Eddie and Me back in the day!

This is me and Eddie back in 1989 when he did an appearance at some local record store here in Dallas. I actually thought I lost this picture, so you can imagine my excitement to find it - yes, I did a happy dance. :)P

Here are some more pics from that appearance - sorry for the quality, they have been through a lot these past years.

More Iron Maiden pics!

Yeah well, these are actually from the IM website, but if I hadn't been a dumbass and neglected to bring my camera, my pictures would have looked like this! :D

Yeah, I was that close at the show!
You will also notice my blog banner, I ripped it from the IM site! :D How clever is that? I also added a widget for the new album!
I'm also pretty pissed about these guys on eBay selling IM stuff from the concert at such stupid ass prices. They are selling shirts that cost $35-40 at the show on eBay for $100 or more! I admit, I paid $80 for a shirt that I was going to buy at the show, but double isn't so bad, yeah it's still high, but I wouldn't have gone higher than that - especially when you can get the same shirt from the IM site for $25, just without the Texas show dates on the back. Some guy from Oklahoma is selling the picks that were thrown out by Adrian Smith for $200!! He didn't even belong there! Fucking Okie! Just kidding - I would have driven all that way too, and have actually considered going to see them again at the July 18 show in Chicago. But I won't have the money after I buy my Ninja at the end of the month. But just the same, any true fan wouldn't take advantage of other IM fans like that.
Seriously. These are people that are just preying on the zealousness of true IM fans and trying to make a fast buck and it's bullshit. Call me a pussy or whatever, but if I had truly wanted to share with other IM fans, I would have gotten several of the Texas shirts for those who couldn't make it and just charge $20 more than what I paid - seriously. Why, because I'm not a dick and wouldn't have done it to take advantage of a situation and make money off people. Whatever happened to being a community of fans who share a common interest? It's sad to see that we, as a society have come to just being nothing more than a bunch of capitalist predators.
At the show everyone joined in to sing the songs and cheer, but other than that, it was like, "fuck you". Music is supposed to bring people together. That's what I enjoyed about the club scene, well the house music club scene anyway, because people shared and came together for a common interest and everyone was friendly and not just because they were on X.
So come on people, don't let your personal bullshit get in the way of sharing and caring about your fellow fan - would YOU like it if someone stuck you for a shitload of money for something you really wanted? I doubt it and don't give the bullshit excuse, "well, they should have been there." You don't know their situation! Maybe they couldn't for medical reasons, maybe they couldn't afford it, whatever the case - it's not up to you to keep something so treasured out of reach for them.

The most expensive t-shirt i own - now

I've paid for a lot of mistakes in the past, the most recent one, was not purchasing the limited edition Texas Tour Shirt for the Iron Maiden show. So I paid double what I would have paid at the show. The crappy thing is, I had that shirt - in my hand - and was going to get it, but talked myself out of it and got different ones! Why, because I'm stupid! That's why! Never, ever, ever, EVER go against your first choice or instinct! You will regret it every time!

War On Snakes

We've been having trouble with snakes eating our eggs, so tonight I wanted to keep an eye out for them and sure enough Alex and I went out to check on the chickens and I opened the door to the henhouse and there were 2 bull snakes about 5 foot long each! I had already brought the BB gun but didn't think that was going to do the trick so I asked Alex to go get my mom - after some deliberation - she went inside to get her gun, but came back empty handed because she had no bullets - are you serious, mom? So it was going to be the BB gun after all and to town I went.

The first shot was at a pretty good distance, about 4 feet or lesss - straight to the head. That got one of them riled up pretty good, the other one just laid there - probably wondering if he just had his last supper - he would have been wondering correctly. I continued to lay into the smaller one for a little while, firing about 4 more shots at him until he stopped moving. Then I moved onto the larger one. He had hidden his head (smart fella) and I had to give him a body shot to get him moving. He finally poked his head but only by moving the rest of his body to get into striking position.

I took several shots at him, but he was a tough cookie and wasn't going to go down easily or quietly. He continued his little hiss fest at me, trying to slither out of the henhouse, so I threw a cinder block on him to trap him. With him trapped and his head exposed, I had a chance to pop him in the head at point blank range a few more times. It was a little nerve-racking at first, pumping up the BB gun between every shot, now I know what it must have been like in the Civil War having to reload your gun between shots, that's a lot of time to get shot yourself or in my case, bitten.

I know this sounds bad, but I actually had fun killing them - not because I'm some kind of redneck psycho killer, it was just gratifying to get rid of them. Believe me, I've tried to get my mom to do more humane things to keep the snakes out but I was met with opposition at every suggestion and it wasn't like we had time to debate the issue with the snakes sitting in the henhouse feasting on our hen's eggs. So, the inevitable happened and they were killed on the spot.

Inequality in the workplace - still!

I'm so sick of females getting special privelages, just because they whine the most about shit. I guess thats why they get to wear flip-flops to work and guys dont! That really makes me mad - they can get away with wearing just about anything, from punk hairstyles, short skirts, abnormal piercings and yes, flips-flops!

