Man there is so much going on, I don't know where to start.  Oh wait, I think I do.  I see my hero Al Gore won a Nobel Prize for his bs chicken little the sky is falling global warming "awareness".  First, to know that Yassir Arafat won a Nobel Prize puts ZERO stock in that worthless award.  Yeah, the same Yassir Arafat that basically invented terrorism that Bill Clinton had tea and crumpets with at the White House in between "meetings" with other women.  Oh, and let's not forget Jimmy Carter got one...the same Jimmy Carter who sat in the White House with a thumb up his ass while the Ayatollah Khomeni took over Iran and established the first country under Muslim rule in the modern age...which of course led to all the problems we have today.  Hey, way to go Jimmy!  Well you'll have to excuse me if I don't get all giddy over the fact Al Gore got this worthless piece of crap award.  Oh, wasn't it wonderful what he plans on doing with the money from it?  Yes, he's going to donate it all to a company that is truly striving to make the world a better place by making carbon offsets, whatever in the heck that means.  On the surface it sounds oh so wonderful that Al Gore is going to give up all that money to donate it...however the company he's "donating" it all to just happens to be owned by him.  Isn't that nice?  Wow...what a guy.  It really makes me proud to be sporting my "Al Gore Is An Idiot" bumper sticker.  In the newspaper the day after he won the worthless award, there was a picture of some brain-dead tree-hugger holding a sign that said "Al Gore makes me proud I'm from Tennessee".  She should have been holding a sign that said "I'm a gullible moron who believes every word Michael Moore and Al Gore say because if it's in a 'documentary' it has to be true".  In fact, I think I really need to write up something on global warming from a common sense point of view next time.  This whole issue has become one huge political talking point and I'm sick of it.  One side says it's leading to the end of the world and the other says it doesn't exist.  I say it might exist, and it might be part of a natural weather pattern that has existed for a thousand years.  Let me put it this way...if the local weatherman can't get a forecast dead-on a week ahead of time, why in the heck should I believe ANYONE when they tell me what climate conditions will be in ten years???  Common sense is a wonderful thing.

Ok, enough on that...because I have MUCH cooler things to talk about.  This was an absolutely incredible week sportsfans.  Sure, seeing Van Halen was an experience beyond belief, but there was much more, and I'll talk about the Van Halen show in a little bit.  First I want to tell you about the Overkill gig because I have never had a better time playing a show.  The day before, Don contacts me to tell me that Yvonne from "Metal Monthly Magazine" is going to be there and wants to do a thing on us for an issue.  Yeah...I'm blown away.  So when I got to The Muse the day of the show, I meet Yvonne and talk for a little bit.  She is a VERY cool woman and LOVES kickass rock and metal.  We give her a copy of our new CD and I was asked to autograph it.  I've done maybe 5 autographs in my life, and each time I can't believe I'm doing it.  Anyway, I talk to her for a little while about her website (www.metalmonthly.com) and everything, and when she's talking to me about doing a write-up on Noisecult, I was almost in a state of shock.  She flew up from Texas to cover Overkill, who's new CD came out this past week, and to also do a thing on Piranah (the other opening band).  She wanted to talk to us because she checked us out on myspace, her and Don corresponded a few times, and she really dug the tunes.  Plus, my favorite thing she said, she wants to cover bands with heart to them.  Seriously, that was a HUGE compliment.  I just honestly couldn't fathom that someone wanted to cover us for any kind of major website or publication.  Not that I don't think we're a good band, but you know what I mean.  I'll fast-forward a little...the show starts and we unleash!  Seriously, I have never had that much fun playing out before.  Now it wasn't a packed house yet because we were the first band to go on and a lot of people were hanging outside because the Nazi's running this state banned smoking in venues starting this month.  When we started playing, there was a pretty good number of people inside, and with the lights shining in my face I couldn't tell how many people were watching.  But I noticed after every song we finished the applause and cheers got a little louder.  When we finished and the house lights came back on I was able to see all the people and thought "Holy crap...where did they all come from???"  It was a lot more than I expected due to the time we went on.  The sound was great, Don rocked...Ben slammed...and I had a blast.  After we got done we did the usual tear-down and carried the gear out to the van.  Once that was done I came back inside and was going to grab a drink...but I got held up.  A guy comes up to me and says "Hey man, I voted for you in the Senate race!"  Yeah, remember last year I ran for the U.S. Senate?  Well someone who voted for me was there that I had never met before.  He told me that he was doing research on the candidates and admired what I was doing and that's why he voted for me.  It had nothing to do with me being in a band.  Now what really blew my mind was when he asked to get a picture with me.  I'll be honest, I get all "aww shucks" when people compliment us after a show, and this was beyond that.  Here I was after playing a gig as part of a local band, and yes I was a Senate candidate, and someone I had never met wanted to get a picture with me.  I do have to admit, it was pretty cool, and I was honestly humbled by it all...but it didn't keep me from throwing up the horns for the photo...hahaha.  So I go grab a beer and man the merchandise area we had set up, and people were actually buying the new CD!  I couldn't believe it...never had so many people come up to me wanting to buy something and tell me how good we played.  I'm manning the merchandise table, and then I heard it.  From what I had heard and read, this song wouldn't be played...but that night it was.  The opening riff for "Skullcrusher" started, and my bud Jason said "you better get in there"...so off I went.  This is the song that inspired my nickname and pro wrestling moniker...and I never thought it would be played.  I'm in the screaming along with the lyrics and am completely rocking out.  Darren, the singer for Piranah, said he thought he was going to have to hold me down because I was starting to go completely nuts.  Overkill kicked ass...and we got a GREAT response from the people there.  Honestly I think that was the most fun I've ever had playing a gig.  It was like I said after our first tune...."Who is ready for a night of REAL metal?!?" because it was.  Us, Piranah, and Overkill...pure metal...and it was awesome.  Plus, after our second gig with Piranah and hanging out with those dudes on Friday night, I really hope we play more gigs with them.  Very cool guys, and are in the same mindset we are as far as metal goes.  

