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One of the Koreas is ready to nuke the world; Melissa Etheridge’s
partner, Tammy Lynn Michaels, gets friendly with a test tube full of
sperm and has twins; and for Christ’s sake ….Freddy Fender
is dead. With the state of the world constantly shifting and changing,
there are three things that always seem to remain constant:
3.
Rolling Stone magazine still has as many fashion ads as Cosmopolitan
(maybe more)
2. MTV still doesn’t have any “M”
anymore, and
1. Are You On Something.com is still the
best place for music on the Web.
Earth sucks, and I wanna go back home. You see, on my planet, we all
speak the same language – the universal language of music. It’s
a quaint little place nestled deep inside my head, where many will come
and go, and a great many have taken up residence. I only share this
little clue that I might be a whack job with you because I had the chance
to see one of the bands that has lived on my planet for decades –
Iron Maiden. They’re a band that is recognized by many as one of
the best Heavy Metal bands ever and it just so happens that I spent
the whole show standing next to a future rock star. On October 18th,
Iron Maiden became an unforgettable memory for my son, Nathaniel, as
this was his very first concert experience.
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Rocker
Nathaniel Itter
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I
went to my first concert when I was 8 years old, and it was an event
that changed my life. I was fortunate enough to start off with a respectable
band also. I can stand tall and say that I saw Foghat, with special
guest Bob Seger, in 1976. I mean, I’m not sure I would admit to
remembering my first show if it had been Leif Garrett or The Starland
Vocal Band or some crap. So, I wanted the same great experience for
my son, who is 9 years old. I wanted to give him a respectable band
to start his concert history with, and who better than Iron Maiden.
As the band blasted onto the stage and ran about for almost two hours,
Nathaniel seemed hypnotized by Maiden and their show. He could muster
up only one word as we wandered the parking lot of Allstate Arena after
the show (looking for the goddamned car). “Awesome,” he said,
as he gazed a blank stare toward the sky. He put his $10 “Eddie”
wristband on when I bought it for him, and he still hasn’t taken
it off. It seems that he has been greatly affected by his first concert
experience, and on my planet inhabited by Iron Maiden concerts and Are
You On Something material, I just don’t have room for Armageddon
right now.
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As
a young rocker kid, I was influenced by many of rock’s greatest
drummers - one of them being The Runaways’ Sandy West. Sandy West
showed me that girls could rock as hard as boys, and that there were
no boundaries to this thing they called Rock ‘N’ Roll. Sandy
lost her long battle with lung cancer on Saturday, October 21st, and
the world lost one of its only female power drummers.
From watching the Runaways documentary film, “Edgeplay,” I
know that Sandy’s desire to play with The Runaways again was tremendous,
and I feel like the only way to find closure with this tragedy would
be to hear that Cherie Currie, Jackie Fox, Lita Ford, and Joan Jett
were working together once again in honor of Sandy. So I would like
to use the small voice I have in this forum to plead with Cherie, Jackie,
Lita, and Joan to heal this bleeding wound. If only for one small moment,
I ask you to bring the beat back in memory of Sandy.
My condolences to the family of Sandy West, The Runaways, and to all
of the fans.
– Scott "Dr. Music" Itter
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