Cats in the Cradle

Cold is getting better! It must be because of all the shopping I've done to comfort myself. Really need that Recordshoppers Anonymous meeting now! I will have some packages to pick up when I get home on Friday.

This week has felt extremely long and it's just Wednesday today. Still two more days to work.  Or work... Meetings all day for two days now. Really should need a little time of my own to finish the last few activities before Christmas.

The other day when I was home ill, working from home the cats were extra cozy and slept in all possible places and positions. So cute! They make a whole lot of mess but they're also much fun and good company.

Tomorrow I'm visiting Uffe to trade some records. I'll get some goodies for sure. And Uffes special Chili!

Cheers
E

Bad medicine

Coughing, fever, snart throat and my voice almost gone... Luckily the cats are very sleepy today so the biggest problem is to guard my space in bed. They have the ability to spread out like crazy.

So I'm not having so much fun today. I want to do stuff but no energy at all.

It was a good concert yesterday though, despite the cold Saxon managed to boost the crowd to max. The place got very hot during the almost 2 hour set.

Yesterday was the 3:rd Saxon show this year, quite normal I say. I've lost count on how many times I've seen them now but I do think it's at least average 2-3 times every year since 93-94 or so... Hmmm... Time flies, 21 or 22 years since the first time I saw them should be somewhere around 50 shows. Cool! And no, it NEVER gets boring!

Back to being sick now.

Cheers
E

Hellweek now

On the other hand, I can't say the week will be hell since there will be so many cool concerts but ok, I'll be damn tired on Sunday that's for sure! It will be worth it though, doubtless.

So, keeping my fingers crossed, the week starts with Motörhead, Saxon and Girlschool tomorrow. Then a Saxon headline gig with Dirty Passion as Support on Wednesday. Thursday it is Quireboys and The Gloria Story at Sticky Fingers. Should be fun.
Weekend starts off with Judas Priest and UFO at Löfbergs Arena in Karlstad and the last one, Slayer, Anthrax and The Haunted at Lisebergs Hallen. The downside is all time spent travelling. Good one is that I could use my points at Scandic and get a free night in Karlstad. Free is good.

I've applied for photopass for all shows but it can be messy and I need to decide what's worth missing for photos. Normally with these big events I can't carry my camera with me and I have to use the ticket to the show for the headliner... Not a good deal but it's cool to get to "shoot" these big bands also... We'll see what happens.
Saxon at KB is settled without issues and so should Quireboys also be.

My foot still hurts rather bad though. Probably should have had it checked but it feels late now. Standing for Black Star Riders was painful. And having cats around didn't help. To avoid stepping on the cats I hurt my foot again instead. Hope it holds for all the coming shows.

Cheers E

Big city nights

I guess I'm not in to the big city buzz anymore... Or I never had to care about time since the Metro run every 5 minutes all the time I'm using it in Sthlm. It's a bit strange actually that I get annoying when missing one commuter train when the next leaves in less than 15 minutes... Home we have 2 trains an hour and that's never an issue.

Anyway, tonight I'm meeting up with Nina and we're going to Akkurat to try some fancy IPA's. We've been talking about it for a long time and now it finally happens. Also, since Nina's birthday is next week it's a good opportunity to celebrate.

The snow showeling yesterday sure brought on a musclepain. Every piece of my body hurts today. Of course the foot too... It's getting better but I guess walking around doesn't help the healing very much... 

Let's see if there's a beer-check-in later.

Cheers
E

Kick start...

It felt REALLY unnecesary when I stopped on a small ledge and sprained my ancle this monday. It's both colourful and swollen now but at least it's not as painful as it was the first two days of this week.  Of course I only had boots to wear. It wasn't fun at all to squeeze the foot in tuesday morning I tell you.
Ok, I probably walked too much monday also but what to do. Wouldn't miss Alice Cooper and Mötley Crüe just because of my ancle. It wasn't that bad.

A good show it was. Fun with all the props and lights. Ok, musically Alice Cooper's performance was better but not much beat that Mötley show...

Some days prior to that show we saw Whitesnake in Helsingör. Also very good and a lot of fun.

What these two has in common is that both vocalists have done some rather critisized performances over the years but now it was fantastic.

Next week it's Black Star Riders before Hell-week starts. Will be tough but fun. Starting with Motörhead, Saxon & Girlschool, Tuesday. Saxon headline gig Wednesday, Quireboys Thursday, Judas Priest & UFO Friday and Slayer, Anthrax & The Haunted Saturday... Fun eh?

