Update

Hey everyone, Sorry I have been away for so long but the website has been going through some changes and being updated. I am going to LA next week and will be doing something fun...I will let you know about it next week. New posts and tons of pictures coming soon. Stay Tuned!!!

Linkin Park SOLD OUT at MSG

Hey Everyone, How are you today? Did anyone go to LP last night? What did you think? Well here's my thoughts... Yesterday was a cool day. I woke up knowing that I was going to see Linkin Park at the Garden... first time for them! I also knew I was going to hang with my boys in Type O after the show (Next Blog) I pulled my reserve camera out because my main camera is at the camera doctor along with my 28-70 lens. I packed all my gear early and made sure I had charged batteries. I took care of some things and made sure I ate before the show because I hate paying the ridiculous prices for food at The Garden. I was going to take the train in but I remembered I was going to Duff's in Brooklyn after the show so I just waited until like 6:30 before I left so I could park on the street. I didn't realize there was a band before Coheed and Cambria so I missed Chiodos. Once I got to MSG I went to will call to grab my tickets and my photo pass and headed over to the press entrance. I spoke to Laura and she told me I wasn't on the list for coheed ...I forgot to get a pass for them, I thought I would be able to shoot them with my LP pass..Oh well next time. So I ask her if I can go watch Coheed and she tells me it's OK so off to my seats... The seats are pretty good and I see my buddy Gary from Music Choice, he's sitting not to far away from me so we talk for a bit and he heads back to his seat once the lights go down. Coheed got some pretty good cheers from the Garden crowd... It must be surreal for those guys coming from Long Island and now playing MSG. The show was pretty good with a good selection of songs. They actually had a keyboard player and 2 background singers! I never really like the sound at The Garden but they sounded pretty good. After their set I head of to go Downstairs to meet up with the other photographers to go to the photo pit. On my way over there I meet up with my bud Paul Adams... Paul works for Magus Entertainment They handle some band named Duran Duran lol... We talk for a bit and then I head off to the elevator then I but into Eric and a few of my friends from The Crazy Donkey where I DJ I say hello to them Then I but into my buddy Keith from WB and Brian who used to work at WB but is now at Say Now. We talk for a bit but I really need to get downstairs... When I get downstairs I bump into LP's manager Rob McDermott we hug say hello and now I am off to the pit. On my way to the pit I bump into Eric Lemasters and his kids and my buddy Tom Rob who does security for LP, then while I'm in the pit LP's tour manger Mike Amato comes over to say hello... Mike ROCKS! we talk for a bit and I tell him I want to do a conversation for the site. He tell's me he's off for 2 months and he's down...cool! I then go walk to find Sal... Sal is always in front at the LP shows around the east coast... and there he is we talk for a few. Sal was in Baltimore the other night so he's filling me in on how the show starts so I can get my angles. The light's go down and the show begins.... They open the show with Wake going right into Given up...The lights are cool and Rob and Joe rose up from below the stage...then all of a sudden....My camera gets a ERR 99 UGHHHHHHH!!!!!! Not again! I switch it off change the battery and try again... I take a few and again ERR 99 FUCK! The next song is Lying From You and I still trying to work my camera out I need some shots for the blog!!! Then they launch into Somewhere I Belong after that I am out of the pit and back to my seat to watch the rest of the show. Then they knock out No More Sorrow, Don't Stay and Points of Authority. Then Chester talk to the crowd He says he "This is a big deal for us... I remember's talking to his sister about 5 years ago saying when we play Madison Square Garden you'll all be there and they are all here tonight" and the crowd goes crazy... This show is SOLD OUT too and I'm not talking none behind the stage THE WHOLE GARDEN! The stage set up is cool. It's really big too with % screens hanging from above the band and 2 on either side of the stage. They then going into In Pieces then Numb and then Joe and Rob get lowered back down under the stage and it's just Chester and Mike and the play My December and The Garden is lit up by cell phones and lighters and I get chills... It's always cool to see something like this. After that they start off Breaking the Habit alone and are joined back by the rest of the band. The song starts of and everyone is clapping great crowd participation! Chester even plays a Flying V during the song! Ok tempo change...the new single and my favorite song on the record..the U2ish Shadow of the Day.. Just amazing crowd singing really cool!. They then go right into Crawling but with the Reanimation intro...pretty cool... The set list so far has been really good. The crowd is at times singing louder than the band Chester then decides to go into the photo pit and the crowd goes NUTS! Next up In The End then A Place For My Head with Brad starting out the song alone and they end the set with Mike in the crowd for One Step Closer. First encore starts off with In Between and more crowd participation and then What I've Done just rocking...OK time for more???Hmmmm YES! Then band come out and then...JAY Z!!!! The crowd goes ballistic the screams are deafening They launch into Numb/Encore but only half of it The Crowd is still screaming when they go into Jigga What/Faint both tracks off the EP they did with Jay Z Jay then waves and heads off the stage and Mike says "We have time for 1 more" Bleed It Out with a little drum solo for Rob... On a whole the show was great and I am sure this won't be the last time Linkin Park plays MSG!!!...Now I am off for food and Type O party in Brooklyn at Duffs...
Peace out! Bagel

