked in with them to see how they are doing.

Six months after break-in, Tampa’s Morrisound Recording is back on its feet

I also did another appearance on local blogger Clark Brooks blog. I wrote about the cost of fast food coke and fries. Did you know it changes per value meal? It’s true.

Guest Author: Mike Lortz – The True Value of Fries and Coke

But while I haven’t blogged here much, I have been collecting a few links I think are worth checking out.

First, the amazing Metalcakes heavy-metal themed cupcake site has a new recipe: Crumb-wich Cakes for the band Electric Wizard. They look mighty tasty.

Over in Iran, they saluted recently deceased heavyweight boxer Joe Frazier. I had no idea he was that big in Iran.

Here is a post on the Russian army promoting badminton to their troops. Interesting.

In Trinidad and Tobago, a local blogger calls for a National Bullshit Council. That would be big in America as well.

The Ukrainian media mistook a photoshop for Chuck Norris’s endorsement of the Ukrainian language.

You can finally go on vacation in North Korea as long as you leave your cell phone at home. This will make North Korea a haven for people like my Dad, who don’t own cell phones and who complain about poor cell phone etiquette. No driving on the phone, no phones in movie theaters or restaurants or concerts? Hmmm, maybe I’ll go for a week or two.

Speaking of repressive regimes, the Death Star Public Relations site lists the 10 dating rules you can learn from the Star Wars movies.

And lastly, this is awesome. My friend Ro took my last poem, American Pain, and recorded it through her voice reader program for the blind (Yes, she is blind and this is how she “reads” the web. So awesome.).

After Colma, I picked up Buckethead’s Monsters and Robots, then I dipped into the guitar great’s back catalog and have been following along since.

I discovered Buckethead was not only a guitar virtuoso, but also one of the most creative musicians out there.

As the years past, Buckethead crept up my list of guitar greats I had yet to see.

I’ve seen Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy, Zakk Wylde, Dimedag Darrell, Alexi Lahio, and Magic Red, but never saw Buckethead.

Finally, on September 22, 2011 at State Theater in St. Petersburg, Florida, I had the chance to finally see the bucketed one live. And outside of two minor complaints, he didn’t disappoint.

Seeing Buckethead is visual experience as well as a musical treat. After his stage was prepared by a dreded tech in a hospital mask, Buckethead took the stage with his trademark KFC bucket on his head and dressed in black. Immediately he started his guitar wizardry with his fingers flying up and down the fret board. I’ll admit, I am not good at memorizing the titles of instrumental songs, but I recognized a few songs from his classics Monsters and Robots and Giant Robot.

Buckethead is also part Carrot Top in his show. The dreded tech placed several toys on Buckethead’s amp and speakers for the guitarist to play with during the show. These included a hand-held distorting mirror (like those in an amusement park House of Mirrors), a toy chainsaw, and of course Buckethead’s nunchucks.

Seeing Buckethead whip his nunchucks to and fro was a treat I looked forward to. As was seeing Bucket put down the guitar and dance like a robot on stage. These are things Buckethead is known for. Of  course all the while he kept his bucket and Michael Myers mask in place.

Halfway through the performance the theme song from the movie Space Jam played and Buckethead walked to the front of the stage with a big blue bag. He reached in the bag and started handing out toys to the fans. Buckethead gave out Halloween masks, Star Wars toys, action figures, and other assorted goodies.

I guess that shouldn’t be that unusual considering Buckethead has a song called “Buckethead’s Toy Store“, he runs his own “abusement” park, and he is the friend of children everywhere.

I was surprised however when the toy giveaway turned into a toy exchange and fans gave Buckethead gifts as well. If Buckethead saw something he liked, he simply traded toys with the fan.

Speaking of Star Wars, Buckethead is a huge Star Wars fan. As of course, I am. Needless to say, when he played the Star Wars theme song and the Imperial March, I got goosebumps. For real.

