Panhandlia
23-11-2004, 07:02
It is refreshing to see that not everyone in the entertainment world has been drinking Michael Moore's Kool-Aid.
http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/EdmontonSun/Entertainment/2004/11/22/725344.html
Megamouth
MIKE ROSS, EDMONTON SUN
On an episode of South Park, Satan is trapped in a gay love triangle involving Saddam Hussein and goes to God for advice. God says, "Jesus, what the hell happened to you?" Sometimes I feel that way about the aging stars of heavy metal. Not that they're gay or anything, except for Rob Halford. Not that there's anything wrong with being gay.
Let's review. Metallica behaves like spoiled little boys. Ozzy Osbourne plays a frail Uncle Fester on a reality show of his own life. The music of Slayer is used to torture Iraqi PoWs. Gene Simmons turned into the rock 'n' roll Anthony Robbins.
The release date of the new Guns N' Roses album is such a huge joke that it's a cliche. David Lee Roth's latest insanity is training to be a paramedic - more successfully than his recent solo career, apparently. Ted Nugent has a freakishly huge forehead. Need I go on?
Most vexing is the curse of "too much information," as anyone who's seen Some Kind of Monster or read Tommy Lee's new book can attest. These guys are eager to share every detail of their lives, no matter how personal or disgusting. The shelves are full of this stuff. What ever happened to the "code of the road?"
Plus, many of the old metal dudes have turned into Republicans. Jesus, what the hell happened to you?
Funny you should ask. At Red's tomorrow is Megadeth. Frontman Dave Mustaine argues that sometimes fans "want to know everything." Everything is exactly what he offers in a recent telephone interview.
He is one slick rock 'n' roll raconteur. Give him a topic, he'll give you an opinion.
He's not afraid to shock, either - he voted for Bush. Aieee!
He explains his decision, not that he has to. "OK, I'm not gay, so I'm not concerned about gay rights. I don't support abortion. I don't actually share a lot of viewpoints with the Democratic party.
"If you boil down the values of the Republican party on just going into Iraq, that's very short-visioned."
Ironically, Megadeth's new album (a new recording of older material that marks Megadeth's last album before Mustaine goes solo) is called The System Has Failed.
He says, "The systems in the world have been failing since Cain killed Abel."
Ah, a biblical reference. Megadeth fans ought to know by now that Mustaine is a Christian. He says his faith kicked up a notch while recovering from a nerve injury in his fretting hand (he slept on it funny, a condition known as "Saturday night palsy"). He couldn't play at all for more than a year. Megadeth was shelved - for good, he thought - but the "fire" kept burning.
"I had a pretty profound spiritual experience during the process, too," he says. "I believed in God my whole life, but I was never really ready to serve Him until I said these six simple words: 'What have I got to lose?'
"People say, oh, Dave became a Christian. They think I'm a pussy. I'm not. I'm still the same guy. If you make me angry, you still make me angry. It's just the way I'm going to respond to it.
"One of the things I decided early on is that I'm not going to go around telling people they're doing something wrong. That would've been the same as when everybody was doing this sobriety police stuff in the music industry, which I thought was absolutely pathetic. I was on tour with Aerosmith and they had their sobriety police out and I said, 'How gay is that?' "
He goes on and on in much the same vein, spontaneously weighing in on a variety of musical and political issues and taking a nice shot at Lars Ulrich - "The guy thinks he created heavy metal. Metal created you, buddy."
Megadave is an open book, which makes me understand his publicist's concern before the interview: Half-hour time limit, no politics (whoops), nothing about Dave Ellefson. It's not worth going into the convoluted tale of the current lineup. Some of it is before the courts.
Suffice to say Mustaine is delighted with his new band, assembled "without auditions," excited that Megadeth is attracting young fans, proud to boast a killer live show.
"You smell the presence of the rock 'n' roll that we're trying to deliver," he says.
Metal fans are a forgiving lot. All we want is for these guys to rock without looking too ridiculous. I believe Mustaine's show will be as killer as he says it is. It's sold-out, too. A bar full of headbangers will cheer him just for showing up.
If there's room in the metal scene for a 49-year-old guitarist who wears a schoolboy uniform, there's certainly room for right-wing Christian rock singers that can still tap into the dark side.