www.linkinpark.com

A Conversation with The New Singer of Anthrax Dan Nelson

So, this will be the first of many interviews of different artists I will have here. The interviews will be more of an inside look at them a different side. Some of the stuff will be about the bands they are in but more of the things will be personal stuff, funny stories and what they like to do besides the band. So what better way than my bud Dan Nelson the new singer of Anthrax. Dan and I met at NAMM but after talking with him there we realized we definitely crossed paths a lot of the past 10 years or so. Dan's vocals remind me of a cross between both John Bush and Joey Belladonna with some Phil Anselmo thrown in for good measure. Now Dan and I started talking at NAMM about doing this interview which turned into just us talking so its more a conversation. I had no set questions we just talked like buds telling stories and he also asked me stuff too. Dan isn't only a singer he is originally a bass player and plays drums and guitar also. He lives in Long Island with his wife, Kimberly, mother-in-law Pat and a dog named Samantha. Dan's been married for 4 years but been with his wife for 14 years! Dan has 3 brothers and a sister. Growing up Dan got into Anthrax by stealing his cousins copy of Among the Living. His other metal favs growing up were Metallica and Megadeth and his first concert was Metallica and The Cult on the And Justice For All tour and Nassau Coliseum. Some of Dan's passions include the New York Rangers, the New York Yankees, playing hockey and he absolutely loves movies! Dan is a personal trainer so he also loves to work out. Growing up he used to and still collects comic books and G.I. Joe action figures. He likes video games too and loves to play his Xbox 360, some of his favorite games are Gears of War, Oblivion and he really loves Zombie type of games. He loves warm climate areas but doesn't like the beach... just like Charlie Jaws ruined the ocean for him. Even though he trains people his favorite food is pizza and fast food, he also likes popcorn, coffee ice cream and dark chocolate. Ok now that you have had a short history lesson on Dan I did ask him some questions about what's going on with Anthrax. I asked him how the album was coming along and he told me that they only jammed together as a 5 piece 2 weekends ago but they have been writing stuff from day 1. The music was already written but he along with Scott are writing most of the lyrics and Scott, Frankie and himself are writing the melodies with a little help from Charlie. He told me that they totally embraced him as the new singer and gave him lots of room and listen to his input. He doesn't feel like a hired gun he feels like a full fledge member of Anthrax. The first song they played together live was Inside Out and then Room For One More. After the first song Scott said "This is gonna be awesome!" and he told me the rest of the band felt the same way. He hasn't met either John or Joey but has been told that John wishes him all the best and thanked him for all the good things he has said about him in the press. Another singer who was in a similar position was Tim "Ripper" Owens. Dan met Ripper at NAMM and was told to just go with the flow and that he has a really cool voice and also gave some advice on things. Vinnie Paul is another person that Dan met at NAMM that gave him a pat on the back and told him good luck. Dan said sometimes he thinks back on the times when he used to drive around singing Anthrax tunes in his car and now he has the tunes on his board at his studio to sing too except no vocals on the tracks. The way the band found Dan was through Rob and Rob said "What rock have you been hiding under?" Dan can't wait to get out on the road to show the people that Anthrax is alive an well. I will be following Dan over the next few months until the first show with Anthrax so check out my blog every week for some more Anthrax info from the new guy!
Check out the link below for more Anthrax info.
Peace Out! Bagel
Anthrax.com

