SHARING THE SHOWS
So, after a long day of talking Singles Studies, academic job prospects, and writing pedagogy at the Northeast Modern Language Association Conference, I was ready to bang my head. I had originally planned to leave Baltimore right after my presentation, but when I heard about a Metallica tribute band (with a Motley Crue tribute opener) playing after my presentation, I had to extend the stay. For love of rock! See The Happy Bachelor for a link to my blog about the conference as part of the solo outing in Baltimore.
I made the 15-minute walk in 25-degree weather to the venue; the coat check attendant and bartender (who was sporting a Grateful Dead T-shirt with the Washington Capitals logo) were very friendly, which seems to be indicative of Baltimore, a very laid-back, friendly city in contrast to the reserve of DC. Having been up since 5:30 that morning, I caffeinated with a Diet Coke and enjoyed some pretzel bites with cheese before Shout at the Devil, the opener, came up. Before I got into Phish, I was a teenage metalhead. It all started at TAC, the teen-centered camp I started attending the summer before my sophomore year of high school. My bunkmates, a goofy lot, were very into Beavis and Butt-Head impersonations, which influenced me to watch the show. The first time I saw this dumb duo rank the video of Black Sabbath’s “Iron Man” as “cool,” I went to Sam Goody’s and bought a cassette tape that housed Paranoid on one side and Heaven and Hell on the other side. Other “cool” videos of theirs included AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell,” Metallica’s “One,” and Motley Crue’s “Hooligan’s Holiday,” sung by John Carobi during the period in the 90s Vince Neil was choosing booze and drugs over his bandmates. I saved up a bunch of money I had earned delivering papers and bought a bunch of CDs, including Motley Crue’s compilation, Decade of Decadence. I didn’t become obsessed with the Crue the way I had other groups, but when The Dirt launched on Netflix in 2019, I went down a Crue-shaped rabbit hole and burned all their other albums onto my iTunes, which contain some great tunes not known in the mainstream. One such tune was “All in the Name of Rock,” which opened their set. The following songs ensued:
During the transition between bands, we got to hear Ozzy’s “Crazy Train” and AC/DC’s “It’s a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock ‘n’ Roll),” perfect for this crowd. The venue became more populated as Fade to Black took the stage. Their specialty is MOSTLY old school Metallica (the Black album and those before, not that industrial garbage (no offense to fans of Load and the other 90s albums that came from this quartet), although they could include some tunes from Death Magnetic and Hardwired…to Self-Destruct, which represent a return to their thrash roots. They opened with “Creeping Death,” a staple from Ride the Lightning, and followed with “Wherever I May Roam,” during which I let out one of those primal screams. A mosh pit began to form during “Roam.” I thought about joining in, but I’m not 22 anymore. I was entertained by the crashing of bodies into each other and chose to live vicariously through them. Other tunes included:
I caught an Uber back to my Airbnb, and winded down by watching Heavy Metal Parking Lot, that jumpy indie mini-doc about fans at a Judas Priest concert, followed by part of My Coolest Years: Metalheads, a whimsical, quirky VH1 special that interviewed celebrities who identified as teenage metalheads. I thought of a crazy idea during the Crue set: metal meditation. I meditate with new age music in the morning, but I find headbanging, screaming lyrics, and air guitar are great ways to center the mind and spirit. Perhaps I can design it as one of those Massive Open Online Courses. These shows are also great for nurturing creativity. Thanks for reading; love you all!
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May 2024
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