this one

Life is a precious thing, something you want to really take hold of, never to let go, and to do your best at acquiring the best memories that you possibly can, while you can. I can honestly say I have led a pretty cool life and have done and seen some amazing things in my day. Sights that would make your jaw drop. I've played shows that made my legs weak and shaky. And I have tasted the fruits of women. Okay, maybe I overindulged a little too much in those same fruits, but who is perfect? The point is — live your life and have as much fun as you can while you are able. Fate is finicky. I'm sure you have heard of the saying "Here today, gone tomorrow?"

Sorry if I'm a little deep this month, I'm having to deal with something new and heart wrenching; seeing my parents slowly approach the end of their days, and it is truly getting to me. I love my parents with all my heart and I hate seeing them this way. I've been very lucky having the parents that I have, and they mean the world to me. Family is so important.

Speaking of family, I know a really nice lady whose daughter has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. The young lady with cancer is only 29 years old and should not have to go through this. She even has a young son. Horrible! But what can you do except support her and her family? The Lawless family is having a Cancer Benefit for Shianne Lawless on Saturday, June 9 at the American Legion Hall at 1930 McDonald Lane, in New Albany Indiana. Bands will play to raise money for the cause. There will be raffles, food, and live music by The River City Rockers, Rock Brigade and 2 Pump Chump. It's from noon till 6 p. m. Please be the caring Louisville rockers that I have come to know and love these past 48 years! This city's rock music scene has a big heart, my historic rock for Kosair shows and all the other worthy and good benefits you people have put on over the years prove that — without a doubt! So please do one more good thing and come support people who really need your support at this critical time in their lives. They are good people.

God Bless you, Shianne Lawless and the Lawless family.

I've been working hard as usual. I tell you, it's rough being a boss at my job! I'm only used to being a boss in booking shows n' stuff, and that is quite a bit different from running an area of a factory machine shop. Having to get people to put out good steady work is tougher than I imagined. It's been a struggle, but I think I got this down pat now. The big cheeses seem to be happy and that is what counts I reckon.

I went to the city's newest venue the other day, The Bourbon Hall, to see Puddle Of Mudd, Saving Able and Tantric and had a blast with friends (see REVIEW and pics I took below). I really dig the Bourbon Hall and it's staff. I think it will be a good thing for this city as long as we support it and keep it going strong! Otherwise it could go the way other legendary Louisville clubs have gone, (Toy Tiger, Phoenix Hill Tavern, Coyote's), Kaput! And no one wants that. I still miss those clubs badly. As a longtime Louisville original rock musician who has opened for many nationals, I gotta tell you, it is HARD getting shows in town anymore! It's slim pickin's these days. But I shall never give up! I would not want to give my haters something to gloat and be happy about, so I'll just put my nose to the ole grindstone and keep grinding away, and hopefully things pop up the way they often seem to do. My luck is 50/50, so you never know!

Concerts, concerts, concerts!! I got a shitload of showdates for you peeps. So break out the ole cruiser for a road trip or two, since most tours bypass Louisville. Seriously. We gotta stop that crap! Louder Than Life's lineup will be released in days! June 4^th! Judas Priest and Deep Purple, Marylyn Manson, Slayer's goodbye tour, Bourbon and Beyond, and a slew of local shows coming your way will make for an interesting summer, unless you are always exhausted from work, like me. Oh well, someone recently told me, you have to work hard to have fun, just as you do to make a living! I will have to try to abide by that saying this summer.

I know I cannot wait until my vacation in a few short months! We still have not decided where to go yet. The list is long and my funds are set, so the decision needs to be made SOON. Where ever we go it will be badass, that I do know.

I'm excited, my band Year Of The Gun will be playing Diamond Concert Hall on Saturday June 16 with some sweet bands, and it should be a barn-burner of a show! It is a Louisville music scene veterans show for sure! Everyone knows Rahul Borkar, and he'll be playing with his band Borkar, and also his former band Breckinridge. Yes, Breckinridge! They were kinda big in tha Ville back in the day and they will be reuniting one last time.