Iron Maiden Concert! First show of U.S. Tour, Dallas, Texas

Bring Your Daughter To The Slaughter!

The Iron Maiden concert was AWESOME! I never thought that I would be so close to them, we could have gotten closer, but since it was my daughter's first Heavy Metal show, I figured I would save her from getting crushed by the horde of fat, drunk, wannabe headbangers. Being in the pit was the best choice for "seats", even though it was standing room only, for two hours, I would have been sorely disappointed if I had gotten us actual seats. My only complaint - well, the biggest complaint were the fat, drunk assholes that kept standing in front of us. Hello! Can you not see us standing here? Can you not see this little girl is only 5 feet tall and you are 6 feet tall and 8 feet wide!? But aside from those jerks, we had a really great view - how can you not have a great view when you are only 30-40 feet from the stage!? Unfortunately, the eye-candy was slim to none, there must have been the largest collection of the fattest, ugliest headbanging heifers ever assembled. There was only about 5 girls I saw that got my blood flowing. It was definitely not the best example of a headbangers heaven for females.

I do wish I had brought an actual camera instead of relying just on my phone, the pictures would have come out so much better.


They started out the show with some songs from their latest albums, Factor X, Brave New World and of course Final Frontier and closed the show with Iron Maiden - the staple show ender with Eddie coming out in full force. I must say though, Eddie out on a few pounds - for he was alot heftier than usual. I liked how they changed the backdrop for each song - every one of them an awesome piece of artwork - I wish I could have taken them home. They had some tapestries there for only $20. I used to have one for Somewhere In Time, sure do wish I still had that - man, so many things I lost that I wish I still had. I had pins, patches, shirts, all kinds of shit you just can't get anymore, hell, you could barely get it then! But we had an a really kickass store in town called Bill's and he specialized in rare and hard to get items and he had a buttload of Iron Maiden stuff. I still have most of my posters though, even though they are ripped or drawn on, I still have them. :) Some asshole on eBay is selling old Maiden concert shirts for $100-$900! That is just all kinds of wrong, if you ask me.


I was surprised though that I only saw two people with Iron Maiden Vans, some guy had the Piece Of Mind slip-ons - they were pretty beat up and as we were leaving my daughter pointed out this guy in front of us wearing the Powerslave Hi-8's like mine - but mine were cleaner - of course! LOL It was just weird that out of 12,000 people only 3 of us had Maiden shoes?! I know they don't make them anymore, but they aren't extinct! But at the same time it was cool, because how many people can say they have Maiden Vans? :) I expected alot of compliments or "dude, where did you get those?!", but no body said a word - to my dismay.


It wasn't until the encore that they played some classics, starting out with The Number Of The Beast then Hallowed Be Thy Name and finishing the set off with Running Free, as always. You could tell they were expecting to do an encore - as usual - because when they began to play Beast, the demon goat came rising up from behind the stage. That's the cool thing about Maiden, is that they give an awesome performance for being so fucking old and always give an encore.


Bruce Dickinson was running around the stage, for being nearly 50 years old this guy could run circles around me! Dave, Steve, Adrian, Nikko all kicked ass too. I always forget the third guitarists name, especially since he isn't part of the original lineup, but he been around for 10 years or so, so I should know his name - shame on me, I know.


I got four shirts and damn have prices gone up. When I went to the Somewhere On Tour show in '86 at Reunion Arena, a concert shirt was $20. I sure as shit wish I still had that damn shirt - it ended up with all my other Iron Maiden shirts at an ex-girlfriend's house - oh the dumbass things we do for tail. My daughter got a shirt that had a comic-style version of the Final Frontier graphics, I tried to talk her into getting the "Sexy Beast" shirt, but she wasn't having it. I got a sweatshirt and a t-shirt and another t-shirt for a friend of mine who got me a couple of shirts at the Rush concert a few years back.


So, on a scale of 1-10 -this show was a 100! A must see and not to be missed event!

Iron Maiden TONIGHT!

Yes, tonight is the big concert! I've been waiting for this night for years! Not only to see Iron Maiden, but to share the experience with my daughter. Though she is not into the heavy metal scene, she can appreciate their music. It reminds me of when I bought my mom tickets for the Pink Floyd concert, A Momentary Lapse Of Reason for Mother's Day. It was an extraordinary event, being held at Texas Stadium, the place looked to be sold out and I can't remember if it was or not, but for a band that old to still pack and entire stadium is incredible. Iron Maiden is pretty much the same and without even had any radio air play in the U.S. Unfortunately, tonights show will not be held in a huge arena like it was the last time I saw them in 1986 for the Somewhere On Tour concert, which was held at Reunion Arena. I didn't have all that great of a seat back then, stuck somewhere in the middle of the floor, it was hard to see, especially since security made you stay in your seat. I tried to get closer, but was ousted by the actual ticket holders of the seat I snagged next to my friend.

This time I got pit tickets, so we will be right up on the stage, which is just going to be so freaking awesome! I can't wait!! I will be posting pics tomorrow of the show, maybe even tonight! :) Since they will taken with my phone, dont expect awesome quality, but since I will be right there - they should be some pretty good shots.