One of the strangest things about a Buckethead concert is seeing an artist that looks completely emotionless. That’s his schtick and being a big fan, I get it. But to not see an artist smile, laugh, or talk on stage is an interesting phenomenon. The emotion of the show comes strictly from his music or the crowd.

This lack of emotion is part of one of my complaints. The show was only and hour and 45 minutes long. That’s it. Granted, I’m not sure even I could have withstood three hours of guitar shredding, but not even two hours? It went by quick. And when he was done, Buckethead simply walked off stage. No bow, no cheering the fans, no thank yous. He just walked off as if his programing was finished and he had something else to do.

My other small gripe: Buckethead’s t-shirt selection was awfully small. There was only one t-shirt for sale. And not only did it not have the tour dates on it, but it was an ugly white design.

Oh well, I guess that’s another reason for me to visit Buckethead’s Toy Store. I hope they have a clothing department.

Here is a video a fan took of Buckethead’s performance Thursday night.

It might seem hypocritical for me to post this video and then complain, but I’ll have an opinion piece soon on the absolute annoying trend of people who hold their phones up to video record entire concerts. You can enjoy the music without being a cinematographer. Trust me, it’s possible.

After having over 3 CDs worth of ideas, Hooper narrows his selections down to 30. There’s some Elvis, some Skynyrd, some Michael Jackson, and many others.

But in my opinion, however, his list leaves a bit to be desired. It’s not bad, but I think it could be better.

Here are a few changes I would make:

1) First of all, Hooper has zero blues songs on his list. That is unacceptable. He has a lot of soul and Motown, but nothing directly influenced by the Mississippi Delta. Since Hooper starts his list in the mid-1950s, that eliminates a lot of the classics, from Robert Johnson to BB King’s The Thrill is Gone (1951). But since there is also no Jimi Hendrix (perhaps Hooper considered him a “British act”), I would include Red House. If possible, I might also add a Stevie Ray Vaughn tune.

To make way for Jimi, let’s remove Saturday in the Park by Chicago.

2) Hooper’s hip-hop selections are off. He lists The Message by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, which is great, but then he lists Dear Mama by 2Pac and Lose Yourself by Eminem. I would delete both of those and replace them with Fight For Your Right by the Beastie Boys and Nuthin’ but a G Thang by Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg.

The reasoning there is that Nuthin But a G Thang is perhaps the best West Coast rap song and it talks about the scene, where as 2Pac only talks about his family relationships. The Beastie Boys need to be on there as they were one of the biggest links between rock and rap and it was they, moreso than Run DMC, who made hip-hop acceptable to white audiences, without of which it would not be what it is today. And Fight For Your Right is a great party tune.

There is also a huge need for Public Enemy on this list, especially since he lists Marvin Gaye’s What’s Goin On and Sam Cooke’s A Change is Gonna Come. I would add Fight the Power. Let’s remove Don’t Stop Believing by Journey.

3) Hooper also misses out on heavy metal. Nirvana is as heavy as he gets and Bon Jovi is the only hair band on the list. Keeping Bon Jovi as the 80s hair representative and Nirvana as the model grunge band, I would add a Metallica tune, since they typify American Metal probably more than any other band. As for which Metallica tune, I would go with Master of Puppets. Not only is it one of Metallica’s best, but it also addresses the social issue of drugs, which doesn’t get talked about much in Hooper’s list.

To make room for Metallica, I’d take out I Want You Back by The Jackson 5. Hooper already has Michael Jackson on the list, so there is no need for Tito and the rest of the gang.

4) There is a definite lack of punk rock on Hooper’s list. I’m no punk expert, so I’ll leave that to others who might be, but at least a song or two from that genre needs to be on the list.

So I added five songs, with a chance to add more with punk input. That means I kept 25, which I definitely have to give Hooper credit for. His list might not be perfect, but it is a great start.

Rule one: Don’t listen to anything by the band within 24 hours of the show. If you don’t know the songs by the day before, you won’t know them. Concerts aren’t college, there is no cramming. And you don’t want your ear influenced at all by the studio recordings. Enjoy the show for what it is.

