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G n' R appetite turns 20!
July 31, 2007Guns n' Roses' "appetite for destruction," one of the greatest rock albums ever made, turned 20 years old earlier in July.
I just got my new Rolling Stone magazine with all the intimate details of the band that lasted about 10 years max and about that recording.
They broke up...Axl Rose kept the G n' R name and the rest of the band formed Velvet Revolver a couple of years ago with the Stone Temple Pilots frontman...
I still have a little man-love in my heart for Slash (formerly known as Saul Hudson).
But one of the more interesting facts revealed in the article is the over-dubbing of a sex scene with the performers being Axl Rose and the then drummer's girlfriend Adriana Smith. The drummer Steven Alder cheated on her and she wanted to get back at him. Why not sleep with the lead singer? The recording ended up on the album's final song "Rocket Queen."
How juicy, and sexy?
Axl and his Roses were the cream of the crop during the death of hair metal. Most were heroin/cocaine addicts, and they all partied hardy. I suggest buying the magazine to get the good stuff.
Another interesting fact - they are one of the last groups to record an album with the vision of it going straight to vinyl. They wanted to capture that ballsy sound of Led Zeppelin and other "heavy bands." Nothing about the album was digitally recorded. It was a time when razorblades were used to assist the recording process.
20 years later you realize how great an album like that was. I was only 5 in 1987, when the album came out, but I was old enough to be amazed when I heard Guns N' Roses on the Terminator 2 movie. When John Connor and the kid from Nickelodeon's "Salute Your Shorts" (Danny Cooksey) were riding on the dirtbike, going to the mall.
I bought the album in my teens and I remember listening to it on the ride home with the family. I was amazed because the linear notes had a drawing of a naked chick. That's a big deal for a teenage boy. My dad was offended by the second track "It's so Easy," I think, so he turned it off and handed it back to me.
Axl has one of the those voices. It's high pitched, but it's not falsetto. Slash is amazing, and I just found out that the band hid some of drummer Adler's equipment to simplify his sound before they recorded. Well, it worked.
I wish some folks in their 30s would post a couple of G n' R stories, telling everyone what it was like to buy the album in high school. I can only picture someone with their t-top camaro and their mullet, blasting the album on some sub-standard sound system....
Posted by Clayton Hein at 11:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
batting cage bliss turned nightmare
July 30, 2007For the first time in years I returned to the Plex....It's fun-omenal. The wife, my bro, his fiancé and my kid trekked it up to the Plex with batting cages on the brain.
I figured, what's the best way to waste $10 and not worry about buyer's remorse. So after about 100 swings I remembered how much of a challenge it is to hit a ball covered in divots, knee high at 85 mph.
I got a couple good cuts and a couple bad ones.
It all went well until I almost saw a little girl get her head taken off by a 50 mph fastball. The best thing to do when something is being thrown at you — is to know its coming. Simple enough.
Paying attention is key, but this little girl was a lollygagger. She was in the batting cage for a few minutes until her allotted time ran out. She put in another token and started up the machine. Then for some reason her mind started to wander.
Wandering minds aren't such a good thing when a baseball is coming right at you. Anyways second pitch she takes one off the leg. It takes her a few seconds to realize she had just been hit and then the tears start to flow.
Again still not a good time to not pay attention. She slumps over and crosses home plate and stops. One ball zooms by her head. At that moment I thought she was a goner. I tried to yell at her to get her out of the way, but it took one more pitch before she finally realized the balls were still coming.
I opened the batting cage gate, she grabbed sobbingly at her face threw her helmet to the ground and ran off to mommy....?
Good question. Where was mommy as her 11, maybe 12-year old, girl was staring down batting practice?
I have no idea.
I also have no idea a little kids don't come with a leash. Kids run off. And after seeing that Saturday, at the Plex, I had to drive out to Iowa Park Sunday for a kid who had drowned in the Iowa Park Lake.
It was just a bad deal all around. The kid ran off, Iowa Park cops say, and the parents weren't paying much attention. He's gone a few minutes before mom and dad came to realize their boy was gone.
He was found in the lake. They tried CPR, but it was too late. They flew him to the hospital, but he was dead.
My gut wants to say, why weren't they watching the kid? 9 times out of 10, but as a new parent I can only grieve the parents in that type of accident. They can't blame themselves, it was an accident.
He was only 3 1/2, but that is 3 1/2 years of memories. It’s sad. But you gotta move on.
Posted by Clayton Hein at 01:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
The attack of the shopping homosexuals
July 22, 2007I know the title is a little crude, but after a weekend shopping experience in Dallas I figured I had to tell someone.
Saturday my future sister-in-law, my brother, my wife (I call them the gang) and I all went to the Northpark Mall in Dallas for a little fun. Northpark Mall might be the best mall I've ever been to by the way.
