24 June 2014: Musical Mayhem At The Dirty Dog Bar

“Nobody expects a footballer to have any kind of an IQ, which is a bit of an unfair stereotype.”~ Frank Lampard

What a night!

Before we begin, HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY WISHES to vocalist, Amanda Maddera of CASKET OF CASSANDRA!

I had been looking forward to this particular night for a while.

Having the opportunity to see both CASKET OF CASSANDRA and Fear Control was appealing to say the least!

And there were so many other bands there, that one never knows what would happen.

It would be a roller coaster of a night for me.

So let’s just get to the highlights and lowlights.

First and foremost, there should never be any lowlights. Ever. I mean, its a metal show. It is entertainment. It is a party. And it is meant to be fun.

Sitting there with my various collections of band t-shirts, knowing that I would switch from one band to the next to the next to the next.

First for the t-shirt waltz was CASKET OF CASSANDRA.

I hadn’t seen them play in a while. I missed their CD release party because I was out of town. And knowing that they had new material, it would be interesting.

However, this was a battle. And there were a ton of other bands involved. I mean, the doors opened at 5:00 PM, so early in the day!!! Everyone got only fifteen minutes. 

That’s not a set. That’s a rehearsal. That’s a warm up. But every band got the same time frame for their set. It just seemed like to a lot of people that a band was only getting started and then they were gone.

I find it very fascinating with CASKET OF CASSANDRA that the very moment they are told by the sound technician that they can begin that all bets are off, the flood gates open up, and everyone is switched ON!

I literally witnessed before my own eyes vocalist Amanda Maddera go from “a woman standing on stage” to “total heavy metal demon.”

I have yet to find anyone that can best Maddera with her stage presence, her energy, her vocal style, and her performance.

Every time I see this band play, its a brand new experience. Far different from the last one I had seen. Everything gets destroyed your face and you’re left to just simply deal with it.

It gets your heart pumping. You never know what’s going to happen on stage. Everyone is head banging and going wild from one side to the other. And so you begin to wonder who will jump off that stage and on to you, if at all??

Many times I thought that Maddera was going to march right off the edge of the stage and just levitate in the air, and then keep marching.

I’m not going to put that past her.

So from that, the place had this electricity in the air. Mainly because  CASKET OF CASSANDRA is still (in my opinion) high voltage and high energy.

Fear Control would later take on the stage as the night burned away from the rest of the world outside. 

As many times as I have picked on Kash Sakaria for allowing me to hold his beautiful guitar both here on this blog and on Facebook– he finally allowed it!! Photographs were promptly taken.

Thank you to Kash Sakaria. That meant the world to me!!

Fear Control took over on stage and was in the driver’s seat. I love the fact that they attempted to play a new song live. Well, they didn’t “attempt” it, they did it. And its going to be awesome when all the rough edges are smoothed out. It is going to be a killer tune!!!

Ironic that he was wearing a CASKET OF CASSANDRA t-shirt? Ehh, probably not!!

What was great was that these two bands were there supporting one another even though they were going head to head.

The swift and quick fifteen minute set was gone in a flash.  The band has these new boxes I noticed the past two shows that when they step on it or stand on it, they become illuminated from beneath. I thought that was pretty awesome. I wonder where they got the idea from? It really is a kick ass feature on stage and its something that the BAND controls and not some technician.

And then after that came the lowlights.

After pouring a few back, there’s always the evacuation process. But there were so many frickin’ bands there that towards the back of the venue where the restrooms were was a huge shit pile of drum kits and drum parts. So much that they were blocking my path to get by. I couldn’t reach the restrooms at all.

I tried to push back some of the equipment,  but that failed. Then when I finally found the corresponding drummer to the equipment that was blocking my path, I asked the guy to push back his stuff less than a yard…. only about two feet.

Instead of complying and being helpful and assisting, he gave me the middle finger and told me to fuck off.

Wow. Really guy???

This guy (who had X’s marked on his hands … so in other words under 21 years of age) had the testicular fortitude to be that kind of a jerk. Where does he think he comes from???

I don’t care if you have toured the world and have sold millions of records and scored numerous chicks…. my request was not all that complex and difficult and in fact, it would have been beneficial to all mankind. At least the people who were there. And you tell me to fuck off?

After frustration and shock set in, I said something about his mother. Then it was on. But he could not get a lick on me at all.

The defense moves that I have been learning or somewhat trained with came to be very helpful. And suddenly the tables were turned that HE was the one frustrated. So he threatened me to get his posse and then we’ll see what was up.

After that, I knew I would be annihilated and I wasn’t going to take any chances of being arrested and thrown into jail or kicked out of the venue. So I told everyone that I was going to leave, even though it was before 10:00 PM and there were a ton of bands left to play.