Rule two: To quote the Wu-Tang Clan, cash rules everything around me. Merch vendors, bars, and some ticket stands don’t take Visa, Mastercard, or American Express, so “if you don’t have dollars, it don’t make sense”. Hit the ATM before you get to a show. It allows flexibility and convenience.

Rule three: Dress the part. Never wear a t-shirt of a band you are going to see. Wear a similar band, or someone of the same genre. But always dress to fit the scene. Don’t wear a Parliament-Funkadelic shirt to see Slayer.

There are two exceptions to rule three. The first is that you can wear a shirt from a festival featuring the band you are seeing. That’s simple enough as it shows community and that you have seen other bands. The second exception is the seldom used “memorable slogan clause”. If your t-shirt has an overly funny, clever, or all-round bad-ass slogan, you are accepted into the community of the performance.

In my time going to concerts, there have been two memorable slogan t-shirts that stand out among the masses. Both are engrained in my cerebellum not only because of their cleverness, but because of the stories associated with them. The first, a black t-shirt that proclaimed “Fuck You, You Fuckin’ Fuck”, was worn by a man named Manimal who I wrote about nearly three years ago. For those who missed it, Manimal was a bad-ass biker dude who forbid moshing in his general area during a 1999 Metallica concert.

The second most memorable slogan tee that stands out for me is a black shirt with the devil’s face and the words “God’s Busy, May I Help You?”. This shirt brings back memories of a concert adventure I had on my 23^rd birthday when my college roommate Zheke Snow and I traveled from Tallahassee to Orlando to see rock bands Isle of Q,  UPO, Full Devil Jacket, and Nickelback (after their first album, and before they jumped the music shark).  It was a night of obnoxious cops, tire problems, good rock ‘n’ roll, and driving around the Disney World Complex with the bassist of UPO as he yelled at his drunk bandmates who left him and didn’t tell him where the hotel was located.

It’s a classic story perhaps I’ll tell in full here one day.

Even though I have been to dozens, if not hundreds, of concerts since, I hadn’t seen either of those slogan t-shirts. Until a few Tuesday’s ago, when the devil’s question made another appearance.

The flyer stared at me from beside the keyboard at my work desk, a simple reminder that time was moving far too slow. Every minute dragged on with the full power of 60 seconds of might, as I fidgeted like a child who refused to dream of sugarplums and candy canes on Christmas Eve. Finally at 6:30 I flew out of the office like Meatloaf’s bat out of hell, sped down I-75 at 90mph, daring the Florida Highway Patrol to stop me, and cruised into St. Petersburg.

On the docket that night was one of my favorite bands, Maryland-based groove-metal band Clutch. I’d seen Clutch five times prior to last Tuesday, the latest time being with Black Label Society in October. Opening for Clutch was GroundScore from Washington DC and the Florida/Alabama-based Maylene and the Sons of Disaster. I was totally in the dark about Groundscore, but I had heard a few good things about Maylene and the Sons of Disaster, and I was also looking forward to seeing them.

Into St. Pete I drove, finding a spot in a parking lot a few blocks from the club. Needing money for a ticket, beer, and a new t-shirt, I walked over to a local ATM and pulled out some cash. On my way to the club from the ATM, I found two 2011 pennies with the new backing. One was heads up and the other was tails up. Although I usually think money is money and finding two cents gets me that much closer to retirement, I was struck momentarily by the symmetry of the yin and the yang.

After I bought my ticket, I walked into St. Pete’s State Theater, ready to finally get my rock on. One of the best things about a Clutch show it that it is usually attended by veteran rock fans. Fans who proudly sport their shirts of quality metal bands, such as Slayer, Danzig, or Judas Priest. Shortly after entering, I received a compliment on my shirt, the tour shirt from the aforementioned BLS/Clutch gig from a few months back.