Also on the bill are Andy Paul's (formerly with Intheclear and Factor 9) new band, For Heroes And Lovers. And a new band called Jimi Patrix (featuring Jimbo McCubbins and Andy Russ) will be playing as well. All these bands have individuals that have been around forever in this scene, so it should be an interesting night. I hope to see all you old-schoolers at this one! I cannot wait to rip it up on some of my newer, wicked guitars! I have put a fortune into my guitar gear, and I must say, I have quite a collection of handmade instruments that flat-out destroy!

I hope to see you people out at some of these shows! Don't be shy. I love it when you come up and say hello. I've met so many cool people who really appreciate my work with our music scene. Yeah, there are always some arrogant holier-than-thou assholes you run into, but It's the good peeps who make it allll worthwhile in the end.

Peace out.

The Metal Grapevine

Review — Puddle Of Mudd/Saving Abel/Tantric@The Bourbon Hall (Pics By Me) :

I needed a night out, so my GF and I, plusa few of our friends went up to The Bourbon Hall to to see this lineup of bands I'm not usually into. But hey, its a new club, new staff, bands I haven't seen too many times, so what the hell? I ended up having a blast at the Bourbon Hall and the bands jammed pretty damn good.

Tantric was up first, and tore through a decent sized set of their hits. Former Louisville native Hugo Ferreira sounded pretty good on the vocals and seemed happy to be back in town andamongst friends. The drummer was a hard-hitting badass. I couldn't hear Tantric's guitars very wellfor some reason. That got on my nerves, because I'm a guitarist! They definitely needed to come up a notch or two. Other than that, the sound system at the Bourbon Hall was thumpin' this night. Longtime Louisville sound/light guy Tom Kent had dialled in all the right buttons, and it was sounding pretty fat. Sometimes ait takes a few to get things sounding just right, and this was that night. They played "Hey Now," "Mourning," "Astounded," "Live Your Life (Down)" and ended with "Breakdown," their most popular song. The band has gonethrough many changes over the years, but Hugo still has the goods, and he has good musicians backing him today as well as in the past. Nice set of good melodic rock.

Saving Abel tore it up! I've never been much of a fan, but these guys frikkin' rock! It was a nice dose of Southern redneck hard rock with good melodies and hooks. Impressive musicianship and frontmanship.

Vocalist Scott Austin was charismatic and skilled. He got the nice-sized crowd worked up pretty well. It was getting wild. The band was tight and the bass and drum sounds were thunderous. Guitarists Jason Null and Scott Bartlett were on point as the ripped it up Southern style. Even though they are a more commercial band, it was sounding pretty heavy and edgy. They played "New Tattoo," "18 Days," "Drowning (Face Down)" and "Addicted." (I'm not too familiar with their song titles but I did get those!)

All in all, it was a rip roaring, redneck rock show of gigantic proportions. I was kinda shocked really. But I shouldn't be surprised. I remember talent agent Scott Frazier coming over to my house and bragging about this band he was signing in a little town in Mississippi, and he played me their hit "Addicted" long before it came out, and I said "Damn that's gonna be a hit!" And it was. That guy also discovered Volbeat. Smart guy. Anyways, Saving Abel still kicks ass. Excellent.

Puddle Of Mudd came on and people went nuts. I'm not much of a fan, but the peeps seemed to like them quite a bit, so I guess everyone was happy. They sounded pretty good, but nothing special.

I heard another POM joke before the show. Another "Hey, you better go see POM tonight, because he might be dead next week!" Vocalist Wes Scantlin has drug issues apparently, and is somewhat irresponsible in his merrymaking. But ... he seemed to be ok this night in Louisville. He seemed sober and into it to me! And I was really watching. He didn't stagger or fall, or puke, or run offstage for 10 minutes, he was good to go! So in Wes's defense, at least the guy is trying to do better! No one is perfect, and everyone has at least one vice. Apparently his vice is pretty bad, but there is still hope that he will break the chain of death in drug overdose in rockstars. He sounded decent as he slowly weaved through a set of kinda laid-back tunes that were much more simple/easygoing than the two previous acts.