I came home wondering what it is inside the minds of people that makes them think that its okay to act like that. And furthermore what makes them think its okay to hit someone in a wheelchair? Battle for Mayhem, indeed.

Perhaps these are questions I’ll never find the answer to. But you know what? I had the brain power to leave before the situation turned ugly. One of these days I fear that something like this is going to happen and I will not walk away from it like I did last night.

But I did walk away. And I live on to see another show.

CASKET OF CASSANDRA & Fear Control did NOT disappoint!!!! I’m proud of them, and proud to say that I know them.

Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia: Post #666

“We are each our own devil, and we make this world our hell.”~ Oscar Wilde

Here we are. The 666th post of DAMBREAKER.

I had no idea what I was going to write about. I thought perhaps I would write about something evil, dark, and disturbing. But there’s already so much of that out there on the Internet that if I was to do it, nobody would really pay attention. And I doubt that anyone wants to really hear about my exes.

I asked around for opinion to those I know who read this blog more often than others. They couldn’t come up with any ideas.

And so research is what it was. Then I stumbled across a word relating to the number:

Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia. 

Damn. What? Not even I.. who needed only four tries to say the word “floccinaucinihilipilification” correctly, would even bother trying to say this word!

What is it? Well, the word “phobia” is on the end so then what is it a fear of?

FEAR OF THE NUMBER 666. 

And now you honestly and truly know that there is a phobia for EVERYTHING under the sun!!!!

However the fear is actually there and comes up a lot more than one would think.

When I was a child, there was a neighborhood kid who came running across the street to show me his math textbook. He was in an extreme panic mode when he asked me to take a look at his math assignment.

Ironically sixth math problem on the page was “999-333=?” and even though he claimed that he knew the answer to the problem, his question for me was “Is it okay to write down the answer?”

Wow. Really kid? It’s math. Nothing else.

But it does get a lot more weird.

 A prominent example is Nancy and Ronald Reagan who, in 1989, when moving to their home in the Bel-Air section of Los Angeles after the 1988 election, had its address 666 St. Cloud Road changed to 668 St. Cloud Road. 

There were reports of pregnant women who were terrified of the possibility of giving birth to their child when the 6th of June 2006 came around. That’s pretty strange!!

The date of the sixth of June in the year 2006 , no matter how you write it,  would be 06-06-06.

A bunch of heavy metal bands were pushing to get their new albums finished for release so that it could be released on that exact day, including the band SLAYER, but many of them failed for various reasons. Nothing major actually happened on 06-06-06. At least nothing that would be worth mentioning for this post. It was however the 62^nd anniversary of D-Day. And that’s about it.

Former White Zombie bass player, Sean Yseult was  born on the sixth of June in the year 1966. But that would be 06-06-66. I think that’s too many sixes.

There was a significant killer tornado that struck Topeka, Kansas.. but that was two days later on the 8th of June of 1966. So that was too late.

A more recent example came in November 2013, when Codie Thacker, a cross-country runner at Whitley County High School in Williamsburg, Kentucky, refused to run in her Kentucky High School Athletic Association regional meet, forfeiting a chance at qualifying for the state championships, when her coach drew bib number 666.

People fear the number of 666. And it is inexplicable.

The only reference we have is the biblical passage in the book of Revelations at the end, saying that #1- it is a human number and #2- its the number of the beast (in which we are led to believe would be the Devil.)

I could not find anywhere else where this number would come up and have such a significance in society or culture.

Not even the Satanists bother to use the number 666 – other than for shock value. It means nothing to them.

Other uses with 666 have been numbered highways.

There are/were numbered highways with “666” in Belgium, Ireland, Canada, Italy, Sweden, United Kingdom, and the United States of America. However in Ontario Canada, Ontario Highway 666 was changed to 658 in 1985. But I cannot confirm the reasons why.

Even in the big state of Texas, there is a highway 666.

Farm to Market Road 666 (FM 666) is a farm-to-market road in the state of Texas that serves Nueces County and San Patricio County. The road begins at FM 70 in Bishop and continues north as it intersects both Texas State Highway 44 (also known as TX 44) in Banquete and FM 624 in Bluntzer. As the road enters San Patricio County, it enters the city of San Patricio, and, during the end of its route, is parallel to Interstate 37 (I-37). The road eventually ends in the city of Mathis at TX 359.

FM 666 was designated in 1945 from SH 44 in Banquete southward and eastward to US 77 in Driscoll. In 1949, FM 666 extended north to US 59(now SH 359) in Mathis. In 1955, the section of FM 666 from US 77 to its current junction with FM 665 was transferred to FM 665. In 1957, FM 666 extended south to FM 70, completing its current route.

Its length is 36.7 miles (59.1 km) long. 