And now for Van Halen.  We make the 5+ hour drive to Indianapolis and arrived around 6:00.  We parked only a block away from the auditorium and paid a whopping $3.  I couldn't believe it.  In Nashville the same parking would have run about $20.  Oh, and did I mention that one of the dudes making the trip brought a portable radio with Sirius?  Yep, so the whole drive up we got to listen to radio broadcasts of every football game going on.  However, we did cut it off about an hour outside of Indy so we could listen to a homemade Van Halen greatest hits CD to get ready.  Anyway, we park and walk around to find a place to eat.  EVERY SINGLE PLACE told us there was about a 45 minute wait.  Me and Don decided to settle on a nearby Steak & Shake...where there was a line...and the two other guys walked around the corner and found a place with a 10 minute wait.  We finally got some food even though the service sucked...and got to the arena about 8:00 which was perfect.  This meant I didn't need to sit through some crap Marley kid doing reggae for the opening act.  I bought my t-shirt, grabbed a water, had my last cigarette, and went to find my seat.  We got to our seats, and while not as close as I wanted, I really couldn't complain.  I paid $160 for the ticket and would have gladly paid it for nosebleed seats to witness this.  At 8:30 the lights went down, everyone stood up to scream, and Eddie Van Halen appeared to be the lone figure on the stage as he hit the opening riff for "You Really Got Me".  When the rest of the band kicked in, David Lee Roth was at the top of a ramp behind the drums as he started in with the first verse.  The place was going nuts.  They ripped through that song, and then went right into "I'm the One".  Who needs Michael Anthony when Eddie's kid Wolfgang could not only play the bass parts just fine, but had no problem nailing the high harmonies.  After that song ended, Roth went over to Eddie and hugged him...both of them were smiling and really looked like they were having a lot of fun.  And Roth said "What does everyone think of the new Van Halen?" which was met with a TON of applause.  He then said "Yep...three parts original and one part inevitable" which most people found to be quite funny.  The show was AMAZING!  Eddie's guitar tone and playing sounded EXACTLY like the albums, Alex hasn't slowed down at all, and even David Lee Roth was the ultimate frontman hitting on the hot chicks in the front and he even did his trademark high spin kicks every now and then.  Roth even got choked up, believe it or not.  He comes out to the mic before "Ice Cream Man" and is messing around on an acoustic guitar.  He's from Indiana, so it was somewhat of a homecoming I guess.  But he starts into a story of being 14 and hanging out with his friends, and how he came up with the idea for the song...then he turns away.  When he comes back to the mic he was choked up and said he couldn't believe how emotional he was going to get that night.  If David Lee Roth could ever be humble, last night was it.  But he was still the ultimate front man.  I could honestly go on for hours...heck I could go on for DAYS as to how kickass the show was...and I won't be surprised if I keep mentioning things over the next few weeks as I recall all the cool memories.  And as I watch Atlanta getting their butts kicked, the buzz I still have from the show overrides any bad experience of this Monday Night Football game.  Van Halen rocked beyond belief.  They once again showed why they are the PREMIERE rock band...even though the main members are in their 50's.  It was absolutely incredible to witness this event.  And I'll go into work tomorrow sporting the t-shirt, and some people may go "so how was it?"...and there is no way I could put into a three minute conversation at the water cooler as to how completely amazing this event was.  It was Van Halen with Roth...do I need to say more???  Man what a show.

I feel like I've got so much more to say, but I wrote this in present tense and am very sleep-deprived so I don't feel like changing the verbage.  I'm still buzzing of the Van Halen show and and on a few hours sleep with work hanging over my head tomorrow.  Maybe more next time, sportsfans.  Time to feed the dogs and get some sleep.  Oh, I did try to give Vic a bath today.  I brought him inside, put him in the bathtub, and as soon as the water hit him he was freaking out so much I swear I screwed up the fingers on my left hand trying to keep a grip on his collar.  My left hand hurts when I make a fist.  Hey I'm old and feeble...hahaha.  Ok, bedtime sportsfans.