Carmine Appice at Samson

Today I went out to the Samson office. I had to take my video camera out there for something and had to talk to a few people there and also Mark told me that Carmine Appice was coming to do some sort of video for Zoom. I rolled in about 11:15 and walked into marketing. I said my hello's to everyone and walked over to talk to Jack Knight for a bit. Mark and I talked about this new promotion that Zoom will be doing with Carmine for the H2. When Carmine showed up Mark took him for a tour of the office. After the tour Carmine said hello to Doug... Doug was a tech for Cactus way back when. Carmine and Doug talked for a few minutes. After they finished we went into one of the meeting rooms for lunch and for Mark and Carmine to discuss what's going to happen with the upcoming promotion. Once lunch was finished we headed over to the new production room. Part of the promotion is filming a really cool video about Carmine's history in music from his days in Vanilla Fudge up to what he's doing now in Slamm. John DiMaggio the video king was on hand of course to film it! He talked about his time in Cactus and hanging out with Led Zeppelin back when nobody knew who they were. He also shared stories about his time playing with Rod Stewart and Jeff Beck. Carmine is a great guy and really funny. He told us that Jeff Beck said Carmine is the cause of his tinnitus. Carmine has loved and used Zoom products for the past 10-15 years or so, so when his brother Vinny started working with Zoom, Carmine was all aboard! After learning the history of Carmine Appice he took some pictures with a few of us and he also signed drumheads and other assorted things for people in the Samson office... Class Act all the way!!! For more information about Carmine's new project Slamm and Zoom please click on the links below...Peace Out! Bagel...Oh sorry about being away but I have been trying to figure out my new Mac...I will have some stuff up this week!

http://www.carmineappice.net/

http://www.myspace.com/slammusa
http://www.zoomfx.com/

http://www.zoomh2.com/

YEAH!!!!

Today I got my Imac... I will be posting somethings later....Sorry I have been going through pictures from the weekend. Be Back Later
Peace Out! Bagel

Queensryche at Starland

OK, I am kinda tired from tonight, So I will write more after the weekend...cause I will be with them all weekend....Let's just say that Vinny Magic from Starland started out weekend of in a very errie way! Dude if you ever go to starland find this guy his magic is SICK! MORE LATER KIDDIES! PEACE OUT! Bagel

My Other New Toy...

When I got back from NAMM I came home to this waiting for me! I am in LOVE! This guitar plays like a dream! I sounds amazing and the extra features are awesome too!!! I got this really cool case with it, it's kind of a soft hard case...molded to the shape of the guitar. He's the info on my baby!

Dean Exotica Koa Acoustic Electric Guitar
An exciting new addition to the Dean Exotica Acoustic line, the Exotica Koa uses Koa wood on the top and sides of the body. Known for it's superior tone and excellent stability, Koa has quickly become a favorite tonewood among players and luthiers alike. A mahogany neck and rosewood fingerboard gives you the feel and playability that the Dean acoustic line is known for. In addition to the pristine acoustic tones, the Exotica Koa comes equipped with a 3 band EQ and a built-in tuner that allows you to plug in for your higher volume gigs.
Koa body for an exotic look and tone
Mahogany neck
Rosewood fingerboard
Abalone dot inlays
Dean preamp with 3-band EQ and tuner

Celluloid binding

Woodcut rosette
Sealed die cast tuners

25.5" scale
1 5/8" nut

I would like to Thank Jo Anne for this belated Xmas present...

due to availability and I would also like to Thank John Conley from Sam Ash and Jon Puhl from Dean

Guitars for the assistance in getting this item. YOU GUYS RULE!