In 2010, I had an “experience with 666. I stayed with someone that I should not have been with in a Marriott Hotel along the Riverwalk in San Antonio, Texas.

The room number that was assigned to the woman was literally 666. She looked at me all funny, but then was laughing about it and then shrugged it off. She WAS “evil” though. I only say that because with the amount of time I spent with her in that hotel room, after all of that …. she was MARRIED.

But that is neither here nor there. I was where I should not have been to begin with.

And still, the answer to the question “Why is this number evil?” remains unanswered. At least in my mind.

It is the number in between 665 and 667. And the next blog post here will be 667.

What scares you? What are your phobias???

Stupidity Still Breathes Our Air

“What are you going to put on your resume – ‘dumbass’?”~ Kurtwood Smith

This one was just too good (or bad) to pass up for this installment of Dambreaker.

For many countries, this past Sunday was Father’s Day. A day of gathering and a day of celebration, sometimes having a BBQ or taking Dad out to lunch or whatever.

Just a whole day to celebrate fathers in the nation. If not, the world. Not only fathers but fatherhood in general.

Father’s Day was founded in Spokane, Washington at the YMCA in 1910 by Sonora Smart Dodd, who was born in Arkansas.

Its first celebration was in the Spokane YMCA on the 19th of June, 1910.

Her father, the Civil War veteran William Jackson Smart, was a single parent who raised his six children there. After hearing a sermon about Jarvis’ Mother’s Day in 1909 at Central Methodist Episcopal Church, she told her pastor that fathers should have a similar holiday honoring them.

Although she initially suggested the 5th of June, her father’s birthday, the pastors did not have enough time to prepare their sermons, and the celebration was deferred to the third Sunday of June.

Several local clergymen accepted the idea, and on 19th June 1910, the first Father’s Day, “sermons honoring fathers were presented throughout the city.”

A bill to accord national recognition of the holiday was introduced in Congress in 1913. 

In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson went to Spokane to speak in a Father’s Day celebration and wanted to make it official, but Congress resisted, fearing that it would become commercialized.

United States President Calvin Coolidge recommended in 1924 that the day be observed by the nation, but stopped short of issuing a national proclamation. Two earlier attempts to formally recognize the holiday had been defeated by Congress.

In 1957, Maine Senator Margaret Chase Smith wrote a proposal accusing Congress of ignoring fathers for 40 years while honoring mothers, thus “[singling] out just one of our two parents”.

In 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson issued the first presidential proclamation honoring fathers, designating the third Sunday in June as Father’s Day.  Six years later, the day was made a permanent national holiday when President Richard Nixon signed it into law in 1972. In addition to Father’s Day, International Men’s Day is celebrated in many countries on November 19 for men and boys who are not fathers. 

So there’s your history.

But a swarming nest of ignoramuses have shown their asses. Because of this feminist movement of “#YesAllWomen” has seen the light, now we have a bunch of ill-considered, no more brain cells having, loud mouthed, dumb twat waffles who believed that they needed to speak up AGAINST Father’s Day.

#EndFathersDay ??? Really?????

These women are taking shit far too much or too serious.

I could not believe what I read!!!

Where the hell do these people come from?? And what I mean by that is where are the rocks from which they come out from??????

Let’s take this one by one… keeping in mind there’s a ton of this crap going around on Twitter. But we’ll deal with this image here.

Tasha Polwright: #endfathersday because celebrating patriarchy and male dominance is #rapeculture. Why do you keep using them words? I don’t think them means what you think them means. Celebrating Father’s Day is NOT glorifying male dominance or patriarchy – where the male is taken the lead role in the family.

Rowan: #endfathersday Because its a #TriggerWarning for all womyn who have been abused by their fathers. Okay, first of all – allow me to buy you a dictionary because the word is “women” … got it?? And no.. there is NO trigger warning for abused women. There have been fathers who have abused their children. Yes there most certainly has. But one day is not going to TRIGGER anything. And one day is not going to TRIGGER ALL WOMEN who have been abused. Some of them have gone to receive help. Others have found a way to deal with it. To say that it will trigger ALL WOMEN… you’re so full of shit. Learn to spell!

And then she says something else too:

Rowan: #endfathersday because masculinity is what causes abuse and is nothing to celebrate! Just gotta keep going, don’t you??Apparently you are the leading professional in “abuse” and you know exactly where it comes from and where it gets started. Since you know so damn much why don’t you set your ass up in front of the United States Congress and make a bill about it and make sure its signed into law? Miss Professional of Abuse.

Sharmeka Martin: Glorifying the rape culture and patriarchy? No thank you. Hmm… I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that either you have a crap relationship with your father OR you’ve had no relationship with your father whatsoever. And that’s just sad. Rape culture though? What the hell are you talking about?? This is the United States of America, NOT the Middle East. There is NO glorification for people who rape in this country.

