Suffocation, Behemouth and Cattle Mutilation show on jan 24th. Behemoth was extremely loud and the owner was afraid of the PA blowing (which I've personally seen happen once at this club). They delivered a bone crushing set with robotic precision. they were dead serious Germanic black/death metal. A nice girl traveling with them with long red dreadlocks couldn't believe she could smoke inside or take her drink outside. She said New Orleans might now be her favorite place in America. Suffocation was also very precise but not as loud. Everyone was extremely professional and the audience was surprisingly sedate...no fights, belligerence or moshing at all. Wierd.

My southern hard rock band, Maskeeta finally has a new drummer. His name is John Rincon and he's also the drummer for my Black Flag Tribute band, Rise Above. He's also the awesome guitarists for Overtone.

I recently watched a documentary on IFC called Iran: Veiled Appearances. It was heart warming to see throngs of young muslims chanting "death to the taliban" and "death to terrorism" instead of "death to america". By now anyone with the slightest clue should know that we never went to Iraq to subjugate them or steal their oil. By this weekends election all will see that we've acted as liberators in this effort. Secularist democracy will spread across the middle east because it lends itself to liberal government, which fostters the inate desire of all people to enjoy freedom and liberty. It is only when the mind becomes brainwashed that one forgets their individuallity and becomes a slave to a cult of personality.

What Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi and his ilk fear most is an intelligence agency of a secular, democractic republic of Iraq in the heart of the middle east. Iraqi intel operatives will be far more effective in thwarting radical islamic ops than we could ever hope to be. This weekend's election will have the American liberal detractors AND the terrorists networks walking around with their tail between their legs. As Afghanistan and Iraq go, so to will Iran, Syria and Jordon. Just as Republican policies brought about the collapse of the eastern block (in spite of the Ted Kennedy's and Sam Donaldson's of the world), so to will the Bush Doctrine and one again liberal sympathies will be repudiated by history. How long can liberal democrats hope to live in the mainstream of American politics when they are repeatedly on the wrong side of history? If they keep it up, their next convention will be held in a phone booth.