HEAVY METAL (Favorite band is Judas Priest, have been since I was about 11 years old) Going to Concerts, Photography (especially concert photography) Working on our website, Computer games...some of the games I'm into are World of Warcraft, World in Conflict, Two Worlds, Medieval II Total War, Call of Duty 2, STALKER Shadow of Chernobyl and others. I also like reading, history (Egyptian, Medieval, World War II, American Civil War), traveling, Auto Racing (NASCAR, Indy Cars, Formula 1) spending time with Deb and my Stepson. I also like finding old things...yeah I know, kinda strange. I have a metal detector and go out with it alot, it's good exercise for my back and I have found some pretty cool things including a penny from 1851, a French coin from 1855, quite a few silver coins (US coins before 1965 have silver in them) a couple of gold rings, some silver rings etc. I've also found ALOT of bottles from 1900 - 1920 and a few fossils...
Looking for any friends from the old AOL Metal Chat days...so far I've found a surprising number of them on here! Also anybody with the same basic interests as me, anyone that is into Metal, Photography, History (especially US Civil War) Auto Racing, Computer Gaming, etc...want to know more see my interests section. Basically anyone that isn't a total moron or crazy! (a little crazy is cool though...haha!)I have met many cool/interesting people on here so far and since Deb and I have had our websites (first www.metalfury.com and now www.burningmetal.net) we have met MANY very cool people in the music business! I've had an opportunity to meet two out of my three Metal "idols". First and foremost was Rob Halford, The Metal God! He was VERY cool and seemed like a very classy and fan friendly gentleman. I NEVER thought that I would ever get the chance to meet my favorite vocalist! I also met Kai Hansen of Gamma Ray,Helloween,Iron Savior etc. We had a chance to sit down and do an interview with him for the website at the Gamma Ray concert at BB King Blues club in NYC on May 1, 2006. It was VERY cool talking to him as well as the other members of the band.The one other musician that I would love to meet is Jon Schaffer of Iced Earth. Jon and I have several things in common including our love for US Civil War history and our bad backs. I think we could have a pretty cool conversation.There are others that would be cool to meet and speak with including Bruce Dickenson, Dio, Geddy Lee, Roger Waters...the list goes on and on but so far meeting two out of my top three isn't bad!Deb and I are friends with several musicians including Mike LePond (bassist for Symphony X) Jack Frost (guitarist for Seven Witches, Bronx Casket Company) and "Metal" Mike Chlasciak (Halford/Sebastian Bach/Painmuseum) We also have friends in some local bands including an Iron Maiden tribute (Sanctuary) Xciter (Judas Priest tribute) Smell The Glove (80's Tribute band) original bands Livesay, Imprecari/Paradox, Arctic Flame, Gothic Knights, Etheriality, Horrifier, Magus Beast, Castrofate and Cypher Seer.Working on website things we have also met Ralf Scheepers and Matt Sinner from Primal Fear, Chris Boltendahl from Grave Digger, Doro Pesch, Scott Travis from Judas Priest, all the members of Queensryche, Markus Grosskopf from Helloween, Chris Broderick from Jag Panzer, all the guys from Overkill, all the guys from Brainstorm, Midnight and Ben Jackson of Crimson Glory fame, James Rivera and Dennis Hayes ex Seven Witches, all the members of Stratovarius, Mike Duda of WASP, Nikki, Chris and the rest of Shadowkeep, all the members of Symphony X, Joey Vera (Armored Saint, Anthrax, Seven Witches) all the current members of Seven Witches, Eric Singer from KISS, all of Hammerfall except for Anders Johansson, all of Edguy. David Readman and all of Pink Cream 69, all of Angra and Manticora, Urban Breed (ex Tad Morose) Jani Liimatainen (ex Sonata Arctica) Dee Snider (Twisted Sister) all the members of Sonata Arctica, all of Children of Bodom, all the members of Gamma Ray(!!!) all the members of Obsession, Nick Douglas and Johnny Dee of Doros band, Mark Cross and Henning Basse of Metalium, all of PainmuseuM, everyone in Metal Church, everyone from Blind Guardian...I'm sure there's a few more that I'm forgetting...
Judas Priest, Helloween, Queensryche, Iron Maiden, Iced Earth, Dio, Lizzy Borden, Black Sabbath (I prefer Dio era over Ozzy), Halford, Seven Witches, Abattoir, Angel Dust, Yngwie Malmsteen, Ozzy, WASP, Savatage, Megadeth, Twisted Sister, Sonata Arctica, Symphony X, Helstar, Black Majesty, Rhapsody, Obsession, Overkill, Kreator, Metal Church, Stratovarius, Iron Savior, King Diamond, Hammerfall, Krokus, Metallica (before they became shit) Edguy, Fight, Gamma Ray, Mercyful Fate, Heretic, Primal Fear, Symphorce, Grim Reaper, Doro/Warlock, Freedom Call, Dokken, Crimson Glory, Brainstorm, Avantasia, Axel Rudi Pell, Pink Cream 69, Motorhead, Nuclear Assault, Rainbow, Jag Panzer, Tad Morose, Royal Hunt, Nevermore, Nocturnal Rites, KISS, Blind Guardian, Lost Horizon, UFO, Avian, Rush, Masterplan, Loudness, Warrior, Attacker, Dream Evil, Manowar, Cinderella, RATT, Whitesnake, AC/DC, Grave Digger, Running Wild, Firewind, Def Leppard, Scorpions, Angra, Van Halen, Pink Floyd, many more.....We have friends in PainmuseuM/Sebastian Bach/Halford, Symphony X and Seven Witches
Pauly Shores movies (Son In Law, In The Army Now, Encino Man, etc) Animal House, The Breakfast Club, This is Spinal Tap, The Wall, Vacation, The Shining, Alien, Logans Run, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Phantasm, Gettysburg, Strangeland, Enemy at the Gates, Cast Away, The Craft, Weird Science, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Maximum Overdrive...hmmmm just lots of comedy, horror, history, fantasy, science fiction type movies.
History Channel, Discovery Channel, CNN. Shows like OverHaulin, Mythbusters, Deep Sea Detectives, Digging For The Truth, Survivorman, In Search Of, any shows on the Civil War, ancient Egypt etc...Also watch pretty much any kind of racing - NASCAR, Formula 1, Indy Cars, Motorcycles. Some comedy shows like King of Queens, MASH, Married with Children, SouthPark
History, Science Fiction, Horror and true crime type stuff. I Like reading about Serial Killers (I know, kinda strange..haha!) Also like Stephen Kings books. My fav. book ever is The Stand. Also have read alot of music type books...band biographies and such...
All of the members of the US Military, Cops, Firefighters etc. In a historical sense I consider all the soldiers that fought on both sides during the Civil War "Heroes". As far as military leaders during that time period I would consider Robert E. Lee, Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson and James Longstreet true heroes. While not really a "hero" someone that I look up to and admire in the world of Heavy Metal music is The Metal God himself...Rob Halford!