Carly_Jackson: because 100% of child abuse is from men. typically white men. we need more #singlemothers. For this one, I will admit that I went to Twitter to find out what was this person’s malfunction. Let’s just say that what was seen cannot be unseen. Regret filled in for sure. But let’s deal with the tweet. “100% of child abuse is from men. typically white men.” Just how old are you? And better yet, just how DUMB are you? 100% of men are abusive.. well thank you very much for that. Let’s go get Susan Smith and Andrea Yates and get them out of jail. Since 100% of abuse is from men. Wow… I am sure they wished your information was at their trial, otherwise they would not have gone to jail.

How do you explain this then?

http://www.elinewberger.com/articles/archive/childabuse-research/abuseaccidents.html

http://mkg4583.wordpress.com/2009/09/01/mothers-abuse-children-3-times-more-than-dads-federal-hhs-statistics/

http://fox6now.com/2014/01/11/milw-mother-faces-charges-in-case-involving-severe-child-abuse/

Go on… tell me again that its 100% of men!!

But what is even a WORSE statement than that, is the fact that you think that the world needs more single mothers. Well dumbass, you need a man (father) to get with woman (mother) in order to have children and make that woman a mother. Unless you are implying that ALL married women need to just up and divorce.

And one more, cuz this is just irritating my own brain cells to be even bothering with it all.

Phoebe Kwon: #endfathersday because fathers are still considered the head of the household, they don’t need to be recognized. #YesAllWomen. Ohh, here we go with this again!! The whole “YesAllWomen” at what point do these groups think that they speak for ALL WOMEN because some of the women that I have talked about this issue with are giving you the finger!!  Yes, fathers ARE considered the head of the household. That is how things roll in the United States. And in a lot of places in the world. But there are other places in the world where women are in charge. But more than likely, Phoebe, you aren’t living there. Feel free to move. As far as the fact that fathers do not need to be recognized? There is a Father’s Day because of equality issues with having Mother’s Day. Soooooooo… if we don’t need Father’s Day then we don’t need Mother’s Day either. Nor Grandparents’ Day. Nor do we need to have days off of work for many holidays in the calendar year. How about that?????

Now I understand that there are some men who are on the planet who have slept with women and these women have become pregnant and had children and a lot of the time these men absolutely are NOT a part of their own children’s lives. There are deadbeat fathers out there. And there are abusive fathers. But to wipe away a holiday because of this SMALL group of men is immature, ridiculous, and very ignorant.

#EndFathersDay ……. no thank you!!!

Brit Can’t Get A Bloke

“My psychiatrist told me I was crazy and I said I want a second opinion. He said okay, you’re ugly too.”~ Rodney Dangerfield

29 year old Natasha Goldsmith of Exeter, England cannot land a man. She just can’t seem to get a boyfriend.

Because she has over tens of thousands of items from Hello Kitty.

Her tiny one room home is just CLUTTERED with stuff everywhere. And she’s got items in the kitchen and in her closet as well.

Natasha has spent almost (in U.S. dollars) nearly $100,000 lives in her “Kitty Kingdom” and has been collecting for the last 15 years.  

I watched a video interview with her as she willingly and happily showed off her “Kitty Kingdom” to the media. She kept talking about how many items were given to her. However, I seriously doubt that much merchandise actually HAS been given to her as gifts. At least not as much as she claims.

When a grown adult wears a tiara all the time, and has this much collectibles in their homes…. do they really have the right to be complaining about their single relationship status? What do you think??

Do you have a collection of anything? If so, what do you collect??

I think I have a great idea that I can take internationally but I will have to think it through first. I’ll get back to you on that in a brand new blog post in the future.

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/weird-news/hello-kitty-3675223

Getting Things Done For Yourself

“The whole house came up and I came up with it. I was just praying to the Lord to take care of me.”~ Willie Nelson

There’s someone new that I have been watching (willingly) on YouTube who makes daily vlogs and over the weekend makes a special video for audiences to enjoy. The daily vlogs are on one YouTube account and the special videos are on another.

The account with the weekly special videos just recently reached over ONE MILLION subscribers.

Since that point, the YouTube personality has been ranting a little here and there on their daily vlog account.

Now it all comes down to today.

Just under ten minutes of a vlog post that explains the necessity for them to take a break. The explanation that they are tired and exhausted and work hard every day to make quality videos.

The video is almost unnecessary in my opinion.

We all have our things that we do in life that keep us busy. We all have those things in life that take so much time out of our lives. And yes we often reach certain points to where we should take a break from them and then come back to them after a “reboot” so to speak.

YouTubers are no different. If you are someone who posts a weekly video or a daily video… it doesn’t matter. At some point, you’re going to feel like you are going to need to take a break.

