R.I.P. Mark Reale, June 7th 1955 - January 25th 2012

More sad news in the metal/hard rock world. Mark Reale the founding guitarist of the great band RIOT has passed away. The band's stated through their website at www.riotcity.com yesterday that they are "deeply saddened to confirm that Mark has lost his battle with a lifelong illness" Mark had been Crohn's disease for most of his life and was "working and performing while enduring almost constant pain and the side effects of treatment for his illness" . Mark was only 57 years old.

Mark is seen on the far right in this promo photo

Riot were basically the closest thing to NWOBHM that came out of America. Anyone out there who does not know about Riot, please go out there and find a copy of Fire Down Under. In addition, the albums Narita and Rock City are also under appreciated gems that are more in the rock vein. The album Thundersteel is also a heavy metal classic that deserves a listen and I have noticed that recently this album in particular is getting the respect it deserves in the metal record trading community.

I am saddened not only as a Riot fan, but also because this disease hits close to home, my wife was also diagnosed with this disease last month, though treatment has advanced a bit since Mark was first diagnosed with this disease. 

Here is a killer track off of their first album

From the Attic: 1985 Metallica Promo Logo and 1989 Damaged Justice Japan Tour Promo posters

Here is a strange item, it is a promo logo from 1985 that was hanging in some record stores in between the signing of Metallica to Elektra Records and the release of Master of Puppets. Simple, but very effective, I guess when you have the coolest logo in Metal, you might as well use it. This was part of the advertising campaign that followed Metallica's signing to Elektra records and the rerelease of Ride the Lightning.  Too bad they never followed through with one of the rumoured plans at the time which was to make a video for Escape!  This lovely logo promotional item was given to me by a nice guy I had the pleasure to deal with about 7 years ago. Soon it will go to the framers for the proper treatment. Enjoy.

Even if they would not play the records in the shop, it was pretty clear that when you were confronted by the crushing power of this logo upon visiting the record store, that this band was probably not going to sound like Wham!

Next up are these two beautiful Japanese promo posters which are very nice and feature art from the one and only Pushead. These are easily the nicest Metallica posters out there in my opinion and are quite rare. They are promo posters, but also serve to announce and advertise the Japanese dates of the Damaged Justice tour. I want to thank my friend Terry from Japan who sold and traded me these posters. It is much appreciated. Enjoy.

Mt Fuji!

Spider!

Nitro O.F.R. promo poster

I got this poster from a friend of mine today, and it is pretty sweet swag from the 80's. Back in the day I thought Nitro were pretty fuckin' funny, albeit with a pretty amazing guitar player, whereas my bud thought they were pretty cool and went and saw them live where he got this poster. If anyone is not familiar with Nitro, they basically are most known for taking every stereotype of glam and metal and setting out to push the envelope further. The four dudes in this band had much higher and bigger hair than every other glam band combined! Vocalist Jim Gillette held his screams twice as long as anyone else in metal and at a higher pitch. Guitar player Michael Angelo needed 4 necks on his guitar to perform his face melting solos, not one like all the other posers on the scene. Meanwhile back on earth, Rory Gallagher only needed one neck... maybe we should all ponder on that for a bit.

Their album was called O.F.R. which stood for Out Fucking Rageous and a it is a perfect name for 4 guys who don't understand subtlety in the least. Anyway, despite all the laughter this album brought my friends and I in the late 80's, later in life I took a chance on the LP hoping to get a quick laugh (which I did), but I also realized that these guys can actually play and while their brand of music is not for everyone I must admit I sort of enjoy spinning this record once in awhile, it has become sort of a guilty pleasure, but at this age, there really is no such thing as a guilty pleasure. Sure, their songwriting abilities are a bit weak at times, but it does feature some pretty amazing guitar playing especially in regards to the solos and the record has become sort of an important historical piece. It is not really a glam record as much as it is a glam record with speed metal and traditional heavy metal also prevalent in small doses. However, do not misunderstand me, this is not a great record, rather it is an interesting listen. The record is brilliant at times and at other times it is absolutely terrible, the lyrics in particular are downright embarrassing. Anyway, the poster is great and I do wish I went and saw these guys back in the day because sadly bands like this don't exist anymore!  This is from an era that will never be repeated.  

That guitar is totally OFR dude!!!

