Hooks So Big

Random thoughts from MJ 08-24-07

1. I didn't get tickets for the the upcoming Van Halen tour. A week has gone by now, and I'm happy to report that I'm completely fine with this. I'm a bit put off that the other three guys have excluded Michael Anthony. I don't know what all happened, but I've heard reports now that they removed his images from their website, and have now removed him from the songwriting credits. That's just crap, no matter what the details are (although, I tend to think the remaining three are the problem). I'm glad I'm not partonizing this tour after hearing that. I've heard that there will be tapes used for Michael's backing vocals on the tour. I hope he at least gets money for that. So I'm going to the Hagar show when it comes to town, and I bet I will have a much better time than to have to watch Eddie meltdown again and listen to Roth runs his mouth off. There. I'm glad that's off my chest.

2. Just saw a news item that Steve Grimmett (ex- Grim Reaper vocalist, the master of the ending supreme voxwork at the end of "See You In Hell") is confirmed for Holland's "Heavy Metal Maniacs" Festival. God, that makes me so happy. What a great name for a festival. I would have loved to be in on that meeting when they were brainstorming for a name. I mean, when you get a ticket to that show, you know what you are in store for. No surprises. Apparently it's the eight year for this extravaganza. Right on. Metal is alive and well in Holland.

3. I was watching some special on KISS for the new Kissology DVD set - which covers the middle years of "Kisstory" (as Gene and Paul always say). It's a very intersting time frame: band members leaving and being replaced by other members that come up with new makeup characters, the band unmasking, etc. As much as I can understand Paul's assertion that the addition of new makeuped characters was getting ridiculous (Eric Carr was "The Fox" amd Vinnie Vincent was the "Ankh Warrior"), I suddenly felt bad for the two guys now that wear Peter and Ace's makeup. How lame is that? You know you're not fooling anyone. And it really is kind of a slap in the face to the original members.

It reminds me of a birthday party/sleepover I had as a kid. There were five of us and we all liked KISS and acted out the songs. Of course, the fact that there were five of us presents a problem, you know? So my friend Dan Jachera rises to the occassion and becomes "The Hunter". That may have been due to the fact that one of the other guys gave me a toy rifle for my birthday. So he had a good prop...