Here’s my point:

You have this passion to make videos and upload them to YouTube. You ARE receiving some kind of monetary gift for making those videos. That’s great!!!

You also have a personal life too. The same as everyone else.

Whether you have 100 people subscribed to your YouTube channel or you have the record for having the most subscribers in the world….. you are human and will need a break.

What you do NOT need, is to go on camera and go on and on and on for several minutes explaining yourself to your audience about the decisions you are making in your PERSONAL life.

Your audience doesn’t really care because they have a personal life as well, and so when they decide to make time, they will log on and start watching your videos on YouTube. 

That’s right. I said it. Nobody cares! Nobody wants to hear you drag on for so long because you feel (for whatever reason) the need to explain yourself that you are going to take a break.

How about this: Instead of spreading the mustard on the badger, you fist the mallard and then come back and tell us all about it then?

Translation? Stop explaining yourself to your audience and take care of your personal business. And if that means you disappear from YouTube or the Internet in general for a few days- so be it.

Gather yourself, take a break, take a breather, then come back and get back to work. YouTube is NOT going anywhere… trust me!!!!!

Get things done. Get your personal life straightened out. Priorities will always come first before your hobby of vlogging.

And stop worrying about what your audience thinks/says.

JUST DO IT!!

Campaign For The Pissed Off Ex

Okay readers, really quick… I saw this on Facebook.

I laughed, I cried, I got envious because we ALL could make a lot of money if we were so creative. I think that next time I WILL attempt to do something like this and see how far I can make it go.

And for those of you who are wondering, yes I DID buy a t-shirt.

http://teepspring.com/FUCKTODDANDJESSICA

In Cold Blood

“I’m gonna put some culture up your ass!” – some random father to his child at The Getty Museum

Well hello there snarky people!! Apparently none or very little of you know this tale, so bend over because history, culture, and society is about to be shoved up YOUR butt!!

Four people were murdered in a very tiny town in Kansas back in November 1959. All four people were the same family.

In April 1965, the two people who were responsible for the murders were executed and hanged.

Shortly after, a book was written. The story, the town, the family, and the author would become notorious!!

Now let’s dig a little deeper into detail and show the chain of events leading to this story becoming so infamous.

Two ex-convicts on parole from the Kansas State Penitentiary, Richard “Dick” Hickock and Perry Edward Smith, committed the robbery and murders in November 1959. 

One of their former fellow prisoners was Floyd Wells, who had worked as a farmhand for Mr. Clutter who lived in Holcomb, Kansas. Wells told Hickock about a safe at the farmhouse where Herb Clutter kept large amounts of cash. Hickock soon hatched the idea to commit the robbery, leave no witnesses, and start a new life in Mexico with the cash.

Crime scene photo of Mr. Clutter’s body

The information from Wells proved to be nothing but bullshit, since Mr. Clutter did not keep cash, had no safe, and did all his business by check.

Because Hickock believed in this story, they were adamant about finding the safe. The family had been tied up (the men separated from the women) and eventually all were murdered. Shot in the head by a shotgun. The only differences in the murders was that Mr. Clutter also had his throat slit by a knife… is blood splattered all over the basement walls and floor.

The men were found in the basement and the women found upstairs in the house.

No safe was found. The family was robbed of what they did have and Hickock and Smith took off in the middle of the night.

It seems as if nobody heard the shotgun blasts. At least there were no reports of hearing any in this tiny Kansas town.

Soon enough the bodies would be discovered and it would only be a few weeks before they were brought back to Kansas to face charges for the murders.

After years of appeals, both Smith and Hickock were hanged in 1965.

Shortly after, author Truman Capote wrote a book detailing and describing the crime and its ugly consequences.

It was named “In Cold Blood” and it shot everything into infamy and notoriety.

The sales of the book did very well, and even shortly after that was a Hollywood film adaptation in 1967 of the book starring Robert Blake and Scott Wilson as Smith and Hickock.

Truman Capote

The film was done in black and white and it follows the story from the time they were paroled all the way until their executions. The one thing that stands out in my mind was the fact that at the end of this film, there’s the sound of a beating heart as the execution is taking place. Then when the body falls through the trap door, it begins to slow down until it finally stops.

Evidently, Truman Capote was there during the times of the execution. He witnessed the execution of Hickock but couldn’t stand to watch the execution of Smith and then soon left the penitentiary.

His literally works put everything and everyone in the spotlight and on the map.

I actually lived in this very specific area of Kansas in the 1990’s. Many people since 1959 have owned the house but have chosen to live there quietly and in peace. One of the owners strangely committed suicide (but not inside of the house) and other strange things are linked to the home. 

