BurntOfferings666

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Well, as you can see, I've changed my profile. I feel that I have reached as far as I can go for now with assisting indie and unsigned metal bands, however, I will continue to support all the bands that I have made contact with, and wish to deeply and sincerely thank the following people, all of whom I have had the immense pleasure of getting to know and forging friendships with over the last 2 years that this site was dedicated to helping metal up and comers:
1. Lance King - dude you're the man! I hope we meet in person in the near future;
2. Lou St Paul - Lou I love you like a brother, all the best to you in your quest to get the name WINTERS BANE out there, which I'm sure you will in 2007!!
3. Joe Di Taranto & Adam Raymer (Warmachine) - I cant even explain the bond that we formed that night when we hooked up, it was kind of magical. Thanks to Joe for doing that interview with me.
4. Per Johansson - Per, you've definitely had an impact on me as a person - you've shown me that no matter how much the odds are against you, you can always overcome them.
5. Iced Earth - the most influential and kick ass band I've ever had the pleasure of seeing live and hanging out with, you guys have molded me into what I am today - a riff blasting, fret shredding guitar player and metal head with a passion for melody in vocals and music, musical aggression, thrash and thought invoking lyrics. I owe you guys more than you can imagine!
6. Shatter Messiah - all you crazy fuckers have made me laugh and cry - Wags, keep it up bro, looking forward to the new Hate album in 2007.
This list can go on and on, so if you were one of the bands that sent me albums, photos, bios, onesheets, posters, interviews, let me just say thank YOU! Because without YOU none of what I've done over the past 24 months has been possible. And lastly, I just want to give a big shout out to all my friends in Scandinavia - Beyond Twilight, Pyramaze, Fate, Ureas, Evergrey, Children of Bodom, Manticora and anyone else I forgot, I especially love all of you for making the music I love the most and for your friendship.
Ok, now that thats over with! You want to know about me eh? Thats why you are reading this right? Right? Hahaha, well, I'm really a guy of experience, you name it, I've probably done it or plan on doing it.
I've served in the Military, graduated from two colleges, currently working on a degree in Culinary Arts (for any METAL bands looking for a private chef to take on tour with them, please contact me), after I get my degree, I'll be working on my Masters. I've spent a lifetime studying and teaching the martial art of Judo, I love combat sports, especially UFC. A lot of people these days claim to be UFC "fans", but in all honesty, how many of them have been watching UFC since the very beginning?? Man, I still remember Ken Shamrock choking out Dan "The Beast" Severn in the 5th round of UFC 6's Superfight. I actually have that PPV on VHS lol.
As you can tell from what I had written above, I have a tremendous passion for music, particularly, METAL. I eat, sleep and breathe metal. Ever since I can remember, metal has been my drug of choice, my way of relaxing, venting anger, frustration and just plain old, getting stuff off my chest. A TON of people just don't get what it is with me and my music, but I can say this, my heart beats to this music, this music courses through my veins, its always playing in my mind, it's my drive, determination and motivation. It makes me take that extra couple steps when I'm totally out of energy and no longer care. There is nothing in the world like waking up early in the morning, getting up and putting on Iced Earth's Alive in Athens, Evergrey's Solitude*Dominance*Tragedy, anything with Lance King, and just cranking the volume (except waking up next to a beautiful woman...)
Getting back to my career, I've gone through the military, I've gone through to be a cop, and then decided that my love of food was more than my love of playing with guns, and arresting the bad guys, so I've attended the best culinary school in the country to get my Certified Chef de Cuisine. I need to point out that, unlike the vast, vast majority of students who were in my classes, I have worked in the culinary industry before I started going there. I had approximately 10 years of professional cooking experience, managing kitchens, supervising staff, catering, all before I attended the Culinary Institute. The only reason I went was to get my papers, since I had gone as far as I could without taking that next step, and reaching the next plateau. My main love is Italian cuisine, and I have extensive experience in Italian/American cuisine, but I dying to get to Italy and learn the ways of the "old-world", the big flavors, rustic looks, and simplicity of the recipes is awe-inspiring.
I'm hoping in the next year or so to go over to Europe, hopefully getting to Italy in the process, but my main goal is to visit Denmark, Finland, and Sweden because of the friends that I have there, and the connection I have to their culture, musically and otherwise. I'd love to visit Hungary, the birth place of my mother, and her parents and her grandparents and so on, going back all the way to when Attila the Hun and his barbarians conquered much of central Europe and Asia circa the Roman Empire 406-453 AD.
History is another thing that I have an undying love for, especially military history, Egyptian history, evolutionary history. I love watching documentaries on World War 1 and World War 2 (particularly because I served on a ship that participated in WW2), the discovery of new tombs in Egypt's Valley of the Kings and anything about dinosaurs and their extinction and the evolution of mankind. But above all, and only recently, have I really become interested in the American Civil War of the 1860's. I've visited Gettysburg, PA, the home to the most famous battle of the Civil War, which took place over miles of farmland and treacherous terrain on July 1, 2 and 3 1863, and caused what many experts consider to be the turning point in the war. I've often contemplated opening a small restaurant in the small town of Gettysburg, another ideal place that I'd love to live and work in. Spending only a month there was not enough time;)
Here is a picture of the ship I served on for a while:
Here are some pictures from my trip in 2005:
A picture of the peach orchard where hundreds of men died in a few short hours of fighting to claim this small piece of land as their own.
This is one of the still working 12 lbs Howitzer cannons on the battlefields of Gettysburg. This one is located at the Eternal Peace Light Memorial.
This is a picture of the creek named Plum Run. During the intense fighting in the area known as the Devil's Den, this creek earned the name Blood Run, as it ran red with the blood of all the slain soldiers.
I took this picture looking up at part of Devil's Den known as the Sniper Nest. Sharpshooters from both the Union and Confederate Armies took refuge in this rocky area, and it gave them perfect cover from oncoming enemy fire, making it the perfect snipers nest.
This is one of my favorite pictures. I didn't take it, but I've stood in the exact location this picture was taken from, looking out across the battlefield of July 2nd, 1863.
Relationships...what can I say about them? I've been through it all, good ones, downright horrible ones and ones that had potential and just never worked out for one reason or another. My biggest question is what happened to all the decent girls out there?? All the good ones seem to be with bad guys, and the bad, nasty girls..well they're EVERYWHERE! Where's a good girl when you need one?
I've been playing guitars since I was seven, and have built up quite a collection, amongst them my prized BC Rich Kerry King Metal Master Warlock and Platinum Pro Zombie...I think BC Rich should be paying me for endorsing them! They're the best guitars I have ever played, and I will never go back to Gibson, Jackson, Fender or any others I have played. I do however, want to get a Dean ML Confederate Razorback. I dream about this guitar!
The last thing I'm going to say here is that I love MOVIES! I'm a certified movie junkie, mainly watching horror, thriller, action, fantasy, sci-fi, zombie, war, and comic-book based movies. I have a collection of hundreds of movies. Actually, speaking of movies, yesterday (January 20) I attended the first ever Movie Blog Films 4 Food Fest in Hamilton, Ontario, put on by the guys over at The Movie Blog . It was a awesome day, and I got to indulge in some great conversation with John Campea, Bruxy Cavey and the delightful and equally beautiful Serena Whitney of JoBlow.com's Arrow in the Head, Kurt from TwitchFilm.net, The Jim Walker from the Movie Blog forums who flew in from Washington DC just to be there. It was a great day and I can not wait for the next F4FF.