Guest Reviewer: Erik Remec & Comedy Steel 2007

Hi everyone,

My good friend Erik Remec is back with another review this month. He recently met up with the king of all DJ’s, Eddie Trunk and his Comedy Steel 2007 show. Many thanks to Eric for another great job and some fantastic pictures.

(That's Jim Breuer and Mr. Remec himself in case you were wondering)

Enjoy...

Joe from Onthepod.net

Comedy Steel - Nokia Theatre

Comedy Steel - Nokia Theatre - New York City - January 13, 2007

Welcome to my second concert review for OnThePod.net so let me just say thanks once again to Joe for letting me post on his site. Anyway, on to the review …

In late 2001 NYC Hardrock & Metal Radio DJ Eddie Trunk put on N.Y. Steel, a 9/11 benefit concert which featured hard rock and metal musicians from the New York City area. In addition to getting some great musicians together for a very worthy cause, the concert was the also the impetus for getting the band Twisted Sister back together. Now just over five years later, Trunk decided to put on another event but with a twist: Comedy Steel which would bring together heavy metal musicians and standup comedians in a meeting of minds so to speak with portions of the proceeds going to the charity Cure Autism Now. The show which took place at the Nokia Theatre in the heart of Times Square in New York City, featured comedians Don Jamieson, Jim Florentine, and headliner Jim Breuer. All three comedians are huge fans of metal and have appeared on Trunk’s radio show in the past.

I was lucky enough to get a VIP ticket which did cost twice as much as a normal ticket but it got me into a meet & greet with Jim Breuer before the show. The ticket also came with a complimentary gift pack that included a T-shirt and a signed Breuer concert DVD. After trying to find a good spot in the VIP section of the theatre, I decided I should really be down on the floor and settled near the front of stage left.

The show started with an Ozzy Osbourne impersonator in a wig and athletic jumpsuit (Ozzy’s stage attire as of late) who along with a backing band delivered a spot on version of the song “I Don’t Know” from Ozzy and Randy Rhoad’s live album Tribute.

Comedians Don Jamieson and Jim Florentine from the comedy DVD Meet the Creeps gave enjoyably rude and crude sets. Their material was filled with tons of metal references (especially Jamieson’s) and Florentine sported a vintage Iron Maiden Piece of Mind T-shirt.

In between the comedy sets, came the tunes. The special musical guests included the guitarists Jay Jay French & Eddie Ojeda from Twisted Sister, Bobby Blitz & DD Verni from the band Overkill, and Anthrax bassist Frank Bello. The guys mixed it up taking turns doing cover songs of Twisted Sister, Black Sabbath, AC/DC, and Judas Priest with singer Billy Mira (who also did the Ozzy impersonation) handling all the vocals.

The final act of the almost three hour show was Breuer’s set. Just let me just make something clear here, Jim Breuer is out of his mind. ( And I mean that in a good way of course! ) Backed by a 3 piece heavy metal band, he was clad in full metal regalia : Black leather vest and pants, spikes, and a belt buckle that Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson might have worn during Maiden’s ‘84-‘85 Powerslave Tour. Breuer’s set started with a video that drew us into the story of his childhood indoctrination into heavy metal thanks to the Judas Priest album Screaming for Vengeance. Faced with a choice of listening to a Flock of Seagulls record or Judas Priest, he opted for Priest. After hearing the intro track “The Hellion/Electric Eye”, he was never the same …

A personal highlight for me was the bit that had Breuer doing impressions of James Hetfield, Ozzy & Sharon Osbourne, Brian Johnson, and Angus Young in the merchandise returns line in the department store Sears. He really nailed the accents especially Sharon’s & Ozzy’s. The other highlight for me was “The Wizard” bit. It was about Breuer as a teenager hanging out before a concert in the parking lot of Nassau Coliseum (Long Island) with his friends high on mescaline for the first time. “Whatever you do (the wizard tells him) … Don’t step in the darkness!” Hilarious!!!

To close the show, everyone took the stage for a roaring cover of Twisted Sister’s “We’re not gonna take it” with the comedians handling backup vocals. Twisted Sister was the first band that got me into hard rock and metal when I was a wee lad of 11 years old. It’s been over 20 years for me now and I can also say, I haven’t been the same since …

Everyone involved with the show has a love for this type of music and they really wear that passion on their sleeves. Hard rock & metal usually doesn’t get much respect so it‘s great to have an event where everyone involved is first and for most a fan of the music & they show that affection proudly.