There was a time when the owners at the time were strapped for cash and was allowing people to come into their home to look around for $5 a person. It was then that I personally had gone inside of the house and seen the places in which the Clutter family had laid dead.

It is actually one of the most creepiest places that I have ever been in. The Clutter home is actually scarier than the Lizzie Borden house in Fall River, Massachusetts. But this is only my opinion.

The one thing that has stuck with my head since visiting the home was the fact that the splattered blood on the walls of the basement  from Mr. Clutter is still there. No matter how many times they paint over the blood, it still comes back. I had touched the blood splatter when nobody was looking and I was almost instantly surrounded with the feeling of being frozen…… in late August.

I did not live in Holcomb, but rather I lived in Garden City at the time.

This is a map of the county. Garden City being the county seat as well as the most populated place in the county. Holcomb on the left of the image, almost not IN this photo, but is there.

Holcomb less than 8 miles away from Garden City, Kansas. And I’ve known people who lived in Holcomb. None of them spoke of the murders. Most of them still afraid to bring it up for whatever reason.

The population of Garden City in 2012 is just over 25,000 people.  The population of Holcomb where the murders took place in 2012 is just over 2,000 people.

For a little perspective…  In 1960 (only a few months after the murders) the population of Garden City, Kansas just a few miles to the east of Holcomb was 10,905 people.  The entire COUNTY was 16,093. The population of Holcomb in 1960 is estimated to be only a few hundred.

So this was truly an extremely small town that Smith and Hickock got into and by their criminal actions had put southwestern Kansas in the stars of the sky. 

However I will say this for those who are fascinated by murderers, killers, and otherwise have a general interest in this story… do NOT seek the Clutter home any more.

The owners of the house have changed from time to time and the current owners do NOT want anyone entering their house for any reason at all. DO NOT GO THERE!!!

The current owners are extremely super serious about it too. Don’t come to their property, don’t ask to be let into their house, do not drive down their road to take photographs of the house. If the owners are there and they find you, they will call the police. And they will insist you be arrested for trespassing. (In small town Kansas.. trust me, you WILL be arrested!)

I think I caught a lucky break in the 1990’s by seeing that house when the owners at the time had opened their house up. But it got to be a hassle after a while, and so they closed it up again and lived in peace. Or tried to any way.

Other residents of Holcomb are just trying to move on and away from the horrific past. But it seems as if the fame and notoriety of the murders will not let them. Truman Capote sealed their fate. It is worth noting that not a lot of the town’s residents were very willing to talk to Capote when he was in town.

And now you have been educated.

I’ve read the book. It was hard to put it down. I recommend it for those avid readers out there or for those who just want to know more.

There is the 1967 film with Robert Blake.

And there was even a “mini series” starring Anthony Edwards and Eric Roberts. The mini-series wasn’t as great as the black and white film, but does a decent job. Stick with the film from 1967 if you want to be the most accurate to the actual story and to the book.

Annual Birthday Postings Of Joy To Jodi Ambrose

“When we look into the fires, we can either break open in song or we can go blind from the heat.”

It is the 5th of June which only means one thing:

Time to come into the blog and adulate the living crap out of author Jodi Ambrose in celebration of her birthday and in the process piss off everyone else who reads this who doesn’t know or understand what the big deal is.

But the friendship with Jodi Ambrose is in fact a really big deal for me. So much that I would break concrete buildings with my own face if she was trapped inside while it was on fire.

Tell me, who has that kind of creepy dedication???

Yep. I do.

Whatcha gonna do about it? Ya wanna fight? Put em up then!!!

I didn’t think so ………..

With all seriousness definitely put aside, being a part of the Ambrose Nut Society (or ANuS) has been a thrill and a joy to say in the very least. The jury is still out for what the “u” stands for.

So here we are with another birthday for Jodi Ambrose. Life must be tough to be on age repeated at 22.

A few more years from now though, when she gets older… I will be able to date her! Woohoo!!! 

Wait! What? She’s married?? Damn.

OH well. What could have been, could have been. Tee hee!!

But here’s to the woman who means a lot to me… personally, professionally, and everything in between. She’s been probably THE MODEL FRIEND that I could have ever asked for and more.

Her links can be found in the BlogRoll.

Happy Birthday, Jodi! With much love I celebrate your special day.

And we’ll see you and everyone else here in this blog next year.

Jeremy & The Bellamy Salute

“Jeremy spoke in class today.” ~ Pearl Jam, “Jeremy”

Explicit subject matter. Discretion is advised.

I heard Pearl Jam’s hit song “Jeremy” for the first time today in probably over a decade.

The next thing I knew, it was stuck in my head and I was looking to watch the music video on YouTube.

But there are different versions of the music video, including an “uncensored” version based on the content and lyrics of the song.

So then where did Pearl Jam come up with the idea of making such a controversial music video?

