Judas Priest - Testament Concert last night

It was one hell of a show last night, my first in SOF Memorial Centre (That's Save on Foods, not Soldier of Fortune) here in Victoria. The stadium at first glance is a bit small, compared to some of the places I have been, but then considering the local population the size is understandable, but there does not seem to be a bad seat in the place (remind me to tell you about the New Stadium in Warsaw. Poland!). The turn-out for Testament was pretty small, maybe about a quarter of those who showed up for Halford and Priest. Testament was raw and intense, only sad thing was they seemed to have an issue with Chuck Billy's Mic as a lot of his vocals were muted or distorted. Skolnick and Peterson's guitar's were blazing, and powerful, really got he crowd pulled into the rhythm. Think they only played for about 45 minutes but was great for getting everyone's blood racing for the main act.

Then the stage was set up for Judas Priest with two pillars and the drums on the centre 1/4 pillar. Halford Appeared on the Left hand upper pillar, geared out as Nostradamus himself, creeping green laser lights searched him out as they started the show off with Dawn of Creation/Prophecy from the new Album (if you have not heard it or bought it, ya gotta, Wicked Priest reminiscent of the 90's power hits). They played a couple of other songs off the new album, will not share the spoilers, but was great to see so many of the classics thrown in. Think it was about 23 songs total... He did not talk much to the crowd, not his style, but got everyone stoked. I awoke this morning still mumbling the words to some of my favorites. It was a great show, so glad I went. Many cool metal heads all there for the same reason, to enjoy some Kick @ss Metal, get all that frustration out of their systems, and gather the clan. Hope to see many other Metal acts come to town, heck of a lot easier than me heading to the mainland for them. Although I see Amon Amarth (some of the best Viking Metal around today) is coming to the Croatian Cultural Centre in East Van in October... hmmmm.....All I can say is I am hungry for the next one!! http://www.scraperecords.com/tickets.php

The Bears are coming to Seattle to play the Seahawks in August. Being a big Bears fan (for a long time through tough times and sweet times) and never seeing a NFL game live, I am considering nipping down for the game. Well me and my Bears Jersey, hope they don't turn me back at the border. Was thinking of riding the KLR on the Ferry from Sidney to Washington State. Gotta check with a buddy on the Mainland see if he is into meeting me down there for a football weekend, ya know, Football, Beer, Food.. all good. Just be next best thing to being at Soldier's Field watching them, (some day :-) ).

Off the Rock (not off my rock) this weekend helping some family to move, and an opportunity to get together with some friends. Looks like a cool weekend not a hot one, should be ok for moving. Damn ferries going up again too, we get no break over here part of the the highway system we subsidize but pay over and over again for, I digress... sorry. It is great to be able to help out the family though, many times they are there for me and if I was somewhere else maybe not so easy to chip in. Always nice to give back to those who have given you so much too. Hey plus it is more time on two-wheels.. any time on the KLR is good, even the winter when its wet and cold... BAAAAAA TWO WHEELS GOOD - FOUR WHEELS BAAAAAAAD! Apologies to Mr Orwell.

Speaking of the KLR, been focusing a lot on some farkles including Wiring Improvements, Switched Fuse block, two Lighter Plugs, toggle switch for H-Vest plug, Thermobob, SS lines, 340MM Front Disk, GPS RAM Mount, etc.. plus have SS Skid Plate, Aggressive Foot Pegs, non-tamper Oil Plug on it's way. I think I should start building a separate page for the KLR, start celebrating it. ;-)

Coming up on nearly two months without Andre, still missing him and hoping he will be there then the reality sinks in. Much more retrospective though, as time goes on, just remembering little things in our time together, things I have not thought of for a long time, and looking at them with much more happiness than I could have imagined a few weeks ago. It was really a great 12+ years together, with so many positive memories. Going to get a Thomas Lipton (on the advice of my Mother In Law) rose and build a little memorial garden out front for myself, and spread some of his ashes there. Maybe some brick work as well since I still have some surplus from the Wood Stove install. Should be nice. Somewhere to hang out with his spirit.

EOF - LC

Andre has passed on....

My Dog, best friend, constant companion, source of constant happiness, cheerful greeter, shadow, fellow hiker and camper.

Andre was born in September 1995, and came into our lives in December of that same year. Both the wife (girlfriend at that time) and I were not able to sleep for the first three days he was in our lives. We think looking back he was a lot younger than he was advertised as, he was really out of sorts with us, crying, and upset, sick and missing his mother. We tried many supposed cures, ticking clock, medicinal cures to get him to sleep, finally we ended up taking travel tabs ourselves, in shifts just to get some rest. His name came from the movie at the time called "Andre" about a seal and the girl and Family who adopts him, as our Andre was Black head to tail except the tip of his tail was white, the name stuck. From Andre the seal to Andre the Gentle Giant. As he grew and adapted to us, he went through his puppy stage, I remember one time, where I came to the girlfriend's house, and Andre had gotten into the potting soil on the deck, he had brought it into the house and shaken it every where inside the living room. Guess he wanted to bring the outside in? ;-) . I took the G.F. for a few drinks before I let her see what he had done. He got into a lot of trouble as a pup, I think most of them with any character and spirit do. As he grew he became my shadow, and companion. We used to go for 8 - 10 hour hikes together, he loved roaming the wilderness as much as I did, always wanting to see what was over the next hill, never tiring. This was the way it was to be for his entire life, as we moved around from the Lower Mainland to Nanaimo, then to Terrace (where I found out how mush he disliked bears - our first few days there we had a black bear come into the backyard and before I could stop him, Andre was on the chase. Right down the bank, he was gone for half an hour or so, thought he was gone for good, but he returned soaking wet (must have gotten down to the creek in the ravine), Then moving to Coquitlam and to our present location here in Victoria. We spent much time in Terrace hiking alone, and camping. The night of a planetary alignment in the Sky, him and I (and the others) were camping on Kalum Lake opposite Ackerman's point, another time after we had moved back to Coquitlam he and I had headed out to a campsite south of Hope near the Skadgit River to catch the Pernod meteor Shower, it was so cold his water froze in the dish in a very short period, the shower did not start until 3AM, when I got up in the camper to go out and watch the show, he refused to get up out of his nice warm bed, smart guy as I was frozen in a few minutes...Only touching on a few of the many Special memories I will always have of him.

Unfortunately his quality of life diminished over the past year with his year's of constant use of Prednesone (required to prevent the swelling in the scar tissue of his lungs (scars from a parasite that damaged them in 97 or 98), finally breaking down and causing near-crippling arthritis, our last camping trip together a few weeks ago to Lake Cowichan proved to me that it was time. He could not even explore the campsite, walk to the water (a mere 30 feet away), and when we decided to walk the campground we needed to tie him up and leave him behind for our short walk, he was quite upset but did not understand that he would just not be able to make the walk with us anymore. He was euthanized last night at 16:40 and passed at 17:00.

Will miss you buddy!!! Already do, as you would normally be sitting here beside me as I type.


Andre (1995 - 2008) Rest now my Friend.


EOF - LC

Hoover Dam Statue