POM has good songs that I like, but live it just doesn't do the recorded versions justice. Of course that's the case with over 60% of vocalists the world over. In the studio you can redo anything as many times as it takes. Live? You better get that shit right the first time or your fans will be going "WTF, why did he do that weird note?" That's how I am, anyways. I expect singers to do their best to reproduce each note as if on the album. I don't ask for much, do I? The worst vocalist ever at this is probably Vince Neil of Motley Crue. Now don't get me wrong, Wes wasn't horrible, or even bad, he just didn't have that "on key" mojo going on. He was acceptable though, and sober! So that's good.

They played "Control," "Drift And Die," "Stoned," "Away From Me," "Bring Me Down," "Abrasive" "Blurry" and "She Hates Me." Wes does write some great songs. I hope he can beat that demon on his shoulders. The band was pretty good, but nothing extra special. The lead guitarist Matt Fuller was pretty good, though. Very melodic.

I got some pretty good pics of this fun night. I actually drank some alcohol and got a pretty good buzz going on. It was a couples' night out, and every one of us was very glad we went and partied at The brand NEW Bourbon Hall. It was a great rock n' roll show and I saw all kinds of people I knew. The sound system was beyond kickin! Good job, Tom Kent. And the staff there at The Bourbon Hall were as cool as could be. Thank you for treating this longtime Louisville media cheese-ball just right.

I'm looking to cover many more shows there! And as a musician? To play there ASAP!

Judas Priest/ Deep Purple Coming To Riverbend On August 21:

Jesus Palomino, what a lineup. I've never seen Deep Purpleand Priest is my all-time favorite band. I gotta go to this. I will miss Glenn if he can't make it to this show, but I still gotta support the juggernaut that is Priest.

Marylyn Manson Coming To Louevil:

Sunday, August 5 at Louisville Palace.Never was a fan, but I'll prob go just to see him play for the first time! Fellas, there will be lots of cute goth ladies there. Here's some live Manson for ya.

Bourbon And Beyond Lineup:

Located at Champions Park, just like Louder Than Life, Bourbon and Beyond isanother festival that sounds like a lot of fun. It's on Saturday, September22 and Sunday, September23. Last year wasn't really my style of music, but this year looks pretty darn good!

Friday, it's Brian Setzer's Rockabilly Riot, John Mayer, Lenny Kravitz, Sheryl Crow and others.

Saturday features Robert Plant and The Sensational Space Shifters plusSting, Blackberry Smoke, Gov't Mule, Counting Crows and others. I really may have to cover this!! Yum, thinking about the food!!

Louder Than Life 2018 Lineup To Be Released On June 4th!!!

Yup, you are days away from finding out who is playing this year's show! June 4 ^th beetchez. And don't forget, it's three days this year, so be prepared for a marathon of music/fun/partying. You know my ass will be there!

Metallica Is Coming To Louisville — In 2019:

Yup, it's true, March 9 at The Yum Center in 2019. My dumb ass saw the announcement and without thinking thought it was this March. Shit, that's a long way off! I might be dead by then. One of the band members might be dead. Well, this should be pretty frickin' cool when it finally comes down. Knowing my luck, I'll plug the crap outta it for over a year and get the flu the night before the show in 2019. This will be a hot ticket when it happens, so you might want to secure your tickets when they finally go on sale. It's been a few years since I've seen them. Here is a bit of Louisville Rock History for ya! I saw them in 1986 at Cardinal Stadium with Ozzy. And get this — Metallica got booed horribly. Nobody knew who they were, except me. And the crowd was all worked up for Ozzy. They knew not what they did.

Hot Ticket~ Slayer, Lamb Of God, Anthrax, Testement, Behemoth@Riverbend On June 6!!!

Yes, it's true. Slayer is bidding farewell. But before they ride off into the sunset, they want to melt your faces off with one hell of a lineup at Riverbend in Cincinatti on Wednesday, June 6. I love this venue! And the peeps there always treated me like gold. I can't wait for this lineup. Testament, Anthrax, Behemoth and Slayer on one bill? Slayer killed at Louder Than Life a few years ago, and I'm sure they will again in 2018. Get your tickets ASAP!

Poison And Cheap Trick Live At Riverbend On June 10:

Lots of cute ladies will be at this show, fellas! So drive yer asses to cinci to get your hookup going on. Cheap Trick is badass. Just listen to Robin Zanders vocals on this video, and you will know what tremendous skill is all about.