Tomorrow it's Friday and Peter ordered something to go with Styx and Wine for dinner.  Not too hard to please that! :-)

Cheers E

Incoming

Week's almost over and that's awesome! Celebrating with eating the sandwich-spread leftovers that won't make it next week and drinking a glass of wine. Have to say that Meze Olives with garlic, chili and lemon isn't my favorite but they go quite good with the wine. 

I'm actually very excited for the weekend. I have three things (at least) to collect at the post office (Mr Postman called more than twice this week...). Ok, one is actually at Systembolaget. I ordered the Motörhead Vödka, Anniversary edition and this is going to be picked up tomorrow!

Then the TPL packages, YES, packages arrived at the delivery point today! It was too much to fit in one box. Box 2 can be blamed the Slayer Eagle! Gonna look awesome on the shelf, and of course SOUND awesome in the stereo. And there are SOOOO many goodies in the other box! Check it out;

 

Not bad huh???!!! 

Then there's a package from Ginza, which I expected last Friday. Don't know what happened since it was ready for delivery Wednesday last week already but ended up at the delivery point the day before yesterday. Normally they ship ASAP but not this time. Bummer since Europe's - War Of Kings is in it and it would have been good to listen to that BEFORE the concert yesterday since they played a lot from it. The package also includes all the Iron Maiden 7" re-issues... Not all that necessary but it IS Iron Maiden and then it's basically a got-to-have. Ok, this time I waited for the sale since i think 99SEK (ca €10) is too much for a 7", especially since I have all of them since before...

With a bit of luck CDON ships the new Annihilator and Demon's Eye also. Not that I will be able to listen to it all this weekend though... But they got to show anyway! 

I also try to fit my schedule to make sure to plan for as many concerts, events and still be as efficient as possible for work. I really enjoy what I do and I love the freedom that comes with the role. But of course, to keep the freedom I need to deliver also. But wth, if I can squeeze in 2 x WASP, Venom Inc/Vader, Paradise Lost and visit Anvil in the studio for the recording of "Anvil is Anvil" I'm willing to work around the clock almost. I don't really care about the rest of the time in the weeks, at least not when I'm out of the Void Mansion, which is most weekdays. (and hell yes, I miss Peter and the cats like crazy)

Also, two ESPECIALLY nice news I saw when checking Triffid & Danger Concert's page the other day;

Michael Schenker is an all time favorite guitarplayer and I've been so PISSED OFF since I missed him on Väsby Rock and all other events close-by. Definitely going to both of those shows.
The Neon Rose and 220 Volt! How cool isn't that? I was really disappointed when 220 Volts was out of the bill from 2 Heavy 4 You... Heard both that they cancelled and that the promoter cancelled... ABSOLUTELY not missing this one!

So, come Friday, come fast... Dropping by Gunnaröds on the way home to pick-up some Eco Meat, BBQ-ing Burgers tomorrow, defrosting the last batch of home-baked-eco-bun's. In Skåne, buying meat and veggies from Farmers Markets, eco and local, isn't much more expensive than anything from the supermarket it just comes down to planning... (have lamb, beef, veal, chicken and pork a 10 min drive away)
I also have some recording left to do. But then I can just CRANK IT UP and rehearse for Old Grave Fest and Malta. I know the stuff, I need to get the stamina to live through the shows now (and practice poses and not fall over, probably the most important). 

 Cheers E

NP: Chris Caffery - Your Heaven is Real

Cat scratch fever

Yep, the kittens has been with us for 6 weeks now and they grow like crazy. Of course they should since they eat like a small Horse. Then they wrestle, chase eachother, fight and play. And sleep of course. Sometimes I wake up because I can't breathe properly just to realize I have a cat over my mouth and neck. Maddox is still very light but Tipton starts to get rather Heavy.
Peter's parentes visited with Hugo (their cat) to see if they all get along. Hugo is very shy so even our tiny furballs scared him for real... No problems though and that's nice. It's worse with the neigbours cat though. She don't like them at all and keep slamming on our kitchen window as soon as she sees Tipton or Maddox.
So now it's a challenge to keep our cats in and the other one out. She still come over for dinner though and that she can continue doing for as long as she likes. Pussy Salmon and Tuna is a Favorite and those portion bags are cheap in Borås so it's just to boost up.

Mr Postman wasn't nice at all the last weekend, no new records at all... Ok, it's not like I'm dried out on new music but I would have wanted the latest Europe release since I'm going to see them on Wednesday. Also, Wasp is coming up next week and it would have been nice to listen to their new release. Hopefully I'll have a huge pile waiting for me coming home Friday.