Please check out Dean Guitars and http://www.deanguitars.com/ and Sam Ash at http://www.samash.com/

My New Toy!!

Model 20-inch iMac
Processor 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo L2 Cache
4MB Shared System bus 800MHz Memory
1GB (one SO-DIMM) 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM (PC2-5300), supports up to 4GB
Hard drive 320GB Serial ATA; 7200 rpm Optical drive
Slot-loading 8x SuperDrive with 4x double-layer burning (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
Display 20-inch (viewable) glossy widescreen TFT active-matrix LCD, 1680 by 1050 pixels, millions of colors
Video Built-in iSight; mini-DVI output port with support for DVI, VGA, S-video, and composite video connections via adapter
Graphics ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO with 256MB of GDDR3 memory
FireWire One FireWire 400 and one FireWire 800 port; 7 watts each
USB Three USB 2.0 ports on computer; two USB 2.0 ports on keyboard
Audio Built-in stereo speakers with 24-watt digital amplifier, built-in microphone, optical digital audio output/headphone out, optical digital audio input/audio line in
Ethernet Built-in 10/100/1000BASE-T (Gigabit)
Wireless Built-in AirPort Extreme (802.11n); built-in Bluetooth 2.0+EDR (Enhanced Data Rate) module
Hardware accessories
Apple Remote, Apple Keyboard, and Mighty Mouse
Other
Built-in IR receiver

THANK YOU JO ANNE!!!!!!!!!

More Birthday Pictures

All Pictures on this page Courtesy of Tracy Ketcher to vist her page go to www.tracyketcher.com

