Twenty Soundtracks to Twenty Different Lives: A Review of the Essay Collection Heavy Rotation

An old roommate of mine worked for a company that organized trade conferences, and one day he came home from a publishing conference with a pile of free books.  “You like books, right?  Here…”   I sold some of them on Amazon and gave others to Goodwill, but one I hung on to was Heavy Rotation:… Continue reading Twenty Soundtracks to Twenty Different Lives: A Review of the Essay Collection Heavy Rotation

Kinda Famous Folk Metal Bands with Chicks in Them

I’ll admit it. If there’s a girl in the band, I’m automatically more interested. Yes, I know it’s the twenty-first century, ladies can do stuff now, etcetera, etcetera… And I realize that it’s the hands and the vocal chords making the music, not the genitals. (If you can play guitar with your dick, call me.… Continue reading Kinda Famous Folk Metal Bands with Chicks in Them

A Very Belated Concert Review

A couple weeks ago, I kind of lost my shit at work and decided it was time for an escape.  Having wrangled one free ticket to the opening night of Corrosion of Conformity‘s spring tour, I headed to the Gramercy by myself to see them play alongside Torche, Valient Thorr, and A Storm of Light.… Continue reading A Very Belated Concert Review

Valient Thorr: On Earth to Help

  In a world where rock music has devolved into coiffed dudes with tribal armbands crying about their girlfriends, Valient Thorr is a blast of Thin-Lizzy-Lynyrd-Skynyrd-Motorhead kick-ass telling those dudes to wake the hell up. Since their Venusian spacecraft crashed in North Carolina in the early 2000s, they’ve been bringing true rock n roll to… Continue reading Valient Thorr: On Earth to Help

My Lifelong Struggle with Metal Trivia

  At work, we talk a lot about how important it is for students to have background knowledge of influential people and important historical events – in other words, “No, sweetie, Michelle Obama’s mother couldn’t possibly have been a slave BECAUSE THE CIVIL WAR ENDED IN 1865!”  I’m finding that background knowledge is also helpful… Continue reading My Lifelong Struggle with Metal Trivia

Dancing with a Giant Book: Review of Martin’s A Dance with Dragons

  North of the Wall, a skinchanger enters a wolf’s body and gorges himself on human flesh.  Thousands of miles to the south, a fourteen-year-old queen tends to three ferocious dragons in the hopes that they will win back her ancestral empire.  In between, a beaten populace has more immediate concerns than wargs and winged… Continue reading Dancing with a Giant Book: Review of Martin’s A Dance with Dragons