​Just over one week ago, my best friend, Nathaniel Ferris Moore, passed away unexpectedly. We had been friends for over 30 years, meeting for the first time in driver’s ed class when we were both 15. My first interaction with him was to put on an effected southern drawl and call him a dumbass because he paid another student a quarter or two for a couple of Starburst. I couldn’t believe he would spend so much on such a small amount of lousy candy. He must have thought I was funny, because rather than take offense, we started hanging out at school, then after school. Over the years, we lived together, traveled together, moved apart, and moved back together. We had so many good times together, so many occasions when we made each other laugh until we cried. Other times, we just cried (okay, usually me). And like all adult friends, we had periods when we didn’t see each other as much as we would like. Even when we didn’t see each other for months, we were always in touch. We always had something to talk about. That something was music.

Back in November, I wrote about how close I was to hitting 100,000 songs tracked by Last.fm. I predicted that I would cross that mark in February. Turns out I was wrong, but not by much. I hit 100,000 songs today, a few minutes ago in fact. Of course, the band that brought me across the line was Neurosis, my favorite band of all time (problematic member aside). 

What will be the next completely pointless goal? 200,000 songs? Something else dumb? Actually writing another fitness-related post? Only time will tell, dear reader. 

​I'll be leaving for a long weekend tomorrow, so I won't get to a weekly music recap in tomorrow. But I still want to share a few miscellaneous thoughts as the week draws to an end.

• The video above from Jeff Nippard has some great exercises to consider adding into your routine. 
• Miracle Blood, one of the first bands I covered for my concert recap series, has a new live EP coming out on November 6th. It will be fun! The first live track dropped on YouTube a couple months back. 
• The first wave of lineup announcements for Prepare the Ground and Roadburn 2026 have dropped. Prepare the Ground scored a rare North American set from Oranssi Pazuzu and the only Svalbard North American set ever. Roadburn has an even bigger score - an Oathbreaker reunion. I'd given up any hope on ever seeing them live. I still probably won't! But a guy can dream.
• It's October, so you are required by law to listen to The Evil One by Roky Erickson, the most perfect Halloween album of all time.

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.