"tell me why....

...you feel alright but still I don't" -exerpt from Lombardy St. by Avail

so....
what the hell have i done recently....well....

saturday (aug. 6th) went to my very first OZZFEST up at Alpine Valley in East Troy, WI...

HOT TOPIC/2nd Stage:
..missed a few bands i'd wanted to see (the haunted, black dahlia murder, bury your dead), but caught most of the other ones....

Trivium--fuck me they're AMAZING! lots of energy
A Dozen Furies--they sounded good, i wasn't really paying attention....
Mastodon--these guys are going to rule the world, that's all i've to say....
As I Lay Dying--they're pretty energetic--i was kinda buzzed, but i liked what i saw...
Killswitch Engage--i always love seeing these guys play, the guitarist is a lot of fun....
Rob Zombie--holy buttnugget! A) he looks WAY different, he lost the "al jourgenson-esque" look, and went w/ his own self--major plus. B) how fun--he's super energetic, totally not what i was expecting, i loved it.
*note: all of the above bands, w/ the exception of rob zombie, trivium, and a dozen furies, were seen from the stage BEHIND the band (MAJOR DEVIL HORNS to JASON @ Heavy Hitter, Inc. and his lovely wife--the amazing A.J.--i love those 2!)--what a different perspective, especially for Mastodon, Brann, the drummer is fucking amazing--he's like a heavier-hitting, moderner, bad-asser Neil Peart--and Vinnie was drooling at the technique and precision....he was standing behind the drummer during every band possible, and his favourite was mastodon.

Main Stage:
In Flames--they were okay. i'd seen em open for Soulfly and Slayer a few years ago at the Riviera.
Black Label Society--never seen em--they were pretty good, and Zakk Wylde kicks ass on guitar, there were moments where it seemed a bit self-indulgent, but it still rocked nonetheless.
Shadows Fall--these guys kick fuckin' ass--Brian Fair, the singer, has these amazingly long dreads, and gets up on a block on stage and swings em everywhere...badass *note: i was talkin w/ brent, guitar (stage right) of mastodon, and brian came up--he's not very tall and his dreads are past his knees.
Mudvayne--WOW--lots of energy, not too bad, i needed caffeine at this point, but it was a strong set...the bassist is really fucking good.
Iron (fucking) Maiden: HOLY SKELETON METAL!!! they only played songs from the first 4 albums, and that was fine by me...these guys are amazing, bruce dickinson, the singer, has so much fucking energy, i thought he was gonna jump right into the crowd a few times....and eddie kicks ass!
Black Sabbath: ok, the thought of leaving after a few songs in order to beat traffic HAD indeed crossed my mind, but i'll admit that was definately a premature notion. once they started playing, i was in awe...taken back to my early teens, as an aspiring guitar learner...my first 2 or 3 songs i learned to play all the way thru were "War Pigs" and "Iron Man" and quite possibly "Snowblind"...needless to say Tony Iommi had back then become one of my top 5 guitar heroes...and after seeing them nearly 12years after i first picked up a guitar, i was reminded that he still does reign as one of my top 5 favourite guitarists of all time. SO fluent, SO precise...it was amazing....and OZZY....WOW! Ozzy was not as stuttery and incoherint as he normally seems....he was like a little kid again, running around stage throwing buckets of water on the crowd....waving his arms....at one point he heaved a waterbottle off the stage and it nearly hit me in the head (yes we were that close--thanx to mr DAVE, one of my fantastic bosses--and i happened to be oggling at a female walking past--oops--but you can't blame me, isn't the "SEX" first in the 3 most important things in life? "SEX, DRUGS, and ROCK & ROLL"?!)....
..so all in all, my first Ozzfest was a success, and i'll most likely be going back next year...assuming the bands are ones i'd like to see......tentatively, Vinnie and I are intending on riding our 'hogs' up there (i'm aiming at gettin one come late winter/early spring) and spending the night......

ROCK!!!

next up--Green Day/Jimmy Eat World @ Allstate on WEds (8/10)

some music i've been rockin' to in the past few days:

Mastodon "Leviathan" (currently)
Avail "Over the James"
Green Day "American Idiot"
Air "Virgin Suicides (original motion picture soundtrack)"
The Falcon "God Don't Make No Trash (Up Your Ass With Broken Glass)"
Misfits "Collection I"
Motion City Soundtrack "I Am the Movie" and "Commit This to Memory"
Mudvayne "Lost and Found"
Burn the Priest "Burn the Priest"
Lamb of God "As the Palaces Burn" and "Ashes of the Wake"
Neil Young "greatest hits"
Jeff Buckley "Live Al' Olympia" and "Live at Sine"

that should do it for now......enjoy.


ROCK!