It's been a long week and a bad week, but a pretty good new release day. Here's what's been powering through my day. 

Twelve years ago, I saw Nine Inch Nails for the first time when their Tension tour came to Minnesota. I wound up seated next to a guy who worked in the touring concert industry, and before the set he told my brother and me that the lighting design we were about to see would set the standard for stadium shows for years to come. The big hook of the show was a lighting rig that projected in the front, back, and middle of the stage, creating the appearance that the band was playing inside a cube of lasers. It was a pretty spectacular effect and used in a wide variety of ways over the course of that show. 

Twelve years later, NIN returned to St. Paul for the first time since that tour with the Peel It Back tour. Trent Reznor and company had set a pretty high bar, and I would have been pretty happy if they had just repeated the setup of the Tension tour. But Trent had a much more elaborate plan in mind. 

I've been waiting to see MSPaint since their debut album came out in 2023. Last night, I finally got the chance when their headlining tour rolled through Minneapolis. And I wound up bailing early. Are my rockin' days behind me? GASP! Read on for more. 

Here are a couple of albums that are working for me this week, one from earlier this year and one released today. Read on for more!

A few years ago, I was driving down Washington Avenue in Minneapolis on a rainy morning when Black Sabbath's Iron Man came on the radio. Suddenly, I wasn't a 40-something-year-old man watching rain hit my windshield. I was a 14-year-old at Boy Scout camp, inside a hot green canvas tent with Andy Newman's black Walkman in my hand. I was hitting the play button and hearing the hiss of the cassette tape, followed by that strange, wavering voice:

I am Iron Man!

I've been going to see live music regular for the last few decades, and while concerts have always been a huge part of my life, I've always felt unequipped to write about them. Not being a musician myself, I never felt like I had the knowledge or vocabulary to intelligently write about music. But, with age comes not wisdom, but the ability to say "to hell with it, I'll do it anyway."

Last night, a buddy and I attended a show that was originally billed as Miracle Blood, Baumgardner, Strange Frequency, and Small Animal Hospital. The actual bill turned out to be Baumgardner, Miracle Blood, Watches, and Small Animal Hospital. One band fully replaced, and one swap in lineup order. All bands from Minneapolis save for Miracle Blood, who hail from Boston. 

Mic check.

So, the concept here is that I'll write about two things I'm into these days: music (specifically metal) and fitness (specifically weightlifting). So, two different connotations of "heavy." Very clever, I know. Will I stick with it? Maybe! Will anyone read it? Probably not! Will anyone start sending me free records and a cable machine? Definitely not!

All photos on this 'lil site are by me unless otherwise indicated.