Ozzfest!!

OK, so this is a little late on this, but a couple of Sunday's ago my daughter (who is a Senior this year, my how time sure flies!) and I went to Ozzfest at Alpine Valley.  This was the second year in a row that we went, but this year it was just the two of us whereas last year several of her friends were able to come along (this year, most of them were working).

There were three bands on the second stage that I was really looking forward to (In This Moment, Daath, and 3 Inches of Blood), and one on the main stage (Static-X).  Here's an overview of what we saw:

Second Stage:

In This Moment - They were one of the band I really looked forward to, and I was not disappointed.  They were high energy, and sounded great.

Daath - This was another band I was really looking forward to, and they also did not disappoint.

3 Inches of Blood - These guys also put on a great show.  Now the three bands that I actually cared about on the second stage are done.

The Showdown - We went and got lunch, so we didn't see these guys, but we could still hear them.  They sounded OK.

Nile - They were on stage when we got back.  Not really my cup of tea, but they did a good job.

Ankla - I had never really heard of these guys before (though I recognized the name from XM-42).  I was really impressed.  Great music, high energy, lot's of fun.

ChthoniC - These guys were so stereotypically death metal that they were almost a parody of the whole genre.  Still, they did have some good points, such as incorporating the erhu into their music, and at least one song calling for Taiwan's independence from commie China.

DevilDriver, Behemoth, Hatebreed - we didn't see any of these three as we were wandering over to the main stage.  We could hear them pretty well, however, and they all sounded good.

Main Stage:

Black Tide - this was a basic metal band circa the late 80's early 90's (think early Metallica).  Not bad, but really nothing new or exciting.

Lordi - Imagine the comically stupid theatrics of Gwar, but replace Gwar's tollerable music with the crappiest of worthless hair-band "metal" (and I use that term very loosely) from the 80's.  Bleech!!   These guys sucked.  Plus they seemed to know they were in the Milwaukee area, but were under the impression that Milwaukee is part of Michigan.

Static-X - Totally kicked ass, best show of the night!!  And, my daughter didn't seem to mind me jumping around a bit (though that was a lot easier when I was her age).

Lamb of God - I only know a couple of their tunes (Redneck being my favorite), but they totally kicked ass.  They even got a giant pit going running up and down the hill (Alpine Valley is in a valley (duh), and has a huge lawn section made from a large bowl shaped hill, if you have MySpace account, check out the pics to get an idea, the slope of the hill is just brutal).

I'll have to check out more of their stuff.  I am sure Ashley has most, if not all, of their stuff since this is right up her alley...

Ozzy - He's getting old and tired (and out of tune).  We stayed for a few tunes.  He did a kick-ass job on War Pigs, but otherwise I wasn't overly impressed.  We were tired and left some time in the beginning half of his set.

All in all, this was a great father-daughter bonding activity!

Team Discovery Is No More...

It seems that Team Discovery is disbanding because no one wants to sully their good name by sponsoring a bicycling team. My only question is what took so long? After all, this has been one of the most obviously dirty sports for well over a decade now. Are people so slow that they are only now starting to realize that? Or could it be that people just didn't want to admit that fact until now?

Punish Me, Hello Kitty

Police in Bangkok, Thailand are being punished for minor offenses, such as showing up for work late or parking in the wrong spot, by having to wear a Hello Kitty arm band.  Personally, I don't really see this as punishment, and might just push the rules a little just so I could wear one.  Yeah, that may sound a little gay, but hey, whatever.

While we are on the subject, my daughter got a Hello Kitty toaster from her boyfriend on her 17th birthday (just last month).  This is the coolest toaster, ever.  It even leaves a little section of the bread un-toasted in the shape of a Hello Kitty head.  The kid and I have been pretty much using this toaster exclusively.  My wife, on the other hand, sticks with the plain old boring non-Hello Kitty toaster.  Oh well.  No accounting for taste there, I guess...