Foreigner And Whitesnake@ Riverbend On June 26:

Saw Whitesnake about 10 years ago and they were amazing! Vocalist David Coverdale still has it. He sounds great.

New Music Alert — Incursion502 Video Release:

Here is the brand new Incursion502 Video "Hollowing Myself." Enjoy! It's some pretty good new brutal shit from these guys. Cool, creative, dueling vocals. Pounding/relentless rhythm guitars with killer tone. Thunderous drums. Sick bass. And a massive groove for something so heavy. Groove is where its at. And the video looks really fucking cool. Pretty shock-worthy stuff from these masters of Louevil mayhem. Be sure to check out Incursion bassist Louis Southern in our LMN Musician Of The Month, this month! I'm probably gonna go see them at Headliners on Sunday, July 8, with Thomas Medicine, Ohlm and Vice Tricks. Sounds like a good mixture of original, creative Louisville music to me! An old-school reunion from hell. Count me in.

LMN Bad Humor Report — True Black Metal Idiots Want This Young Danish Lady Dead:

I was recently reading a story on this lady and I was like, WTF. Meet Amalie Bruun of Myrkur. A beautiful young lady who plays her own unique style of black metal. Why do European black metal dudes want her dead, you may ask? Um. Because she is muddying/messing up/irritating the true black metal morons' music, who feel she isn't really a black metal performer and shouldn't be ruining their music.

HA! How about this? Leave her the fuck alone. She can make any music she fucking wants to! She has talent. She can actually sing AND scream, and play guitar, piano, and probably a number of classical instruments. She was trained as a classical musician! She is kinda hot, too, and she more than likely has more talent than 20 black metal dudes put together! So stick that in your goat's horn chalice and ram it straight up your satanic butthole, with no lube. I like some black metal, I cannot lie, but to wish death on this young lady for trying to mix things up a bit, is shitty beyond knowing. Grow up!!!

Five Finger Death Punch/Breaking Benjamin/Nothing More/Bad Wolves Coming To Riverbend On August 28:

Another cool show right here. I dig FFDP, BB and Nothing More. That singer for Nothing More is really good. Attend!

Musician Of The Month — Bassist Louis Southern Of Incursion502:

Be sure to read this month's blood-soaked edition of who's who in in the Louisville music scene! This guy means business, and he's taking no prisoners. These longtime Louisville shock-rockers have been around since ‘97 I think. I gave them their first show. Anyways, go check out the man behind the bass, and all that blood n' gore.

New Video Alert — Comess:

Some brutal new stuff outta Louevil. Killer! Great screams, ultra-low guitars, killin' drums. Cool video, too. Excellent! These new brutal metal bands are coming out with some groundbreaking shit that destroys. I really dig the end of this song. It's like a jackhammer set down on the side of your head, and then turned on! Powerful. I may have to go see these guys on July 25 at Trixie's, opening for Jinjer. The new album drops on June 15.

The Smashing Pumpkins Coming To Kfc Yum!

KFK YumCenter on Saturday, July 21. My god, do I hate this band. Horrible and whiney beyond reason. But I guess some people like it. Have fun!

The Metallica Tribute Returns!

The Four Horsemen return to the Mercury Ballroom on Saturday, August 11. Be there and experience the sounds of Metallica.

Louisville Music News Live

Yeah, I've made this up to feature you mofo's in all your glory! So let's see some videos from you musicians, old or new! If it's good, it might be featured! Send to Eddymetal1@aol.com . But it must be on youtube!

LMN "Blast From The Past" — Breckinridge:

See their reunion on June 16 at Diamond Concert Hall. It should be packed.

LMN "Blast From The Past"-Fire Dept:

See these guys at the Mercury Ballroom on October 13 for one of their legendary reunions. If you younguns only knew of the bedauchery of these rockin' fellas so so long ago. Wow.

LMN "Blast From The Past" — Intheclear:

Vocalist Andy Paul is back with his new band For Heroes And Lovers. See them on June 16 at Diamond Concert Hall.

LMN Live — Granshaw:

These Southern Kentucky dudes wail.

LMN Live — Created To Kill:

Hailing from Lawrenceburg, Kentucky!

LMN Live — Rock Station:

Brave guys playing "Carry On My Wayward Son."

