The Dead have Returned....

I have to tell ya, this week has been one heck of a nard-lick of a week. Talk about some serious ball-bustin' work I had to do. Usually the week before the last weekend before Halloween is one of anticipation and good times. This week was all about work. And it's still not over 'cause I have to drag my sorry, exhausted behind into work again tomorrow morning. Only for a few hours, but still... it's a frackin' Saturday for the love of Jebus (inside joke on that slang term).

On top of the frustrating work week I had I just found out my favorite beer emporium, Murray's Wine and Liquor, is shutting down at the end of next week. It's mostly due to greedy land lords who want to get rid of what they consider "riff raff" so they can put up high rent condos in the area. They boosted the rent to 3 times what it had been. Frackin' dren heads!!! This was not your run of the mill liquor store. This place was a beer drinkers dream with loads of imports and micro brews that were hard to find. The staff was all about customer service and were always incredibly helpful. Why do all good things disappear due to greedy people?

But, there is at least one thing to look forward to! Iris Von Beaverhousen and her man-servant, Roberto Del Amorte, will be throwing a Halloween costume soiree tomorrow night that myself, Mad Mario and his lovely wife Hope will all be attending. I'm hoping that this will cheer up my spirits a bit (pun intended, not a great pun, but still intended).


Last Saturday my favorite band, Type O Negative came back into town on their Halloween leg of their Dead Again tour. They pretty much changed most of their set and I have to say this was one of their best shows yet! It seems that when they tour during the Halloween season, they're always in top form and outdo their usual tours.

Opening for them was local boys Lockjaw, who were pretty decent but not anything entirely new. Then came Finnish theatrical - horror rockers, Lordi. These guys were a trip. They were kind of like GWAR with the whole big costume and make up stuff. The lead vocalist looked like the bastard child of Gene Simmons and Orson Wells. Each member of the band was in full prosthetic make-up. The guitarist was a mummy, the keyboardist was a vampiress, the drummer, a demon and the base player was some sort of Skelletor like warrior. They had a lot of schtick with set pieces that involved the lead vocalist chewing on human body parts, spraying the audience in fake blood with a chainsaw-like contraption and the lead vocalist's cape rising up to be bat wings. They also had a bunch of grave stones on the stage with a back drop of a haunted castle. An impressive and fun band. I just wish the audience were more into them. But, it was Type O's crowd, after all.

The traditional pre Type O fan torture before they came on wasn't nearly as grueling as it had been in the years past. The last couple of tours they would play marching band music or Bee Gee's tunes during their set up time. This year was 80's Hair Band Metal power ballads that were played over the speaker system before Type O took the stage.

Once the lights went out, Moonlight Sonata played over the speaker system with sounds of thunder mixed in. This lasted for 5 minutes straight. Jebus, just get your Brooklyn born asses on stage already! Once they got on stage they drove right into it. Here's the set list....

Moonlight Sonata (Intro that lasted a bit too long)
Pain (Not something I would have opened with, but nice to hear, all the same)
Halloween in Heaven (Now this is what I would have opened with!)
Wolf Moon (I loved this! Great to hear!!!)
World Coming Down (Another great one!)
September Sun (Played hauntingly wonderful!)
Christian Woman ( A standard and classic. If they didn't' play this one they'd be shat upon from a great height!)
Gravity (OK, but they seem to play this one to death every tour. I would have implemented Dead Again or I Don't Wanna Be Me rather than something that is slow and overplayed at their shows.)
Kill All The White People (I've heard that his is Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson's favorite tune!)
Black No. 1 (See my remark on Christian Woman... same deal)
Frozen (Something I haven't heard them play live since I first saw them opening for Queensryche 12 years ago. They even had snow machines going off.)
Encore_____________________
Unsuccessfully Cooping with the Natural Beauty of Infidelity (aka: I Know Yer Frellin' Someone Else - A fifteen minute opus that fully exposes the frustration of being cheated upon in no uncertain terms. Every time they play it live it's pure magic!)

Pete (lead vocalist / bassist / main song writer) was dressed in a priest's collar and their back drop was an ancient, dilapidated religious shine in the middle of the woods with a bright green background (the band's color).

It was truly a great show and I'm quite glad I spent the coinage to go see them!

That's it for now. I'm really hoping to pop in here sometime before Halloween to regale you with how the party went. But with work being so out of control... we'll see. If not, have a very wonderful and undead Halloween!!!!!

Zangz.