OLD Letter's/Flyers/Ad's/Pix

Back again with even more "classic" stuff unearthed from my collection. Remember this shit isn't taken from old zines or off the net. All you see here is from my personal collection. Things I've collected and kept for the past decade of so. Aren't you glad I did? Haha. I'm running out of room to house to stuff...fuck! Ok, onto a brief overview of the items presented. Starting at the top...

Letter from Samoth(Emperor) back from their demo day's. Their best day's!

Letter from Jim Mutilator(Rotting Christ). I wrote Jim around the time Rotting Christ's first album came out "Thy Mighty Contract". Jim was an awesome guy. I got alot of excellent stuff from Jim like Rotting Christ, Varathron, and Thou Art Lord t-shirts. Orginal 1989 Varathron demo etc. Both Varathron and Rotting Christ kinda went down hill after Jim left in 94/95.

Letter from Paul(Bathym/Sathanas). I totally forgot about the fact that I was in contact with Paul. I believe we traded my comp tape for a compilation of Bathym/Sathanas tunes he dubbed on cassette for me. The Demonic Force 7' ep on Thrash Records is considered a classic that came out in the early 90's. I remember Paul dubbed the promo 1993 tape for me and honestly that was the last thing I really liked from them. Not a big fan of the full-lengths. I wish I could find it. I'm sure it's still here somewhere.

Letter from Mirai(Sigh). Man, this guy had an awesome tape trade list. So much old school stuff. I wrote Mirai quite a bit. I got an old Sigh logo t-shirt from him at one point. Also I'm sitting on an unpublished interview back when Scorn Defeat came out in 1993 with him.

I think the flyers/ad's speak for themselves. No need for an explanation.

As for the photos...

First up is Vader from RI back in 1997(I believe). Great time at this show and the following night at CBGB's in NYC. Those 2 shows and that weekend was insane. Making out with the very hot Laura(chick I was hanging out with at the time), getting drunk, smoking weed and angle dust, air drumming(yeah there's a video of me from the Vader show at CBGB's totally annihilated up front going crazy on the air drums...hahahah. I was psyched to see Vader! At the time De Profundis had come out and I loved that album. Prior to these shows the last time I saw Vader live was back in 1992/93 when they opened for Dismember. RIP Doc!

Following Vader are Siege And Menace. These guy's were a great 2 man hardcore gabber team. I saw em' spin a couple of times back in the mid 90's in NJ and NYC. This picture is from gig they had opening for Napalm Death at CBGB's back in oh say 1995 or so. The crowd had no idea! It was great. These guy's use to mix in alot of old thrash(like Destructions "Sentence Of Death) into thier tunes.

Next is Lycia from CT back in the mid 90's. I believe Type O Negative played too. The Electric Hell Fire Club headlined, that I do know. I still can't believe I saw Lycia live!

Immolation follows from 1996. I can't remember where I got these pix but I think the show was from the Wetlands in NYC. So "Here In After" just came out. It only took 5 years!

Enslaved from the Wetlands NYC back in 1995 is what your seeing after Immolation. This was the first time they came to the US for a tour(with Absu and Incantation). As you can see it's the original line-up. If I remember correctly they played the majority of the first album and I think one song from the mini LP/split with Emperor. That tour was a big deal and seeing Absu and Enslaved was pretty surreal cos black metal shows/tours were pretty non existent in the US at that point.

Still at the Wetlands is Dissection from 1996. Another big deal back then was this how that happen during an ice/snow storm back in the March of 1996. Dissection, At The Gates, and Morbid Angel...what a fucking show. Actually it was rather bitter sweet because after the tour Dissection went into hibernation, At The Gates called it a day and David Vincent left Morbid Angel. Man, Dissection killed lived that night. It actually made the absolutely fucked adventure of getting to NYC worth it. There was literally black ice up and down the east coast that night.

Finally we end with Das Ich from the CBGB gallery in NYC. I forget what year though. Mid 90's for sure. I tell what these guy's blew me away. On my list of top 5 bands to witness live. Front man Bruno was a sight to behold with his diabolic grins and contorted body movements. I've never seen anything like it.

Well, there you have it...enjoy. Feel free to comment on this and any other blogs.

The Me Of X-Mas Past

Here's it is Christmas Eve 2007. I watch as my nephews excitement mount as they anxiously await the arrival of Satan Claus. I take time to reflect on Christmas's of old.That thinking has lead me to present to you the top Christmas gifts from my childhood. In no particular order. Star Wars, GI JOE, Dungeon and Dragons, and Eagle Force. Ah, fond memories. I actually still own a great deal of mine and my brothers GI JOE collection. Some are a bit worse for wear as now my nephews play with them nowadays. I even manged to hold onto a few Dungeon And Dragons figures as well. Sadly I buried the original Star Wars figures and play sets in the our sandbox the following summer. Stupid, stupid, stupid! Wish I had some of those Eagle Force guy's. I'm not sure how many kids had and or remember that shit from the early 80's? Die cast metal army figures. They were small though and so were their accessories that my brother and I always lost. Mighty Men And Monster Maker set was the shit. I loved that thing. You choose a combination of head, torso, and leg plates, and stack them in this little tray together. Then put a piece of paper on top and rub over it with this black crayon thing to give you a nice comic-book-looking line drawing of your creation, which you can color appropriately. I use make all kinds of awesome monsters, mutants, freaks, and superhero's. I had to throw in the KISS solo records cos those LP's were the first pieces of vinyl let alone music I owned. At 8 years old I wasn't into the music so much as I was the image of KISS. Nevertheless those LP's layed the ground work for the future hard rock/heavy metal freak I was and still am.

I scanned off some old pix too of myself from Christmas past. The first one is from 1973. That's myself and mom. My first Christmas. The second is 1978 at my cousins house. Check out the X-Wing fighter in the corner and the Batmobile in my hand. That last pix is from 1983. Christmas at my house at the time.

I wanted to include some X-MAS movies to check out. I didn't bring up the same old same old so instead I came up with a few new modern Christmas themed flicks. The first is Wind Chill. Which I was surprised I liked but did. Rather in creepy in spots. I thought it was a cool and effective supernatural horror flick. Next The Lookout. Not horror at all but a crime/heist flick. Nice ending.

Merry Christmas!

Bill