LMN Live — Gotcha:

Some kickass rock from central Kentucky!

LMN Live — A Forgotten Fury:

Louisville beasts. Killer guitar and drums!

LMN Live — Hannan:

Some good new Louevil original hard rock!

LMN Live New Band Alert — Pull Pin Throw:

Check out this kickass new band. Rockin'.

LMN Live — Dustin Swaggert Live At Brewskees:

Nice riffs!

Upcoming Shows

The Bourbon Hall (New Venue Downtown)

Saturday, June 16 — American Floyd.

Thursday, July 12 — 10 Years.

Brewskee's

Diamond Pub Concert Hall

Saturday, June 2 — Hammerfall w/ Flotsam and Jetsam.

Saturday, June 16 — Borkars Make Memories Fest — featuring Borkar, Breckinridge, Year Of The Gun, For Heroes and Lovers, Jimi Patrix. 7 p.m.

Saturday, June 23 — Brian's War Benefit — Signal the Revolution, The Stars Revolt, IPCUS Pinecone, Boombox Poets, Josh Bogard and the Dirty South, Raleigh Keegan, Freakdaddy and Deadair Dennis, Edgar Red, Lauren Eid, Austin Garner, Hello Agony, Hollowpoint, Jeff and Jesse James, JV Country (Formerly Whiskey Row), Madeline Karaglanis,Chris Rubino and the Newburgh Soul w/ Danny Flanigan, Zach Lindz, R&R, Frankie Tunez, Tangled Earth, Two Pump Chump, Vale, Waiting West and Wyld Ryde. 4p.m. — 4 a.m.

Tuesday, July 10 — The Faceless w/ Lorna Shore, Dyscarnate, Nomvdic and Latt.

Saturday, August 4 — CKY w/ Slaves, Royal Thunder and Awaken Am I.

Sunday, August 19 — The Dead Daisies w/ Dizzy Reed's Hookers and Blow.

Headliners Music Hall

Sunday, July 8 — Incursion502, Thomas Medicine, Ohlm and Vice Tricks. 7 p.m.

Saturday, June 23 — Stagecoach Inferno, Call Me Bronco and Bottom Sop.

Kingfish (Jeffersonville)

Saturday, July 7 — Mad Alice. 8 p.m.

Louisville Billiards

Saturday, June 9 — Mad Alice.

Magbar

Saturday, June 2 — Julius, Thundertaker, Motel Faces.

Sunday, June 3 — Bad Mouth Molly, Banshee Child and Mad Luck.

Tuesday, June 26 — Matt Jaggers, Red Bones and Alyssa Hankey.

Mercury Ballroom

Friday, June 8 — The Prince Experience.

Saturday, June 16 — Dance Gavin Dance.

Saturday, July 21 — Turn the page — A Tribute To Bob Segar.

Friday, July 27 — The F**king Pantera Cover Band.

Saturday, August 4 — Velcro Pygmies.

Saturday, August 11 — The Four Horsemen (Metallica Tribute)

Saturday, August 25 — Lift the Medium performs Chris Cornell.

Nirvana

Saturday, June 9 — Planetary Overdrive w/ Vice Tricks and Banshee Child.

Friday, June 15 — Hidden Foundation.

Paddock Pub

Saturday, June 22 — A Decade apart w/ Absolute Hero.

Sunday June 23 — Granshaw.

Portland Festival

Friday, June 1 — The Mad Taxpayers. 8:30.

Saturday, June 2 — KIST and Wyld Ryde. 7:30 p.m.

Trixie's

Saturday, June 2 — Bouncing Souls w/ Tim Barry and Nowhere Fast.

Saturday, June 16 — Hail Sagan w/ American Grim, Prey For Maria and Detainment.

Monday, June 18 — Aborted w/ Psycroptic, Kur, Cryptic Hymn and Deapscuffa.

Tuesday, June 19 — Murder Junkies.

Tuesday, July 24 — Beasto Blanco.

Wednesday, July 25 — Jinger w/ Incursion, Comess, Seccumb To Demise and Pull Pin Throw.

Zanzabar

Friday, June 1 — Sunns and Facs.

Saturday, June 2 — Earthless and Total Void.