Cheers E

Final Countdown

It's not just pictures and films of cute cats that light up the internet... This poster, for the upcoming Malta Doom Metal Festival sure did that too. It's damn cool to share poster with Venom Inc and Tysondog to mention a few. And I'm really looking forward to hit the stage again with both Void Moon and Cult Of The Fox.
Rehearsals has been good and we still have a few more planned to make sure we're really ready for this.
Old Grave Fest happens before of course, which is equally cool even if last year's line-up held more favorite bands for my taste.

And we have some never played before tracks with both bands, songs I'm really excited about at least.

It's been a hard week at work now so it is great it's Friday tomorrow.

Cheers E

Recordshoppers Anonymous Deluxe #2 (Part 1)

Well, I thought publishing the Vicious Rumors was rather cool and I started to make plans to do the same with Savatage. The difference is that there's a lot more stuff in the Savatage collection, more releases available... So I never got started since it never felt I'd have enough time to finish. Then that it's dropping on new additions constantly of course messes things up so we'll see how it ends. Anyway, I decided to start so this first part will feature Sirens, The Dungeons are Calling, Power of the Night and Fight for the Rock and I suppose this is the easy part...

Sirens

Spyrat/Metal blade   03984-14076-2 4                      GER
Metal blade              PHCR-16151                             JAP
Metal blade              3984-14419-2    Silver edition

Par Records            PAR 1050           Blue label  
Par Records            PAR 1050           Silver label  
Par Records            PAR 1050           Blue vinyl  
Par Records            No S/N               Pic-LP              ARG      
Music for nations     MFN 48                                     FRA
Banzai Records       BRC 1968                                  CAN
Combat                  MX 8018                                   BRA
Enigma                  MX 8018                                    MEX

The Dungeons are Calling

Metal blade                 3984-1 4075-2       
Victor Entertainment    VICP-60090                              JAP
Metal blade                 3984-14418-2     Silver edition

Music For Nations        MFN 42                                  UK
Roadrunner                 RR 9793                                NL
Banzai Records            BAM 1012                             CAN
Combat                      MX 6016                                MEX

Sirens/The Dungeons are Calling

Combat                    88561-8227-2                        USA
Metal                       HM-16    Promo with Mag        ITA   
Metal Blade              CDZORRO 83    w/ Dungeons Are Calling + Lost tracks
Ear Music                 020412ERE    Digi

Banzai Records           BRC4 1968                              CAN
Combat                      MXT 8018   
MG Records                MG 1879                                 POL
Banzai Records           BAM4 1012                             CAN
Combat                      MXT 6016 

Power of the Night

Atlantic                     7 81247-2                              USA
Atlantic                     AMCY-387                              JAP
Concrete                   0089472CTR                          GER
Steamhammer          SPV 076-72982 CD       
Ear Music                  0204022ERE    Digi

Atlantic                    781 247-1                             GER
Atlantic                    75681247-1                           KOR
Atlantic                    7 81247-1                              USA
Atlantic                    604712 7                               BRA

GMR/Steamhammer    VMLP 014     Pic-Disc  
Atlantic                       PR 722        Promo              USA
Atlantic                       PR 748        Promo              USA

Atlantic                    7 81247-4                          USA 

Fight for the Rock

Atlantic                       7 81634-2                        USA
Concrete                     0089462 CTR       
Victor Entertainment    VICP-60092                       JAP
Steamhammer            SPV 076-72992 CD             GER
Ear Music                    0206908               Digi

Atlantic                     781 634-1                            GER
Atlantic                     781 634-1            Promo       GER
Atlantic                     81634-1                               USA
Atlantic                     20.142                                 BRA

GMR/Steamhammer     VMLP 013         Pic-Disc  
Atlantic                       PR889              Promo         USA
Atlantic                       PR 909             Promo         USA  

Atlantic                      7 81634-4                      USA
Ego Records               EA-3007                         Indonesia


Of course, starting writing I realized I should have taken one pic per record, it would have made it easier to add on later... On the other hand, I would like to have a little more fancy page really. But it's fun to walk through things, creating a want list (hell yes, there's things missing) And I probably should have included the Avatar "City Beneath the Surface" 7" in this entry... Maybe I should update. But the plan is to take 4 studio albums per entry and compile the rest in one, collections, live and stuff. And then of course I need to add the Jon Oliva's Pain, Jon Oliva, Circle II Circle, Chris Caffery, Matt LaPorte... Perhaps he didn't have so much to do with Savatage but he was one of my favorite guitarplayers of all time. But we'll see... The fun thing with the hype after Wacken is that Discogs is updated with new prints, me likey. So there should be a bunch of russian prints dropping into my mailbox any day now. 

If I've missed anything or listed wrong, let me know! 