Even though my shirt was highly regarded, I quickly hit the merch stand for a new Clutch shirt. To my amusement, the merch vendor was wearing another shirt I hold near and dear to my heart: an “Arm The Homeless” tee from a punk band called Tree who toured with Clutch in 2003. That was one of the few times I didn’t buy a shirt from my favorite band and opted for the opening act. I couldn’t resist walking around with a picture of an AK-wielding old lady on my back.

Now dressed to impress with a brew in hand, I walked into the theater and closer to the stage to check out Groundscore. They weren’t bad, a mix of 311 and Sublime, with elements of punk and metal blended in. They were definitely Warped Tour material or the soundtrack to a new skateboarding video game.

(Speaking of interesting t-shirts, the drummer for Groundscore had A Tribe Called Quest shirt on. I wonder how many metal fans caught that?)

During the Groundscore show, I perused the crowd, checking out the environment and doing a little people watching. No matter the type of music show, people watching at a concert is always fun, especially if the band isn’t entirely up my alley.

But that’s when I saw it: “God’s Busy, May I Help You?”.  I’m surprised the guy wearing it didn’t ask me what I was looking at I paused for a moment when my eyes hit his shirt. It was if Satan himself was telling me the night was going to be interesting. A warning from Lucifer for me to heed.

Second on stage was Maylene and the Sons of Disaster. Like I said, I heard good things from a few friends about this relatively new band. But because friends can sometimes have music tastes that don’t always jive with mine, I turned to my brother for his valued musical scouting report. That morning, his review came in: “Heavy southern rock/blues sounding”. Nice. My kind of music. I was excited.

Maylene didn’t disappoint. Although I couldn’t understand their lyrics on occasion, I was impressed with their sound. Throughout their set, I pulled out my phone and tweeted comparisons to Corrosion of Conformity, White Zombie, and Black Stone Cherry, all bands I hold in high regard. I closed my tweeted review with the simple phrase, “I like”. I’m going to have to buy some Maylene and the Sons of Disaster.

After the usual downtime between bands, the mighty Clutch came on stage. As to be expected (for me, at least) Clutch was absolutely spectacular. They played many of their most popular songs, from Big News I & II, The Regulator, Electric Worry, and the trace-like Spacegrass. As compared to the last time I saw them in October, Clutch didn’t have to worry about set limits, so they threw in a few jams between songs.

(Here is a youtube video of Clutch playing Escape From the Prison Planet and here is the concert review from the Tampa Bay Times.)

Being a long time fan, seeing Clutch brings out a sense of community for me. Other Clutch fans and I compare times and places we’ve seen Clutch, admire each others’ concert shirts, and no matter what song, we sing along, even if Neil Fallon’s lyrics are sometimes far too complex to understand (Songs about anthrax, redcoats, and elephants?).

Following an extensive set, Clutch ended their show with a mellow encore. And with that, the show was over. But little did I know the rest of my night was just beginning.

Across the street from St. Pete’s State Theater is a row of hole-in-the-wall bars and pubs. As I discovered after a recent House of Pain show, one bar, Fubar, usually has a band on the stage late and capitalizes on the crowd from State Theater to relax and buy some cheap beer.  After House of Pain, Fubar featured a local death metal band, so I was curious to see what they had on stage after Clutch.

On stage at Fubar was a DJ playing “dubstep”. I’m not normally an electronic music fan, but last year the Wu-Tang Clan put out an album with dubstep DJs and I was curious, so I grabbed a beer, unwound for a bit, and enjoyed a few tunes.

After my beer was finished, I made my way out Fubar. Shortly thereafter, I noticed something was missing.

My truck wasn’t where I parked it.

To my surprise, I parked in a lot guarded by a local towing agency. In a panic, I called the number on the sign and inquired as to whether they had my precious pick-up. After they confirmed it was in their possession, I frantically called my friend Keri, who I briefly saw at the show. Fortunately, even although she was well on her way back home, she turned around to bring me to the wrecker lot so I could get my truck. Thank goodness for friends, or I would have been sleeping with the homeless on the streets of St. Pete.