Ask Alice Cooper.Personally, I think they oughta use Barbra Streisand's music to make Islamo-fascists talk, but whatever works is fine with me, and Barbra's music could be considered a violation of basic human rights.
http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/EdmontonSun/Entertainment/2004/11/22/725344.html
Megamouth
MIKE ROSS, EDMONTON SUN
On an episode of South Park, Satan is trapped in a gay love triangle involving Saddam Hussein and goes to God for advice. God says, "Jesus, what the hell happened to you?" Sometimes I feel that way about the aging stars of heavy metal. Not that they're gay or anything, except for Rob Halford. Not that there's anything wrong with being gay.
Let's review. Metallica behaves like spoiled little boys. Ozzy Osbourne plays a frail Uncle Fester on a reality show of his own life. The music of Slayer is used to torture Iraqi PoWs. Gene Simmons turned into the rock 'n' roll Anthony Robbins.
The release date of the new Guns N' Roses album is such a huge joke that it's a cliche. David Lee Roth's latest insanity is training to be a paramedic - more successfully than his recent solo career, apparently. Ted Nugent has a freakishly huge forehead. Need I go on?
Most vexing is the curse of "too much information," as anyone who's seen Some Kind of Monster or read Tommy Lee's new book can attest. These guys are eager to share every detail of their lives, no matter how personal or disgusting. The shelves are full of this stuff. What ever happened to the "code of the road?"
Plus, many of the old metal dudes have turned into Republicans. Jesus, what the hell happened to you?
Funny you should ask. At Red's tomorrow is Megadeth. Frontman Dave Mustaine argues that sometimes fans "want to know everything." Everything is exactly what he offers in a recent telephone interview.
He is one slick rock 'n' roll raconteur. Give him a topic, he'll give you an opinion.
He's not afraid to shock, either - he voted for Bush. Aieee!
He explains his decision, not that he has to. "OK, I'm not gay, so I'm not concerned about gay rights. I don't support abortion. I don't actually share a lot of viewpoints with the Democratic party.
"If you boil down the values of the Republican party on just going into Iraq, that's very short-visioned."
Ironically, Megadeth's new album (a new recording of older material that marks Megadeth's last album before Mustaine goes solo) is called The System Has Failed.
He says, "The systems in the world have been failing since Cain killed Abel."
Ah, a biblical reference. Megadeth fans ought to know by now that Mustaine is a Christian. He says his faith kicked up a notch while recovering from a nerve injury in his fretting hand (he slept on it funny, a condition known as "Saturday night palsy"). He couldn't play at all for more than a year. Megadeth was shelved - for good, he thought - but the "fire" kept burning.
"I had a pretty profound spiritual experience during the process, too," he says. "I believed in God my whole life, but I was never really ready to serve Him until I said these six simple words: 'What have I got to lose?'
"People say, oh, Dave became a Christian. They think I'm a pussy. I'm not. I'm still the same guy. If you make me angry, you still make me angry. It's just the way I'm going to respond to it.
"One of the things I decided early on is that I'm not going to go around telling people they're doing something wrong. That would've been the same as when everybody was doing this sobriety police stuff in the music industry, which I thought was absolutely pathetic. I was on tour with Aerosmith and they had their sobriety police out and I said, 'How gay is that?' "
He goes on and on in much the same vein, spontaneously weighing in on a variety of musical and political issues and taking a nice shot at Lars Ulrich - "The guy thinks he created heavy metal. Metal created you, buddy."
Megadave is an open book, which makes me understand his publicist's concern before the interview: Half-hour time limit, no politics (whoops), nothing about Dave Ellefson. It's not worth going into the convoluted tale of the current lineup. Some of it is before the courts.
Suffice to say Mustaine is delighted with his new band, assembled "without auditions," excited that Megadeth is attracting young fans, proud to boast a killer live show.
"You smell the presence of the rock 'n' roll that we're trying to deliver," he says.
Metal fans are a forgiving lot. All we want is for these guys to rock without looking too ridiculous. I believe Mustaine's show will be as killer as he says it is. It's sold-out, too. A bar full of headbangers will cheer him just for showing up.
If there's room in the metal scene for a 49-year-old guitarist who wears a schoolboy uniform, there's certainly room for right-wing Christian rock singers that can still tap into the dark side.
Ask Alice Cooper.Personally, I think they oughta use Barbra Streisand's music to make Islamo-fascists talk, but whatever works is fine with me, and Barbra's music could be considered a violation of basic human rights.