Life is awesome sportsfans. Why? For one my UGA Bulldogs are still undefeated, and number two my Atlanta Falcons beat the crap out of Arizona today and are 3-1 heading into a bye-week. But the MAIN reason I am still buzzing over the show I saw Saturday night. I went to the Ryman Auditorium here in Nashville for the first time ever to witness an event. Before Saturday night all I ever associated that place with was that it was the original Grand Ol' Opry and Elvis auditioned there. He was told he wasn't that good and went backstage and smashed his guitar. So yeah, all I ever really knew about the place is one legend was rejected there...so it was pretty fitting I go to see another legend perform on the same stage. Who was it? The one and only Alice Cooper. I swear, I haven't been that entertained by a live show in MANY years. He kicked ass...no doubt about it. I knew I was in for a kickass show when he played the song "18" about 20 minutes into it...I turned to my buddy Don and yelled "I can't believe he's playing this song this early in the set!" Well Don reminded me of Alice's legend status when he yelled back "You forget how many hits he has". It's true. I mean Alice Cooper has MANY hit songs. When you go to see Cooper, you know you're going to hear "18", "Under My Wheels", "Go To Hell", "School's Out", stuff like that. So I figured most of those songs would be saved for his encore...oh how wrong I was. He went into "Go to Hell" about halfway through the show and then went into full theatrics. He was put in the guillotine...did "Only Women Bleed"...did "Welcome To My Nightmare"...I mean everything he is known for...he did it. Swords, knives, guillotines, straightjackets, blood...all of it. It was an absolutely amazing show, and the crowd was a very strange mix. I saw people there that looked like they were about 15 or 16, then a couple of rows in front of me there was a woman who looked like she would be a friend of my mom singing along with the older songs. I saw guys there with gray hair wearing polo shirts and Dockers, and teenagers who seemed like Halloween came a month early with all their goth gear on. But let me just say that whenever I start to lose faith that rock bands forget about just putting on a show without trying to make a "statement" or acting like "artists with a cause", a show will come along to let me know that some still understand it's all about entertainment. Alice Cooper completely kicked ass. Amazing that some guy in his 60's can kick the ass of just about any other band out there. My only complaint was that the bass player was alternate picking a lot...it looks MUCH cooler when you down-pick everything like I do, unless it's triplets, hahahaha.
So what else is going on? Glad you asked. Let me say that this month will be EXTREMELY hectic for yours truly. It's the last month of the campaign, and plus there's some AWESOME movies coming out. Add to that football season is in full effect, and I wonder when I'll have time to sleep. This week the movie I have been waiting for since the Fall of 2003 is coming out - "Texas Chainsaw Massacre - The Beginning" is coming out. Oh...how wonderful it will be. It's dangerous building up a movie this much, but I don't care because I KNOW it will rock. In a couple of weeks "Saw III" comes out as well. What a magical month. My band has two gigs coming up soon...the next one is on Friday the 13th at The Muse so SHOW UP...and we're jamming. After the Alice Cooper show, I can't wait to get out there and play a gig. More on the band next time. Anyway, some GREAT horror movies are coming out within the next few weeks along with "Flags of Our Fathers" which REALLY looks good. But onto my campaign...
When I first filed as a candidate last January, I have to say I had mixed feelings. That delusional part of me thought I could really make an impact, but the realistic part of me was like "dude...no one outside of the people you know will vote for you". Along the way I have honestly accomplished more than I thought I would. I've done radio appearances, newspaper interviews, and am still being considered for the statewide debate later this month. Yesterday a major poll came out, the Mason Dixon poll. This one is a biggie...a lot of people put stock in this one. Well guess who was the only independent candidate to actually show up in the poll results? I'll give you a hint...ME! Now granted, I only received 1%, but I look at it this way - 650 people were polled so that means 6 people said they would vote for me. And if you do like the "real" candidates do, multiply that by all the registered voters, which there's about 3 million, and that means I would get about 30,000 votes. Is that not just mind-blowing? This from a candidate who has only spent about $600 in this campaign versus the MILLIONS the "real" candidates have spent. Could you imagine the results I would have if one of the party machines was behind me? Now the REAL funny thing about this is that Bob Corker, the Republican candidate, was behind Harold Ford by 1%. I was asked on Kevin Wall's radio show a couple of weeks back ( on 1510 WLAC AM in Nashville) that if I was going to take away votes from Bob Corker and that would mean Harold Ford would win, would I pull out of the race. My answer? I told him no because neither of these candidates have the spine to do the right thing so it doesn't matter which one of them wins, and if I "cost" Corker the election, then he should have run a better campaign. Honestly all this blows my mind. Here I am, a regular Joe who has to go to work tomorrow, who loves his horror movies, who loves spending Sundays during football season with his buddies and grilling out and watching games, is the lead singer of a local metal band, and I could actually make an impact in this Senate race. I take all of it VERY seriously, I really do. If someone is going to put their trust and faith in me in regards to this country, I do not treat it like a joke. I want to win, and I will use this momentum in 2008 against Lamar Alexander if need be. I refuse to sit idly by as this country goes down the toilet, which it is doing right now. We have NO leadership...none. When I think of leaders I think of George Patton, Douglas McArthur, George Washington, Winston Churchill, Theodore Roosevelt...instead we have a bunch of wimps who care WAY too much how they will be portrayed in the media. The way I look at it, if I don't offend people from time to time when I make my opinions known about the issues then I'm not taking a stand. Until our sissy leaders in Washington understand that you can't please everyone, we're going to be in bad shape.
Ok, enough from me tonight...I'm going
to go spend time with my two dogs for a while...they rock!