my dumb fun thing in the hour and a half of traffic I sit in every day has been Dungeon Crawler Carl.

Norm Macdonald’s “autobiography”

I finished Confessions by Rob Halford while road-tripping last month. What a lovely man. Much of it deals with being closeted, and what a dark place the closet can be. He’s self-deprecating, humble, and lovable. It made me appreciate Judas Priest even more.

Just finished Brothers by Alex Van Halen. Ruminative and brooding. It’s mostly about his relationship with Eddie, from their youth in the Netherlands to when DLR leaves the band. The death of his brother clearly left a gaping hole in his heart.

Dave N. wrote: Tue Oct 01, 2024 6:36 pm Into the Void by Geezer Butler is fantastic. Funny, self-deprecating, down-to-earth. He’s a charming fellow.

Just finished this while biking to work. Man, that was great.

Those dudes are not quite psychotic, but jesus christ, coulda used some therapy. His Aston Villa F.C. fandom was weirdly heartening!

If you told me to name every lineup of Sabbath or face execution I'd have to get my affairs in order. Genuinely confusing.

I’m sure plenty of y’all are already doing this, but if anyone else is late to the non-resident library card party like me, here’s the deal.

If your local library’s selection stinks, there are several libraries that offer paid annual cards that are cheaper than a monthly Audible subscription. There are plenty of Reddit threads with folks discussing the best libraries for this, but popular locations include the Los Angeles city library, New Orleans Library, Queens Library, Broward county library, and others.

Some kind soul has made a search for the Libby platform where you can select multiple library catalogs to search, and see which location has the best selection for your needs.

https://libbysearch.com/

From there, you can apply for a card, add it to your Libby profile, and go nuts. I really wish I had known this years ago, but better late than never.

Just finished A Fabulous Disaster by Gary Holt. I always wondered why Exodus never found their way into the thrash big leagues. The answer can be summed up in one word. Meth. Those guys made one bad decision after the next. Constant line-up changes. Partying their money away. Things got better once Holt kicked his meth habit and joined Slayer. You’ve got to hand it to that guy…he takes a lickin’ and keeps on tickin’.

I’m really drawn to these metal dude memoirs. So far, I’ve listened to Geezer Butler, Bruce Dickinson, Alex Van Halen, Rob Halford, and Gary Holt. Who next?

Listening to Corporate Rock Sucks by Jim Ruland. It’s a history of SST Records. Makes me glad I didn’t get picked when I tried out for Black Flag earlier in the year.