Did I mention I hate late-night towing companies? I think they are spawns of Satan, brought to Earth only to make life difficult for people. No one is going to use the bank at midnight, so why can’t I park there to go to the bar? I promise I’ll move my truck before the bank opens in the morning.

Anyway, 121 dollars later, my truck was back in my possession and my night was finally over. I should have heeded the t-shirt symbology and been more careful in the presence of the smiling devil t-shirt.

On Wednesday, September 10th, Tallahassee will again play host to the hard rock/ heavy metal band Sevendust. The Atlanta band, which last played Tallahassee in April 2000, will be performing at the Late Night Library in a show aptly titled “An Evening with Sevendust.”

Known for their extensive touring, the Late Night Library show is among the many on Sevendust’s second 2003 tour. This tour, which featured opening acts Element Eighty and Tallahassee’s own Presence on earlier dates, started in August and is set to conclude on September 25 in Pittsburgh, Pa.

Besides continuing to bring their music to their fans, Sevendust is using the tour to promote their new album “Seasons,” due to be released on October 7. The first single from Seasons, “Enemy,” has been receiving considerable airplay on rock radio stations throughout the country.

This year’s tours have revealed a new side of Sevendust, as approximately half the shows have been performed acoustically, according to www.livedaily.com. The band, which has opened for heavy metal legends Ozzy Osbourne and Metallica, has opted to try a more mellow “unplugged” sound in 2003.

“Doing acoustic sets was always tough for us,” drummer Morgan Rose said in a VH1.com interview. “But then we started screwing around with some of the songs and changing the beats a bit and reinventing things and that turned out really cool. We were invited to do [an acoustic] set in Orlando, and we did it, and the vibe was great. It was so weird. Here’s a band that usually tries to destroy everything in sight for 90 minutes, and we’re just sitting up there on stools for an hour and playing.”

These acoustic shows do not feature an opening act, according to www.livedaily.com, instead fans will be able to hear the new album, Seasons, in its entirety prior to the performance.

This new calmer facet of Sevendust is a departure from the usual hard rock/ heavy metal repertoire their fans have grown to expect. With the commercial success of Sevendust’s first acoustic song, “Angel’s Son,” a tribute to former Snot lead singer Lynn Strait, the band has continued to experiment with the unplugged sound, putting more acoustic sounds on their latest album, “Animosity” (2002), than any of their previous releases.

Despite “mellowing out” on several songs, the band has continued to be one of the most well-known and respected modern hard rock bands and continues to perform with bands such as Godsmack and Puddle of Mudd.

Originally called Rumblefish and then Crawlspace, Sevendust has been known has one of the best and most frequent performing bands in the genre since their first tours in 1996. Even then, before crowds totaling fewer than 100, lead singer Lajon Witherspoon developed a habit of speaking personally with the crowd and has often insisted fans in front of the stage form as big a mosh pit as allowed. Their dedication to the road and constant crowd involvement helped the band’s first album, the self-titled “Sevendust,” sell more than 500,000 copies (Certified Gold) and their second album, “Home” (1999), to debut at 19 on the Top 200 chart, according to a promotional card distributed by the band in 1999. Animosity was also awarded Gold status by the Recording Industry Association of America.

After concluding the acoustic dates on their current tour, Sevendust is planning to continue their trek around the nation with Staind and LoPro, according to www.sevendust.com.

“An Evening with Sevendust” at the Late Night Library is an all-ages show. Tickets are $15 each and are available at CD Warehouse locations throughout Tallahassee. Doors open at 8 p.m. For more on the show, contact the Late Night Library at 224-2429.

Back when I was in college, I was really up on my rock radio bands and songs. Unfortunately, I’m not up on it much anymore. So although I was at Ritz Ybor primarily to see Sevendust, I thought it was a good idea to check out some of the other bands in the HardDrive Live Tour. Overall, I was impressed.