Anyways the gang and I had a little bit of money and figured why not blow it on fashion. Its fun and nobody has any chance of getting hurt.
The Northpark Mall has every store you can imagine. Lacoste, Nordstrom’s, Neiman Marcus...the list goes on and on.
I'll return in a heartbeat to shop there, I will however have to bring at least $300 to make it worth the trip. Stuff there isn't cheap. They have a Barney's for crying out loud.
Anyways, I've never seen as many gay men at one centralized location as I did at that mall. I'm not saying it's a bad thing, I was just a little thrown off.
I got no problem with people who differ in their sexual preference, but they sure like to shop differently. And it's completely different when they come out in droves.
It was only a little awkward to see a man help another man pick out a pair of $300 True Religion jeans. He was just standing there as only a dumb married guy could waiting for his wife to pop out of the dressing room and ask the inevitable "how's my butt look" question; only it was in the guys section and no wives of any engagement ring size were in the area.
I didn't hear the exact "butt" quote, but the guy did model for his partner, before the store clerk at Neiman Marcus, also gay, could ring him up.
Then I began to wonder....as I was shopping in what appeared to be guy-gay fashion, did I have a gay sense of fashion. It was only a thought. No, I don't buy the t-shirt off the Wal-Mart rack because I like to make little statements of fashion individuality.
Buying nice clothes makes me feel happy, and if I get that feeling and it makes me gay by buying fancy/cool clothes then call me gay.
See you at the mall soon sweeties....I just won’t need anyone other than my wife to tell what my butt looks like.
Posted by Clayton Hein at 04:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Harry Potter review
July 19, 2007I know some people just can't wait, so here is a New York Times review of the book. How the publication was able to buy an advance copy I'll never know....but here goes nothing.
Read at your own risk.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/19/books/19potter.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Posted by Clayton Hein at 03:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Jeffress, as good as gone
July 17, 2007Here's my take on the whole Jeffress ordeal: the man is as good as gone. He said the news was a little premature, but looking at it from the outside, I'm sure there is a lot of money calling him to Dallas.
I know he has a lot of supporters here locally, but when you start saying that news of a new job is premature, you might as well say goodbye.
Jeffress has really built up First Baptist Church. And most pastors enjoy a new challenge, like a lot of people, and Dallas sounds like a pretty good challenge.
The Dallas Morning News said Jeffress is the probable selection for the First Baptist Church of Dallas. I'm sure Jeffress has had his eye that the job for a while.
There has to be some conversation somewhere about him taking the job that would give the Dallas Morning News the guts to run with the story.
Jeffress would also improve quality of life for his family. He'll have money to help his kids' kids. Jeffress has celebrity status in Wichita Falls, just think about what that would translate too in the big D.
He would have to work his way up again. I’m sure that’s what he’s doing on vacation — stewing it over.
Whatever his decision, best of luck. I'm sure he'll make the right choice.
Posted by Clayton Hein at 03:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
PLM and VC
July 10, 2007I don't know anybody in either the PLM or the VC gangs. I've written numerous stories about people police suspected to be involved in the gangs.
I've seen a lawsuit handed down by the city and county restricting the rights of suspected gang members.
After recent deaths, of Joel Gutierrez and Christian Gallegos, the gang warfare doesn't look like its going to end anytime soon.
The police, district attorney, and on and on and on...are doing what they can to stop the madness. But for a bunch of kids, I'm suspecting with no place to really call home, I can only assume that this isn't going to stop.
I pray that it does. There have been way too many lives lost to the streets.
My thoughts are with any "soldier" who's died for the wrong reasons. I don't even know how the hatred between the two gangs actually began. I'm not talking about recent feuds but the actual root to the problem.
I would love for anyone to pick up the phone and give me a call (763-7597) so maybe I can try to understand the hatred in Wichita Falls that Hispanics in gangs have for one another.
And I haven’t even touched on all the gangs on the East Side. I know how it works, someone starts bumpin’ their gums (aka talking crap), and the next thing they know they have a gun in their face.
Why run with a set at all? I don't understand and probably never will. Whenever I imagine a gang I envision the legendary "Warriors" movie that came out way before I was old enough to give a damn. I was way too interested in “Police Academy” as a youngster.
I watched “Warriors” recently and I still don't see the glory behind the gang, nonetheless, it is still a great movie. You have to give credit to any group of individuals that can “bop” their way all the way from the Bronx back to Coney Island.
I got a gang of friends, but we're not ready to draw guns to solve problems. I don't think any of my friends owns a gun for that matter.
I know it won't really make a difference, but I hope this insane problem Wichita Falls has will end sooner rather then later.
As Warren G once said “you gotta’ be handy with the steel if you know what I mean, earn your keep.”
Whatever that means.
Posted by Clayton Hein at 04:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
