For some reason, I’m really feeling the urge to tell the world about my wonderful weekend. Since I work at a University, I still kind of think of Thursday as part of the weekend, so it will be included.
Thursday:
Thursday is Metal Night for me. It was a pretty good night this week. I had a request for some Yngwie from two weeks prior. I’m not much of a fan, but I do own a copy of Rising Force, so I brought it down. I haven’t listened to the thing since I bought, so I asked the girl who requested it and one of the other regulars which song to play. They had two different picks, but they were back to back on the record….so I played them both. I wonder if that was the first Yngwie Malmsteen Double Shot ever played by a DJ in the United States? Anyway, I think they were both instrumental solo fest. It was okay, I guess, but still not really my thing. A couple dudes were pretty stoked on in though. The joint was pretty packed by 11:00 or so, and that was pretty fun.
Friday:
Totally beat at work all day on Friday because of Metal Night. I went to ADD fest over at Roboto around 7. This was the 10th iteration, and I’ve been to all ten of them (I’ve played 5 of them - Crucial Unit played 3 times, Warzone Womyn and Build Your Weapons once each). I enjoyed all the band this year, which may have been a first. Standouts for me were Do Crimes, Night Terror, Test Patterns, and Icon Gallery. Pleasant surprises included the Maxi Pads and Full Color, both of which I assumed I wouldn’t like for no good reason. I ended up at the Brillobox later, where I drank an amazing organic hard cider. It is the J.K. Scrumpy’s Organic Hard Cider from Michigan. It was $10 for the 22oz bottle, and in my opinion, worth every penny. Definitely the best cider I’ve had. It pours out a cloudy tan color and is fairly sweet, with just a hint of carbonation. Very strong raw apple taste. I will definitely be drinking this again. If anyone sees this for sale by the case, let me know.
Saturday:
I watched Sex and Fury, the 1973, Toei Pinky Violence “classic”. I’ve been pretty into this sub-genre of exploitation films since picking up the Pinky Violence Collections from Panik House about a year ago. Panik House has a pretty good website covering their Pinky Violence releases: http://www.pinky-violence.com. So what is Pinky Violence? It’s a term for a collection of action oriented films from Japan featuring girl gang bosses, female yakuza, or girl biker gangs. Sex and Fury, was a huge influence on Kill Bill, with at least one scene borrowed by Mr. Tarantino.
After the movie, I hit Attic Records in Millvale, and managed to track down a few more metal records. I stopped by Jerry’s later and found a copy of Axtion’s 1985 album “Look Out For the Night”. I’ve been trying to collect as much 80s independent metal from the Pittsburgh as I can track down. This one is slightly reminiscent of Riot’s “Fire Down Under”. It’s some pretty killer traditional heavy metal from the ‘burgh. A couple songs are featured on this blog: Rider’s of Death. I ended up squeezing in another movie in the afternoon, Who Could Kill a Child?, the 1976 Spanish horror film about killer children taking over an island off the coast of Spain. It sort of reminded me of Night of the Living Dead, with kids instead of zombies and an island instead of a farmhouse. Good stuff, with some disturbing images. Definitely worth a watch.
I stopped by the BBT for Crazy Dave Z’s going away party then made the mistake of going to the Lava Lounge on a Saturday night. It wasn’t too crowded and the music was passable (it was “British Night”, so in 90 minutes we heard about 4 Stones songs, 5 Bowie songs, 3 Who songs, The Kinks and the Clash…blah blah blah. Most of this shit they play on ‘DVE, but it seemed to have some folks dancing, so who I am I to say anything.) One of the bartenders that night totally sucks at his job, but I’ve gotten over that, I guess.
Sunday:
The Steelers stole one from the Brownies. Sure, it was exciting, but I prefer dominance in that match-up. They can save the excitement for the games I expect them to lose (i.e. against the Pats). The second half of the day was consumed by my D&D game. Our hosts made some delicious vegetarian chili and we kicked a ton of barbarian ass. My character was able to complete his life mission, to exact revenge on the barbarian horde that destroyed his village and killed his family. Kind of cliche, I know, but it worked for the game. I was able to finish off ol’ Ungar Bloodbeard with some flair. I happened to Critical Hit and Critical Miss on that final attack. I ended up doling out enough damage on the next to last swing to take him down before flinging my sword across the room…whew. Damn…I’m such a nerd.