Hooters with Mike & Mike from Queensryche along with Adam and Mark

So, Tonight Queensryche was supposed to play a private show at Newsday but more Spinal Tap-ness.... The flight was canceled not once or twice but like 5 times! So the show didn't happen. Mark from Samson and I were talking all day trying to figure out what time I was going to go and meet up with him before the show. We were IMing each other back and forth all day. He kept updating me with the cancellations and delays and stuff so finally I drove out to his house in Smithtown. 3/4's of the way there he calls me to tell me it got delayed once again! UGH! So I get to his house we hang for a bit and then he realizes that I have to drive back to queens cause he doesn't have enough room for everyone. Brian was supposed to get the band with him but when he heard they were delayed again he went home. So now I have to drive all the way back to Queens 5 minutes from my house! As we are driving back Mark calls me like 5 minutes after we left his house to tell me they just landed!! We are like 40 minutes away!!! OMG!!! So now we fly back and I tell Mark to take the Northern State to the LIE but he misses the LIE exit! Mark was flying like 100 MPH lol I was doing like 65-85 and I beat him back to the airport. LOL So I pull up and Geoff, Stone and Whip along with the tour manager Adam are waiting for us. It's starting to drizzle and I say hello to everyone and tell them that there's going to be 2 cars and ask who wants to get in mine. Wilton is the first on my car as we wait for Mark, but he can't find us. So everyone crams into Jeep Geoff, Wilton and Stone in the back and Adam in the front. Then Mark pulls up so Stone goes with him. We drive the to the hotel and Mark asks if anyone wants to go out for some food. Geoff wants to rest up after being delayed and on that plane all day I don't blame him but the other guys are raring to go. We are trying to figure out where to go and someone said wings and Hooter's was brought up so, off we go to Hooter's on Hempstead Turnpike. Wilton comes with me and Adam and Stone go with Mark. Whip and I catch up except for a brief time at NAMM we haven't talked in almost a year. We talk about the things we did at NAMM and I tell him about this site and He want's to do an interview. So there will be a Michael Wilton interview on here along with Stone, Adam, Lee (Stone's Tech) and I will try to get the rest of the guys. (look in the NAMM Part 4 to see who else signed on) I am stoked cause Whip is a great guy. Actually everyone in the Queensryche camp is really cool. Just as we get off the meadowbrook Whip say he's hungry and I tell him we'll be there in a second and he sees the sign. We park and Mark pulls up next to us and we go in. We sit down Order some beer and they had a new item, I don't remember the name but it was fried shrimp and fried jalapeno's....YUM! 2 orders of those. We also ordered 50 hot wings 1/2 naked and 1/2 breaded, buffalo shrimp, Mark and Stone got burgers and Whip and I shared 1/2 a dozen oysters. While we waited we were talking bout NAMM and the funny stories this (some of which you'll read about in my NAMM blog) We talked about the set list on this tour which will be a few cover songs and a lot of songs they haven't played in awhile, which is great! We talked about the fact that they are going to Europe to do a tour doing Mindcrime 1 & 2. Mark was telling Adam about the Zoom H-2 and Stone and Whip were giving it rave reviews! So we are done with the food and drinks and they need to get back to the hotel so I tell Mark that I'll drive them back since it's right by my house and he is the opposite way. Mark tells them we are going to come to the shows on Thursday at Starland, Friday at Nokia and Saturday done in Atlantic City and they seem stoked...cool! On the ride home we talks about food and I bring up the fact that my friend Mike has a Mexican restaurant in NJ called Tito's Burritos and maybe I'll bring some food for them on Thursday at Starland and they seem to be interested so I tried calling Mike but no answer I will call him today to take care of that. I drop them off and they thank me for the ride and I thank them for the company. So, That's another Blog done for more info on Queensryche and Tito's Burritos please click on the links below.

PEACE OUT! Bagel

http://www.queensryche.com/

http://www.titosburritos.com/

Birthday....

Some of you people took what I said to personal about leaving early and not saying goodbye.... If you read what I wrote I said if you didn't have a good reason!! And just cause I said Fuck You...doesn't mean I was talking to you!!!!!

HOLY FUCK!!!!!!!!!

THE GIANTS BEAT THE PATRIOTS IN THE SUPER BOWL!!!!!! CONGRATULATIONS TO THE NEW YORK GIANTS AND ALL THE FANS!!!!