Aranda – I was expecting the first band to be a new group that would do little more than warm the crowd up. I was wrong. Aranda came to play. They had a classic rock vibe, which really didn’t go with the rest of the show, but was very catchy. Although I wasn’t really into them at first, they covered Led Zeppelin’s Dazed and Confused, which is one of my favorite Zeppelin songs. And they did it well. After Dazed and Confused, the focus of the band shifted to the guitar player, who started pulling out solos and performance tricks, such as taking his shoe off and using it as a slide. Absolutely impressive. I might have to check out their albums.

Overall grade: B+

(Here is a video of Aranda covering Zeppelin in Chicago.)

Since October – Out of the five bands, Since October was the most disappointing. They looked incredibly generic, with a dred-locked lead singer and a bald drummer. I thought that fad in band composition went out of style in the mid-2000s. Then after about three songs that sounded like Korn outtakes, the lead guitarist’s rig went out. Ok, that can happen. But then the band left the stage for over five minutes. Totally inexcusable. Does their drummer or bassist not know how to solo? Play some bass riffs to keep the crowd’s attention. Something. Anything.

Overall grade: D

Anew Revolution – These guys impressed me as well. They were loud and had great stage presence. Their songs were typical modern heavy rock – nothing out of the ordinary – but they were good. I’d even heard a few of their songs on satellite radio. During their performance, the lead singer did something I’ve only seen one other time. He stood on the shoulders of the crowd and sang a verse. The only other person I have ever seen do that is Method Man of the Wu-Tang Clan.

Overall Grade: B

10 Years – According to their Wiki page and website, 10 Years have been around for a while. Until Tuesday night, I had never heard of them. I did recognize a few of their songs however. Sound-wise, they sounded a little like the Deftones, a little like Finger Eleven, and a bit like Staind in their lyrical tone.

Overall Grade: B

(I think that’s why as I get older I’ve gotten more and more bummed out on “new rock”. Everything I hear, it seems like I’ve heard before. I’m hard pressed to find many differences between songs made in 2010 and songs written in 2000. Outside of rap-rock and small pockets of classic-rock influenced bands, most of this decade’s rock sounds mostly the same to me. I don’t know whether to blame this on my music ear or a growing corporate influence towards conformity. Maybe a little of both.)

Sevendust – This was my seventh time seeing Sevendust. I’ve been a fan of theirs since I saw them tour in support of their first album back in 1996 or 1997. I swear it was 1996, but they didn’t put out their first album, which I bought the day before the show, until ’97.

Anyway, they were my first concert. I saw them again in 1999 at the Orange Bowl, 2000 at Floyds in Tallahassee, 2001 in Orlando, 2004 twice at Late Night Library in Tallahassee (once acoustic), and now 2010. And they are still kicking ass.

During the show Sevendust’s set list was comprised of a few songs off the new record, Cold Day Memory, a few songs off their second, Home, their third, Animosity, and even the song “Black” off their self-titled debut album. And of course, they played “Angel’s Son” from the Strait Up album. I was really impressed with how extensive their show has become.

Sevendust also brought out the best in the crowd as well. Although I stood in the back of the venue for the first few bands, I went closer to the stage for Sevendust. There were people jumping, yelling, flailing, and quite a few folks throwing down in a decent sized mosh pit.

Sevendust definitely gets an A.

Two weeks after seeing Duck Down Records and some of the best names in underground New York hip-hop, I went to Orlando last Tuesday to see two of the best guitarists in heavy metal, Zakk Wylde and Alexi Laiho, frontmen of Black Label Society and Children of Bodom, respectively.

Wylde, Lahio, their bands, and supporting acts Clutch (one of my favorite all-time bands) and 2Cents were all part of the Black Label Society-fronted fall 2010 Berzerkus Tour.

For those who follow my blog regularly, you know it’s been a while since I saw a good metal show. Since January, when I saw Obituary in Tampa, to be exact.

So I was due.

Now I’ll admit, I’m a bigger Clutch fan than Black Label Society fan. I was introduced to Clutch first, have all their albums, and didn’t get into BLS until a few years ago. And although I’d heard of Children of Bodom, I had never heard any of their songs. But I knew of Laiho’s reputation as one of the best living guitar players so I was excited about seeing him play.