From the Attic: Texxas Jam 1988 poster featuring Scorpions, Metallica and others.

This came in the mail today, but it probably came from someone's attic, so the title still applies. Anyway, it is nice poster from 1988 that looks like it is from 1988. There is really not much else to say about this one other than the Dinosaur with the guitar is pretty cool. Oh... and this show is mostly known for the fact Van Halen could not play more than a couple songs due to Sammy Hagar losing his voice. It is not the greatest lineup ever assembled, but the poster features a cool design. Still can't go wrong with Scorpions and it would have been cool to see guitar greats George Lynch, and Eddie Van Halen on one bill.  I have a bootleg of the Metallica set, it is a good performance. but the sound is pretty bad. Anyway, if anyone has some stories they want to share about this show, please feel free to post them in the comments section.

Texxas Jam, Monsters of Rock:

(From the Collection of the Lord of the Poser Holocaust)

From the Attic: 1984 Venom and Metallica Seven Dates of Hell poster

Today I was searching for a Black Sabbath poster to post a pic of, but came up empty handed, but while searching I did come across a very cool piece of metal history. Not to take anything away from my other post today about Tony Iommi, but I occasionally plan to feature something from my collection to share with the world in a series I call "From the Attic" and I have a bit of time today to post it. Hopefully the metal Gods will take this offering to help make Tony Iommi better.

The following poster is one of my favourite items in my collection. Here we have the very rare offset printed black and white poster from the 7 dates of Hell Tour. This poster is of a very high quality and was printed in pretty small batches, it is much higher quality than the more common colour paper ones and really needs to be seen in person to understand. It was apparently hung in the venues and given to band, roadies etcetera. For now this baby is hiding in the attic, but a trip to the framers is planned soon where it will also get a few basic repairs. Remember kids always frame with acid free materials and at least 99% UV protectant glass. Enjoy!

"Live like an angel die like a devil, got a place on the wall reserved for me"

Get well Tony Iommi!

Today I was informed via a friend that Tony Iommi has been diagnosed with cancer. According to his www.Iommi.com, "Tony has been diagnosed with the early stages of lymphoma, his bandmates would like everyone to send positive vibes to the guitarist at this time. Iommi is currently working with his doctors to establish the best treatment plan--the “IRON MAN” of Rock & Roll remains upbeat and determined to make a full and successful recovery."

This is very sad news and believe me I am sending Tony all the positive vibes that I can right now and will continue to do so until he manages to slay this bloody cancer dragon that has already taken down one of metal's finest and bravest warriors, former Black Sabbath vocalist Ronnie James Dio. I am sure Ronnie was able to at least permanently injure the cancer dragon, thus hopefully giving Tony a slight edge towards a speedy recovery.

The fact that this comes as Ozzy, Tony, Geezer and Bill Ward are writing and recording their first album in 33 years makes this news all the more sad, but hopefully after beating the cancer and taking care of his own health first, he will be able to carry out the plans and even tour. However, the important thing is that the mans gets healthy first, everything else is secondary.

Here is a very unprofessional photo I took of Tony and Ozzy via a disposable camera at Ozzfest 1999

Now I am going to go put on some Sabbath and start sending those positive vibes Tony's way. For the record, last time I saw Black Sabbath was at Thunderbird Stadium in Vancouver BC, at Ozzfest on July 16, 1999. I almost did not go to that show due to some personal problems at the time, and as a long time Sabbath fan I was very stressed that I was probably going to miss the reunion with Ozzy, however, a friend stepped up and bought me a ticket. I still owe him for that one as it was a great show and Ozzy was in excellent form. Slayer also played on that bill and Black Sabbath is probably one of the few bands that can successfully follow a Slayer set. In fact, I once left a Judas Priest concert after about 5 songs because my energy was so high after a ferocious Slayer set that I could not handle late 80's Priest after being totally and absolutely Slayerized! I don't think I need to say that of course, I regret that decision now.  Anyway, Black Sabbath are one of the most important bands in the history of rock and roll period, and this is not debatable.

This was also probably the most expensive concert I attended up until that point in 1999. At the time $70.00 to see Sabbath and Slayer seemed like a lot of money, but in hindsight it seems pretty reasonable now, but I still miss paying between 5-25 bucks for a concert.