Come to find out that it is based on the story about a 16-year-old boy named Jeremy Wade Delle from Richardson, Texas just outside of Dallas.

Delle had literally shot himself by putting a gun into his mouth during his English class in high school. Eddie Vedder read about this story in the newspaper and instantly wrote a song about it.

Delle actually showed up late for his English class and his teacher told him to go to the head office to get a pass to be able to enter into the classroom. Instead he left, got a .357 Magnum, came back into the classroom. He then put the gun into his mouth and pulled the trigger. Most likely ventilating the back of his head before any of the students or the teacher could react.

This is also included in the uncensored version of the music video by Pearl Jam. But its not widely circulated. At least not in the United States of America. There’s a different censored version of the boy killing himself that was instead played on MTV. (Back when MTV was actually MTV.)  

I was going through the comments of the music video, the uncensored version, and I saw some interesting comments that really took me by surprise.

First of all, someone had noticed the “Nazi salute” by a class full of students.

Well, not really. Kinda but no.

The “salute” in which you are seeing was in fact used by Nazi Germany in the 1940’s. However to many people’s surprise, this salute was also used in the United States of America when giving the Pledge of Allegiance.

Americans had been using the salute as far back as more than 100 years ago, back in the late 19th Century.

School Children pledging allegiance to the American flag, May 1942

The initial civilian salute was replaced with a hand-on-heart gesture, followed by the extension of the arm as described by Francis Bellamy. Inventor of the salute in America. The same of which he authored The Pledge of Allegiance.

In the 1920’s, Italian fascists adopted the Roman salute to symbolize their claim to have revitalized Italy on the model of ancient Rome. This was quickly copied by the German Nazis, creating the Nazi salute. The similarity to the Bellamy salute led to confusion, especially during World War II. From 1939 until the attack on Pearl Harbor, detractors of Americans who argued against intervention in World War II produced propaganda using the salute to lessen those Americans’ reputations.

Among the anti-interventionist Americans was aviation pioneer Charles Lindbergh. Supporters of Lindbergh’s views would claim that Lindbergh did not support Adolf Hitler, and that pictures of him appearing to do the Nazi salute were actually pictures of him using the Bellamy salute. In his Pulitzer prize winning biography “Lindbergh” author A. Scott Berg explains that interventionist propagandists would photograph Lindbergh and other isolationists using this salute from an angle that left out the American flag, so it would be indistinguishable from the Hitler salute to observers.

In order to prevent further confusion or controversy, United States Congress instituted the hand-over-the-heart gesture as the salute to be rendered by civilians during the Pledge of Allegiance in the United States, instead of the Bellamy salute. This was done when Congress amended the Flag Code on December 22, 1942. 

There was initially some resistance to dropping the Bellamy salute, for example from the Daughters of the American Revolution, but this opposition died down quickly following Nazi Germany’s declaration of war against the United States on December 11, 1941.

During the period when it was used with the Pledge of Allegiance, it was sometimes known as the “flag salute”. During the 1920’s and 1930’s, Italian fascists and Nazis adopted a salute which had the same form, resulting in controversy over the use of the Bellamy salute in the United States. It was officially replaced by the hand-over-heart salute when Congress amended the Flag Code on December 22, 1942. Now instead we use the hand-over-heart salute to avoid any collision with history.

So in essence, it is but it is NOT the “Nazi Salute” as this person had remarked in the comment section of YouTube.

 

Pearl Jam was actually pretty smart to have put that in their video. To paraphrase  LISAFAYECHARDONNAY, Pearl Jam just “put American history and culture up your ass” with that scene.

Still the story is true about a teenaged boy killing himself in front of class mates at his high school. 

And what got me going was the fact that people were actually LOOKING for the uncensored version. I just happened to have selected the correct YouTube video where it shows the boy putting the gun into his mouth and then suddenly clenching his eyes shut.

There’s nothing really blood or disgusting about it. But it was offensive enough just to see the actor in the music video put the gun into his own mouth.

I had read several comments about how the United States of America was lame for censoring it. That there wasn’t anything really offensive about it in general, and that the people who censored the video are nothing but scared pussies.

And I thought “There ARE OTHER versions of this music video, not just this one.”

Based on the amount of typos and the very poor English skills, I was left to believe that the people complaining about the United States of America and its censorship laws, that they were NOT from the USA. 

But I still wrote the following comment:

I am guessing that you have never personally been an eyewitness to someone in the process of attempting to commit suicide. I am also going to guess that you have never seen someone who was attempting it, be successful at it too. 

We may see violence of this nature all the time on television and films and we KNOW its fake. We also know that here it is fake as well. But the story that the song is telling us is about a boy who committed suicide in Texas, and that was NOT fake.