Birthday Party

Hey Everyone! First off thanx to all my friends that came last night and braved the rain, that STOPPED at about 830...to those people who punked out because of the rain....watch the weather channel! LOSERS! Well, I started off my birthday party night by having dinner with my dad, my uncle Phil and Jo Anne at Francisco's Centro Vasco. My dad and I have been going there for years and they specialize in BIG lobsters. I got a 5 pounder! Dinner was great and I could have finished it along with my fried shrimp and chorizo appetizers and my lobster bisque soup but I wanted to save a claw for later! YUM! Well after dinner Jo Anne and I went over to Snitch to just wait for everyone. I know I will have a few stalwarts that will come even if we are going against a sold out Killswitch Engage show at the Starland & a sold out Lenny Kravitz show at the Hammerstein Ballroom and also the Supersuckers! What was I thinking?....I should have had my party next week after Queensryche! I could have probably got them to come and hang after they played since they are playing in Atlantic City the next night. Oh well... First person to show up was my bud Nick from Sony. Then Eddie from ILG showed up with Kenny and Swirley and his brother. Then Mike showed up and so on and so on... I did have a few surprises. My friend Frank from Sony showed up with the rest of his Sony crew...first Bagel Bash for Frank since he got married and had a baby. My buddy Mark showed up with his brother Jeff that I haven't seen in years. Rachel, Stacy, Suzanne, Dayna, Sara, Rebecca and alot more the list would go on forever (don't be mad if I didnt mention your name)... THANX, IT MEANT ALOT! So today was also a kinda Spinal Tap-ish day. 3 more singers gone! 1 had family things to do, 1 just didn't show up and 1 was told by his band not to sing until he sings with them for the first time live... Thanx to my friends with that cow disease (hint!) Also one of my other surprise guest got called away cause he's going out on tour in Japan (My friend Budgie who played with Ace Frehley was gonna play drums on R&R All Nite!) So the night started off with White Trash doing there set... a lil late of a start cause Aaron showed up late but whatever... The set was cool... Full band with horn section but Ethan couldn't play so Craig filled in which was fine cause Craig kicks ass!!! Dave from the club was really cool we got come drink tickets and a few tubs of beer and he also told me to take my time whenever we wanted to go on to do so. Thanx Dave! Oh I almost forgot! Some asshole tried to steal my video camera but the security caught him and kicked him out! Lucky for him cause if I would have caught him there would have been a bloodbath!! So, Thanx to the whole staff at Snitch! Ok so we start getting our gear set up and I give my friend Bill my video camera to record the show and I have my friends Damien and Tracy taking pictures for me...most of, if not all the pictures here in this blog are theirs...I will give you the links to there sites at the end of my blog...Then as we were setting up my friend Dante shows up and brings his friend Scott from Reverand Horton Heat with him...Thanx Dante! I say hello and tell them thanx for coming... everyone else from Dante's band NEVER comes to my parties! So the waitress brings up our beer... now we are ready. The first song of the set was to be sung by my friend Dan but...I tell everyone we had only one practice and there's no singer for the first song so we are going do it instrumental.... So What...with me playing guitar, Mike playing drums, Eric playing bass and John playing guitar...I thought it was actually our best song of the night ....Then I invite Dave from White Trash up to sing Train Kept A Rollin' with Tommy and I on guitar.... Then John comes back up and plays guitar with Tommy for a few songs as I sing You Really Got Me, American Band and Some Kinda Wonderful. Then I inform the crowd that it's Tommy's birthday too. He then plays Pride & Joy with the rest of the band as I sit this one out. Next up I rejoin the band and we do a Lenny Kravitz style version of Superstition with Tommy and I sharing vocals which turned into me singing all the vocals UGH!! I DON'T WANNA SING! Ok so we are told we have one more song and I invite up Scott from Reverend Horton Heat to play drums on Rock & Roll All Nite. He comes up and because of the other people canceling on me I am again stuck singing....Didn't I say that I didn't want to sing.... Ok so now we are done and I can relax... alot of people left and said goodbye while we were onstage and some just left without saying goodbye ..Thanx...real friends...I know who you are and don't ask me for any favors! As we are winding down a few more people showed up after they got back from the other shows. My friend Paul showed up with Dawn and her friend Rosela and out of no where came my buddy Rick Rispoli...GREAT surprises in all! The night over all was alot of fun I just wish we could have practiced more and I wish I would have done it on another night...Well next year will be on a Saturday and I will make sure no shows on that night! Again THANX to all my friends that showed up and the staff of Snitch! To those of you who didn't show up and have no excuses and the ones that left early without saying goodbye..... FUCK YOU!! Don't ask me for a favor cause you wont get it and as my boys LIFE OF AGONY say.... I will "LOVE TO LET YOU DOWN"!!!!! Peace Out, Bagel! I will be getting some more pictures from my friend Tracy in the next few days to post here so stay tuned!
More stories and pictures up soon including my night with HellYeah! and 4 days with my boys in Queensryche!!!
All pictures on this Blog courtesy of Damien Mauer. Visit him at myspace.com/damiensixsixsix
Also for more pictures of the show visit http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrestrada/sets/72157603836977674/