By the way, one more thing about Eddie Trunk. I listen to his weekly Friday night show on NYC’s Q104.3 religiously. He’s one of the last radio DJ’s who still has full artistic control over what he plays on his show and it’s a godsend for any fan of rock music today in this era of radio station consolidation and preprogrammed musical filler. He is a true fan of the music and it shows. Get out & support people like him.

Check out www.eddietrunk.com for more info about listening to his show on the radio or through the internet.

See you on the road,

Erik

eremec@yahoo.com

© 2007 Erik Remec

New: On the pod

New: On the pod

8mm – Songs to Love and Die By
The Beatles – Love
Brian Kahanek – Real Live
Buckethead – Cuckoo Clocks of Hell
Buckethead – Enter the Chicken
Buckethead – Island of Lost Minds
Buckethead – Population Override
Carbon Leaf – Love, Loss, Hope, Repeat
Corinne Bailey Ray – Corinne Bailey Ray
Danzig – Danzig
Georgia Satellites – Georgia Satellites
Guy Clark – Workbench Songs
Gwen Stefani – The Sweet Escape
The Hold Steady – Boys & Girls in America
Holly Brook – Like Blood, Like Honey
Jenny Lewis & the Watson Twins – Rabbit Fur Coat
Loreena McKennitt – An Ancient Muse
Lynyrd Skynyrd – All Time Greatest Hits
Patty Smyth – Never Enough
Whitesnake – Live…In the Shadow of the Blues
Wolfmother – Wolfmother
Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Show Your Bones


News: On the pod

So…it’s been a while. I swear December 2006 was the worst month for new music I have ever seen. I managed to find some stuff since though, as you can see. Most of it is from earlier in 2006 and some of it is even older than that…can you say Danzig?



Four of my New: On the pod artists are a direct link to my coolest Christmas present from this year (or last year now I guess). My wife gave me Guitar Hero II and I haven’t seen her since December 25th. What an awesome game that is…I suck at it mind you, but it’s an awesome game. Anyway, that’s why Brian Kahanek, Buckethead, Danzig and Wolfmother are New: On the pod.

Kahanek’s Gemini is one of the bonus songs you can add to your set list in Guitar Hero II and it’s really cool. A sweet little southern/bluesy intro followed by some rippin’ guitar parts make Gemini fun to play and listen to.



The above video is of Matt Kegermann rockin’ the crap out of Buckethead’s Jordan, another bonus song you can add to your set list. There are four difficulty levels in Guitar Hero II; easy, medium, hard and expert and depending on your performance you can get anywhere between 1 and 5 stars. I was only able to manage 4 stars on medium. 5 stars on expert…Kegermann is sick.

Glenn Danzig and Mother…bad ass tune from a creepy guy.

Wolfmother’s track Woman accompanies Danzig in Guitar Hero II’s Opening Licks section and is, like mother, another bad ass tune. It reminds me a lot of early Aerosmith among others and is a blast to play.

I guess you could call that a glowing thumbs up review for Guitar Hero II. It’s totally worth the cost of the game and the controller. There are other wireless guitar controllers you can buy too, including a red metal flake Flying V and there are even pre-made graphics you can pick up so you can customize your stock SG controller…mine now has Eddie Van Halen like stripes.

God, I’m such a geek.


In Other News:

On the finding new music front, Hear Music on XM is really turning me on to a lot of new people I wouldn’t normally hear. Carbon Leaf, Corinne Bailey Ray and Holly Brook are all finds from that station along with AM from my last review. If you have XM, give it a shot.

Speaking of XM, I also picked up Guy Clark’s Workbench Songs after hearing him on the Bob Edwards Show. It was a very cool interview and the songs that were featured were outstanding, so I’m looking forward to giving that a listen.

As I’ve already admitted to being a geek once, there are no new Audiobooks to report on because I’m still working my way through the Star Wars New Jedi Order books I made using Text-To-Speech and a bunch of EBooks. I just finished #12 plus three short stories, so I only have seven left with one short story and I’m done. It’s actually an interesting idea if you can get past the Star Wars aspect of it. Somebody had a story idea, outlined it and then managed to get a bunch of different authors to write books in the story arc. It’s interesting to see how the vision of what goes on, in what is essentially the same story, changes based on who’s writing at the time. I know...still a geek.

On a side note, if you happen to still rent movies at a store and know what Redbox is, check out www.insideredbox.com. Trust me, it’s worth the visit.

There’s not too much more to tell this time around other than On the pod.net might have a couple of weeks of inactivity starting at the end of January. There’s some stuff I need to take care of that may or may not keep me away from a computer for a few weeks…we’ll see.

Have a great 2007 and, as usual, keep listening!

Joe from On the pod.net