Having to see someone take their own life is not glamorous at all. Watching someone suddenly make the decision that they no longer wish to live on this Earth and then do something about it to end it is not a cake walk. And again, I am guessing that you and I have had totally different experiences on this subject as I contend that you have not seen it and I have. 

IT IS VERY offensive to watch someone do something like that, whether or not they go through with it or they get stopped somehow. In this case, nobody had time to react. And the whole classroom had to watch him take his own life. How many of them now are still in therapy do you think?? How many of them do you think are totally messed up in the head because they were forced to be a witness to such horror??

My gut feeling is that you’ve not even seen a cat get hit by a vehicle with your own eyes, much less a teenager come into a classroom and shoot himself in the head.  So before you go running around and bashing the United States of America and their “stupid laws” on censorship… think about those who have to deal with these kinds of things. Think of those people with PTSD because they have had experiences similar to this and how it was unfair for them to witness it because it was forced upon them. Come back to me when you’ve seen some really messed up shit in your life, then I will tell you all about the messed up shit that ‘I’ have seen…

I probably did not need to go into it with that person. I could have left it all alone, but it struck something within me and I responded and reacted in kind. And I did only moments later find that MY comment was flagged and deleted. Oh well.

So now you have your little dark secret history of America and the Bellamy salute, and then of course your background story about a famous song from the 1990’s by the band Pearl Jam.

The Moistness Of The Mad Masses

Robert Lowe (vocalist for Candlemass, Solitude Aeturnus)

“Somehow, magically, I’ve become an electronic musician, and I have a recording studio that looks like the bridge of the Enterprise.”~ Moby

Wow. It’s been a few weeks since the great big explosion of excitement, fun, terror, and moistitude over the course of one weekend happening in Houston, Texas.

Allow me to follow up from a blog post that was written on the 5th of May.

Dr. Froth has continued on his journey on his new concept album, “Gathered In Darkness” and I found myself swimming in great fortune that I am a part of it.

The chanting, the singing, the music, the voice over work in the recording studio… it all made for an excellent time. I found myself realizing how much fun it can be to go into the recording studio and doing what people do as far as voice over artists as well as vocalists and musicians.

http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/former-candlemass-singer-robert-lowe-working-on-gathered-in-darkness-concept-album/

For those of you who enjoy this kind of music, you’ll be happy and pleased with the above article.

For those of you who do not know what I am talking about. Basically, I spent a weekend to lend the talent of my voice upon this album. Dr. Froth PERSONALLY invited me to join him to work on this adventure. Talk about honor and flattery.

Dr. Froth would go on to say that he couldn’t imagine any of this happening without the help and assistance of all of his friends. 

Signed, sealed, delivered…. and I have now recorded inside of a live recording studio. Dr. Froth intentionally saving a few voice over parts for me to choose from, so that I can tell everyone “That’s me!” when I am speaking on the album.

Working though with Dr. Froth AND Robert Lowe from such fame as Solitude Aeturnus, and Candlemass only to find out that Robert Lowe won Swedish awards back a few years ago that are the equivalent to a Grammy.

Along with others such as James Rivera from Helstar, and many others locally such as Chuck Williams, Marc Petillon just to name a few made for a kick ass experience. Busting balls with Scott Fisher was pretty fun as well, he’s the guitarist for Winter’s End. 

 

The fact that I am on a record along with James Rivera, Chuck Williams, and Robert Lowe is definitely a mind blow for me. There are no words that describe my excitement having that knowledge.

There are many, many other names on this album. Members from The Scourge, Fluid Frequency, SIX MINUTE CENTURY, WELL OF SOULS, and many others…. I just cannot believe my luck on this.

It is probably the coolest thing that I have ever done in my entire life since the two commercials I made when I was under the age of 10 in the state of Arkansas.

Updates are regularly posted by Dr. Froth as he continues on his sweet melodic adventure, and the weekend that I spent both recording and hanging out with the House of Froth was a great time. Adding an extra day was the best idea that I came up with.

The latest update, I found myself included. See if YOU can find me. “WHERE’S DAMBREAKER?”

Let’s see who can do it, and who cannot!! I may even throw in a prize for those who can. Of course anyone who was there is excluded or anyone that I have already told would obviously be excluded.

But sure– let’s do it. Who can find me????? 

Since then, I have been stuck listening to the sounds of Solitude Aeturnus.

I’m becoming obsessed with this one:

With “Gathered In Darkness” though, I was thrilled and amazed when I got to hear the whole story. YOU will have to buy the album when it comes out. That’s all I will say about that. And I’m pretty sure about this, but I was the only person that went into that recording studio, did what I had to do in there, and walked out… only to be met by applause by the crowds of people who were in the booth.

How about THAT?!??

The value of my autograph just went up.