Cheers
E

NP: SAVATAGE - Hall of the Mountain King

Recordshoppers Anonymous #23

Last Monday me and Peter had been married for 2 years. Not that either of us is especially keen on grande celebrations but we thought we'd do something at least.
First idea was to use a part of my gift certificate I got from Ericsson for serving 20 years as an employee but the places offered didn't feel too comfortable so we skipped that and save the money for s beer and cheese tasting or so insteai d...

What then? Decided to go to Rå Epok and eat Sushi... Quite boring place looking at it from a cozy restaurant perspective but the food was great and we got stuffed. Ok, the HUGE Ice cream in the food court perhaps did the most though.

Since we're not often in Lund we took the opportunity to check some record stores also. Well, one. The other was closed. Even If they had some goodies I didn't pick it, very expensive place so we went for the on sale stuff instead. Jethro Tull, Blackfoot, Sweet (even if just collections) and Brownsville Station. The last since I think this band has been referred to in the 10 last Biographies I've been reading. Quite cool even if the style is a bit too much boogie and Blues for me... So I got the bunch for ca €26 and that's really good.

The new MOTÖHEAD Bad Magic showed up also. Was hoping for Masters Of Metal, Praying Mantis, Royal Hunt & Pentagram but that one wasn't shipped until yesterday. Also waiting for Tad Morose. And then the HUGE and EXTREMELY Heavy pack with Iron Maiden vinyl & CD, Slayer Eagle pack, MOTÖHEAD Deluxe vinyl box and Wasp box... Good Heavy Metal fall it will be!

Cheers E

Gearing up

For Caturday... Since then it's time for Lillof and Maddox to move in. They're 12 weeks some time this week. No one really knows since Lillof and his siblings was found in the engine space of a tractor and Maddox sat all alone, a couple of weeks old and blind (with an eye infection) on the hard shoulder of the freeway. Just lucky he was spotted, picked up and handed in to the Cat Shelter. But yes, now they're well and full of energy. The responsible at the Cat Shelter PROMISED us they've both grown up to real gamines. So, most likely the weekend that passed was the last in a few years we could sleep until waking up, have a lazy morning and so on...

So, we took the chance to go shopping this weekend, some sand for the litterbox, food and a lot of toys.

But it will be so much fun to get them home! Need some life in the Void Mansion! Let's see if we say the same thing in a few weeks! :O)

The Cat Shelter (Höörs Hemlösa Katter) posted a picture of Maddox in one of their entries. It was a few weeks when we were there to meet him for the first time and in this short time he seems to have grown quite a lot. But it seems like they've gotten even more kittens in this year than normal. Tiny abandoned little creatures... It's a shame that so many cats suffer these days. 

But he sure is adorable Maddox! If they will keep their Cat Shelter names we need to see! Guess the coming weekend will show a bit of their personality and then it will be easier to name them! (Else Tipton and Byford are strong candidates)

But this past weekend, as well as the one before has been spent cleaning, fixing and kitty-proofing the house. Removing anything that can be flipped over and broken when hitting the floor and trying to lock the space on top of the vinyl-shelf. 

Of course, get the records sorted out was one mission too! It's hard work I tell you. I start to get the hang of how to do the re-shuffling the vinyls now but it still takes time and brought on a huge muscle pain. I've been very stiff today. Legs, arms, shoulders... But it turned out great in the end and we can probably fit about a year more of vinyl purchases into it before it's packed!

Of course, checking my mail Sunday evening I was notified that TPL has sent another rather huge package. I requested it since I wanted to clean out as much as possible from my want list before it's time for the Slayer "Repentless" 7 pound Eagle box.

So, anyday now I'll get the Solstice "Blood Fire Doom" vinyl box, deluxe box of Tribulation's "The Children of the Night", a bunch of Flotsam & Jetsam vinyls and some more stuff. So now I need to figure out a smart and cat proof way to store new vinyls without having them to scratched and clawed. Especially since I'm out of plastic covers... Need to get another 100-pack to be safe I suppose! Then I won't run out in a couple of months at least.

And now everything is kind of back to normal at work which mean a trip to Kista this week and the first real meeting with my new manager. It's all a bit nervous of course but I'm looking forward to it also. 

And on Wednesday it's concert time. Snowy Shaw at Trägårn, Gothenburg.

And then Friday, it's the 2 Heavy 4 You warm-up show. I was really looking forward to see 220 Volt again but that didn't happen. Then Axewitch was announced which was really nice as well. But that didn't happen either so now Alien, the Swedish 80's band that had a few hits, which feels like a quite odd booking with consideration to the rest of the billing, but what do I know, it might work. And it's gonna be fun to see Peter playing with Stonegriff also!

 


So, it sure will be a busy week and presumably not much sleep during the weekend if the cats are as playful as they say!

Cheers
E

NP: SACRILEGE - Six6Six