The 15,695th Day

October 18th: I woke up to my 15,695th day on Earth. To commemorate this blessed event, I did a Ferris Bueller from work and appropriately it was a gloriously sunny and warm day.

Me on my 1,825th day on Earth

Over morning coffee I put the The Children Of Nuggets and New Wave Of British Heavy Metal - '79 Revisited on the stereo and hit "shuffle play". As I ingested caffeine into my system, I also checked my mailbox on the Information Superhighway and was greeted by this image from Old Metal Tom in Chicago:


I laughed out loud (Thanks, my brutha!).. Thanks also to Skychick, Jayne, Miatomic, Timo, Lori, Dave, Ted, Micki, Simone, Kirsten, Stuart, Hannah, Ada, Elsie, and Neko the Cat for taking the time to send me b'day wishes. It's nice to have friends... Awww.

In keeping with the Ferris Bueller theme, I left the house and randomly jumped on BART towards downtown and ended up at The Irish Bank. There I watched the Chelsea vs. Barcelona Champions League match over fish 'n chips and a pint. There were 9 or 10 other patrons in the place and they were all there to watch the futbol over lunch too. For those who care Chelsea won 1-0 despite Barcelona having Ronaldinho.

Then, as Night took over from Day, so did Rock take over from Futbol...

Boris / Acid King / Doomriders
Slim's, San Francisco
October 18, 2006

I'm almost positive the only other time I've seen a band on my birthday was 8,760 days ago when Metallica played The Old Waldorf in S.F.. They dedicated 'Metal Militia' to me (yes, there's a bootleg).

Boris are, like, one of my favorite bands and I screamed like a little school girl when this show was announced. I imagine it's the same feeling little girls get when a pony headlines their birthday party. When Acid King was added to the bill it was icing on the cake (that will be the only cake analogy used in this piece... promise). This birthday went to 11.

I have to admit that it's been awhile since I've had a birthday party, but this felt like one sans baked goods. Thanks to Lori, Joey, Dave, Timo, Johnny, Any, Mike, and Ref for not singing 'Happy Birthday'. It's nice to have friends... Awww.

Not to be sexist, but tonight's bill was a mind blowing Battle of the Guitar Goddesses with Lori of Acid King (Les Paul / Marshall) and Wata of Boris (Les Paul / Orange) bringing the distortion. As Nigel Tufnel once asked "What's wrong with being sexy?" If anything, distortion sells because advance tickets were sold out and Slim's was packed on this school night.

I've been listening to Acid King for 4,745 days and I don't say the following lightly: This was probably their finest hometown show and definitely the most focused and rock steady set I've ever seen them play. All killer, no filler that was augmented by a special hippie shit cool psychedelic light show. Don't take the brown acid! It made me so proud... Awww.

I've been listening to Boris alot over the past 292 days and I don't say the following lightly: Boris are the type of band that can change your life... or at least inspire you to get a tattoo. Seeing them onstage causes me to have serious 'Nam-like flashbacks to my early-90's salad days with the Melvins, when I was beyond fanatical about them and every show was an epiphany and every note they played fucked with my head (in a good way). I haven't followed the Melvins in years, but I'm thankful to have Boris in the 21st Century. The healing power of volume and distortion.

The Rock Godz have indeed been generous over the past 292 days with DMBQ, Jeff Beck, BlöödHag, Slayer, Mastodon, Radio Birdman, Celtic Frost, and now Boris making me thankful for who I am... I'm thankful that I'm not the typical person my age whose entire music collection wouldn't fill a 2GB iPod Nano and whose iTunes contains detritus like Boston's Greatest Hits as a reminder of younger days long gone. Hope I die before I get old... it's more than a feeling.

Birthday Beers = 3. Iron Maiden shirts = 1 (mine). If you bought one of every Acid King merch item you would have paid $60. On the way back to the car, some pimply-faced teenagers called us fags. Only 12 days 'til Halloween!

Boris - Live in Philadelphia - 2005

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And On The 15,697th Day I Got Boris Busted:

Some of you know what I do for a living.. Anyway I wore my new Boris - 2006 Tour shirt to work today.. The logo is a "homage" to the band Yes:


As I arrived in the office, I stopped to talk to a co-worker and she noticed my shirt and asked "Is that a Yes shirt??".. and then a lightbulb went off in my head and I said "Oh yeah.. aren't they on our roster?" OOOPS!!

We then spent the next couple of minutes joking about busting Boris for copyright infringement... but I educated her on who Boris are, etc.. so no lawyers will be unleashed in the East.

The End.

Click HERE for some great shots of Acid King melting the stage at Slim's. THANKS RAY!