Weddings, Road Trips, and WrestleMania

Talk about a busy month...

April 1 brought about a day that every wrestling fan in the world looks forward to.  And that day is WrestleMania.  Football has the Super Bowl, hockey has the Stanley Cup, the winner of the Masters gets an ugly jacket, but for professional wrestling, WrestleMania is the place to go.  This year was one of the best I've seen in years.  I was disappointed with the event's opening match this year, as one of my favorite wrestlers, Daniel Bryan lost the World Heavyweight Championship to Sheamus in just eighteen seconds.  I feel that both men are excellent athletes and had they been given about fifteen minutes or more, there was potential there to steal the show right from the get-go.  But THE match that I was looking forward to, and no it wasn't John Cena v The Rock.  Hell in a Cell...Triple H...Undertaker.  Easily the match of the year already.  I was standing the whole time, wrought with every emotion a fan can muster in one match.  See the three main events this year each had something going for it.  Cena v Rock had the "big fight" feel to it.  CM Punk v Chris Jericho for the WWE Championship had two great wrestlers putting on a clinic for over 20 minutes.  Hell in a Cell...for me?  Had one big thing going for it.  Pure, raw, emotion.  Not since Chris Benoit winning the World Title in 2004 was I so emotionally invested in a match in my 20-plus years as a wrestling fan.  And all in all, this year's WrestleMania made me proud to be a wrestling fan.

A few weeks later, Heather, her mother, her mother's best friend Susie, and I went up to Bluffton, South Carolina to see her brother get married.  After countless incometant trogoliditic morons causing accident after pain-in-the-ass accident, making a six hour road trip into a to10-plus hour hell ride, we made it in one piece.  With one wedding down and another to go (mine), the next fourteen months are sure to be exciting, chaotic, and a long road to the happiest day of my life (TAKE TWO!).  I'm hoping to bring in as many friends and family as possible, and I'm ready ot get this one right.  Our wedding's gonna be in Ohio, my homestate, my hometown, and knowing me, I'll be screaming "YES!  YES!  YES" Daniel Bryan style all the way out of the church after kissing my bride.  I wanna make it perfect, I wanna make it right, but at the same time, I wanna add in a little bit of humor into the festivities.  I mean, come ON, this is me we're talking about, right?  lol

2nd Chance CD of the WeekIron Maiden
From Fear to Eternity:  The Best of 1990 - 2010 (2010)

Tracklist
The Wicker Man
Holy Smoke
El Dorado
Paschendale
Different World
Man on the Edge
The Reincarnation of Benjamen Breeg
Blood Brothers
Rainmaker
Sign of the Cross
Brave New World
Fear of the Dark

Be Quick or Be Dead
Tailgunner
No More Lies
Coming Home
The Clansman
For the Greater Good of God
These Colours Don't Run
Bring Your Daughter...to the Slaughter
Afraid to Shoot Strangers
Dance of Death
When the Wild Wind Blows

     Ah, yes, Volume 2 of the Best of Iron Maiden.  And to be honest with you, this is the era of the band that I gravitate more towards.  It was during this era that Maiden started leaning more towards progressive metal tendencies, and I've been a sucker for that sorta thing over the years.  I like that more epic feeling sound, and I have for a very long time.  This double CD set covers material from their 1990 album No Prayer for the Dying up until 2010's The Final Frontier.  Side note, Final Frontier?  Awesome friggin' album.  But I digress.  Continuing on...the opening song, "Be Quick or Be Dead" kicks you squarely in the knickers, and every song after that, spanning both discs, continues to do the same.  As with Somewhere Back in Time, this album adds in a couple of live versions of some of their songs, including "Fear of the Dark," "The Clansman," and "Man on the Edge."  The latter of the two were from the short era that lead singer Bruce Dickinson left the band and he was replaced by Wolfsbane vocalist Blaze Bayley.  I've heard the original versions of these songs sung by Bayley, and trust me, BROTHERS, I was not impressed in the least.  But these live versions were recorded after Dickinson returned to the band.  And Bruce KILLS "Man on the Edge," "The Clansman," and "Sign of the Cross" like it's nobody's business.  I, for one was impressed.  Now, in my previous blog, I said that "Aces High" was my favorite Iron Maiden song from the 1980's.  But THIS?  From Fear to Eternity included my favorite Iron Maiden song of ALL TIME!  So much in fact, that just by that song alone, I wanna fine the album it came from.  What is it?  Take a listen...

Taken from the band's comeback album of the same name, this song is wrought with that epic, emotional feel I wish I was able to muster.  Trust me, if I had the vocal range to belt this baby out, I would do it at every karaoke bar I encounter from now on.  Singing well is one thing, but adding emotion to it?  That's a whole different ballgame.  That's something I have not perfected yet.  And I hope I get to one day.  But anyway, track down Somewhere Back in Time  AND From Fear to Eternity.  I promise, you will NOT be disappointed.

YES!

Miller