OFF: Earplugs, Metallica, Pat Boone, Zappa et al

[Paul Mather]

On Fri, 31 Jan 1997, Ted Alger wrote:

> uh, yeah its real.....98 rock in Baltimore has been playing quite a bit of it....
> in fact, used it as a torture device to see if someone could listen to it
> for 4 hours straight to win Metallica tickets.....
> it's called something like "In a Metal Mood: No More Mr. Nice Guy"

Speaking of Metallica, I got a ticket to their upcoming concert in (no, I
am not kidding) Roanoke, VA.  (Roanoke is diehard Country um.. country;
apart from the recent Monster Truck Show and the Gun Traders Fayre, the
only big name acts to stop off here on their sweep down to civilisation in
North Carolina have been such notables as Reba McIntyre, Garth Brooks, and
Clint Black.  But then what can you expect from a city whose most famous
son is Wayne Newton?  But I digress...)

Anyway, I forgot to save the info about suitable earplugs to wear to gigs
last time it cropped up.  I'm mindful about my hearing nowadays (maybe
it's something to do with all the psychophysics I'm taking lately?:), so I
don't want the high-frequency, high-pain sounds to have my ears ringing
for days afterwards.  (obHW: Oddly enough, the worst concert I ever
attended for "ringing of the ears" later was a Groundhogs gig in Conwy;
Hawkwind alumnus Dave Anderson was the bass player at that time.  He wore
fancy cowboy boots, I recall.)

So, if anyone has anything specific/concrete to recommend, drop me a line
via private e-mail.  There are a couple of sports shops locally that, I'm
pretty sure, sell guns, so I should be able to get something there, I
guess.  (Oh, and the local Wal-Mart has a gun section, too, for your
shopping convenience.)

> strange.

Stranger still is the Frank-Zappa-link-to-Pat-Boone-Heavy-Metal (you can
link Frank to everyone, somehow).  It's via his son, Dweezil, who
contributes guitar to Pat's album, so I'm informed.  (He also contributed
guitar to the last Spinal Tap album, so I guess he's used to playing on
these whacky albums.)

Btw, I saw a clip of Pat Boone on TV recently, and he looked ridiculous
(let's make no bones about it).  Pity they never played any of his new
album, though.  Maybe it would rank right up there with his crappy Little
Richard covers.

Cheers,

Paul.

obCD: Neil Young, _After the Gold Rush_

e-mail: paul at csgrad.cs.vt.edu               A stranger in a strange land.