After meeting up with professional wrestler Bryan Maddox outside the Orlando House of Blues, we walked in at about the middle of 2Cents’ set. From what I saw, 2Cents wasn’t bad, they were just sorta generic. They were loud and heavy, which made them a good opening act, and maybe if I knew more about them, or heard of them before, I might have been more into their songs. (Although they did cover a Pantera song – kudos to them for it not being “Walk” or “Broken” or anything else on the Pantera’s greatest hits album.) As it was however, I was grabbing a beer and getting settled in.

Next on stage was Clutch. I was surprised they were before Children of Bodom, as the billing had Clutch below BLS with Children of Bodom below them in a smaller font. But considering the crowd and the heavy metal environment, Clutch fit better performing second in the lineup.

Even though I have seen them four times before, I’ve never been disappointed with a Clutch show. With a catalog as wide and diverse as they have, from heavy metal to groove-based metal to bluesy, Clutch can fit on most rock billings. In Orlando, their playlist consisted of their heavy rock songs from their latest six albums, from Jam Room to Strange Cousins from the West, and even one off their side project, the Bakerton Group’s El Rojo. Although they don’t have the guitar acrobatics of the other bands, Clutch’s heavy groove definitely rocked the crowd.

Following Clutch was Children of Bodom. Like I mentioned, I had never heard a Children of Bodom song before and didn’t really know what to expect. All I knew was Laiho had a reputation for being a beast on the guitar. That reputation is definitely deserved. He was phenomenal. With his small frame and blond hair, he reminded me a little of Dave Mustaine of Megadeth, although a lot better guitar-wise, where he reminded me of a metal version of Eddie Van Halen. Lyrically however, I could barely understand a word Laiho said. I’m not even sure if the songs were in English or if they were sung in the usual vocal tone of death and black metal.

Despite not following along lyrically, I’m definitely acquiring some of Children of Bodom’s music soon. Although I am big lyrics person (being a writer and all), I was that impressed musically.

Last but not least was the headliner of the show, the always brutal Black Label Society. Zakk Wylde and crew were absolutely awesome. While they played songs off their latest album Order of the Black, they also played some of their more popular songs, to include “Suicide Messiah” and “In This River”, the emotionally stirring tribute to Dimebag Darrell.

(Check out the setlist here and youtube clips of “Stillborn” and “Godspeed Hellbound“.)

While Zakk Wylde was no slouch with his own guitar virtuosity, the highlight of which was a near-10 minute solo, and musically and performance-wise the band kicked ass , what impressed me the most was his connection with the audience. Although it sounds almost cliche, not since I saw Dimebag Darrell and Damageplan have I seen a band so in tune with their fans. Between songs, Wylde talked about the fans being members of the Orlando Chapter of the Black Label Society and mentioned that his band members also came from different “chapters”. There was a communal bond that was undeniable.

Personally, although one could say that because I was there, I was by default a “member” of the Orlando chapter, from a community standpoint I still felt like an outsider, not being 100% familiar with the Zakk Wylde catalog. Almost like being at a new church for the first time – it takes a few times to be comfortable. But in the case of the Black Label Society, I’ll gladly make return trips.

Unlike the Duck Down Records concert of two weeks prior, the Berzerkus Tour show ended at the reasonable time of midnight. And even though I had to drive an hour and half back home, I was still home sooner than I was after seeing the hip-hop show. Of course, that didn’t make the following work day any easier.

But once again, I didn’t care.

And here is a George Clinton jam with Ice Cube (pre-sitcom days):

And another, this time with Q-Tip, Ol’ Dirty Bastard, and Busta Rhymes:

Finally, here is a video mash-up with the music of Big News I by Clutch and a Gorillaz video. Not only do I think this video is good, and good fit to the music, I just bought tickets to see Clutch for the first time since 2004. So there is that.