Nicknames And You!

Something a little different here at Arena Rock….

A few months back Aaron (KMA) said he was intrigued by my use of nicknames for a lot of participants in my blog stories. Funny I never thought of it that way as whoever I come across in life and form a friendship with a nickname is bestowed upon! It may take a while but hell it’s fun and most people are real cool with it…..

One time though,years ago(1989) I met a fellow at work and he told me his name is Ralph and as he was a part time worker i didn’t see him too many times as I was full time. The next time i did see Ralph which was a few weeks later I said ‘hey Sal how’s it going?” He shot back with “My name is Ralph!!” I said “Ok Sal!”  He gave up and next thing you know everyone was calling him Sal! He actually caved and accepted it and the fact that he didn’t punch out my lights ….hey! thanks Sal for not doing that!

Now your wondering why the hell is there a Def Leppard/Pat Travers video posted? Simple check it out this is a live vid of Leppard playing Lady Strange in 1980 a full year before it was released in 1981 on the High N Dry album and man does Leppard ever sound oh so good here(props to the bootlegger who filmed this!) Leppards for you Muc! Pat Travers is real simple, Tbone scored Go For What You Know (on 8 Track)a live album that featured Boom Boom Out Go The Lights and Snortin Whiskey/Drinkin Cocaine! What a great couple of  life lesson songs  for a couple of Thunder Bay boys to get educated on rock as 14 year olds! Ha!

So without further ado! Here a list of my peeps! I will try and keep it simple maybe with a little antidote or something attached by there name so you can all catch a drift of who they are and hopefully no one Sues me! Also of note on the right hand side of my Blog(under categories ) there is Nicknames Of The Century..with all my pals under there so everyone can see there name in lights! Hahahaha…..I will add names as we go so don’t be bummed if I forgot about Ya!

Tbone-I have known for about 40 years! He’s basically been my rock Co Pilot for many a year! He’s been a real good sport and very supportive of this blog especially considering I’ve thrown him under the Tour Bus many a time over his dabblings in Bad English! Hell he even has his own category here at Arena Rock! That’s basically like getting the ticket to the Rock N Roll Hall Of Fame! Hahahaha…..

Darr and Rugg are Tbones younger brothers (not by much). The great thing about  these two fellas as not only are they great guys but when I namedrop certain acts they know what the fuck I’m talking about! 

TODD- is my younger brother! 10 years to be precise! I take great pleasure in that I educated him in all things rock as a young lad! Since I was working full time back in the early 90s and Todd was in Highschool our arrangement was as follows after he got out of school he would zip down on new release Tuesday’s and I would pay for his cassette and my cd copy of new releases by bands like Van Halen/Metallica/ Aerosmith! This was a win win for me as I would get home from work and a copy of For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge would be waiting for me! Life did not get better than this!

ChuckD- is a real good pal of mine from work! He doesn’t talk music to much but sometimes he cracks my ass up when he throws down a lyric like Yngwie J Malmsteems You Don’t Remember I’ll Never Forget You. I know he has the rock in him!

Metal Todd -is another real good pal that I got to know at work! He loves metal and especially Tool! He’s great at conversation and not only does he know all things Metal he loves Movies as well and has the coolest ringtone ever on his iPhone (a UFO landing) Metal Todd is the only person that I  have ever heard name drop Accept at my work! For that a cold Tropper Ale is on tap next time Metal Todd rolls into Tbay! (He currently resides in Bend Oregon and Vancouver B.C) 

Brother Bryce-is a splitting image of Ted Nugent! (Don’t be afraid, Brother Bryce won’t kill Ya!) The dude knows his rock and I think it’s safe to say I amuse him with my rock bullshit! Brother Bryce was the one to tell me to take this one trick pony blog to Facebook as he said he would read it there! For those about to Rock Bryce…I salute Ya!

Oinks-I got to know about close to 25 years ago and we have seen some big ticket shows as well together like Def Lepp,Bryan Adams,Steve Miller,Extreme,drunk Sass Jordan,The Stones and Aerosmith to name a few! Oinks being younger than me got into more of the grunge than myself but he still dug the rock!

Andre- is also a guy i seen some shows with! He basically rolled with Oinks in the day and is a huge Judas Priest fan! Plus for added points he is the main focal point as Masonry Man (Current River Band) song that you can find the 1993 demo of! How many dudes from Tbay can say they have a song written about em? Yah man not many!

Pizza Thief- if ever there was a category to keep someone’s identity for being published it would be Pizza Thief! Pizza Thief holds the all time record in Tbay for the most expensive 1 large 3 topping Pizza ever delivered! The cost was $200 in 1986. The story is Pizza Thief had the late night munchies(ahem) and ordered a Pizza when the delivery guy showed up Pizza Thief had no cash so he jumped the delivery  guy and ran back into the house. No getaway Nuthin …the cops came to the house,knocked and arrested Pizza Thief ! The judge fined him $200! Man I wish I would have kept the press clipping! Still though he was a good guy! Hahahaha…introduced me to the Micheal Schenker Group sonically!                                                                                                      

Muc-holy hell Muc has it been already about 35 years since we took our first hit from the Musical Bong? Yep! Muc always had a ton of records back in the day and he’s the first guy I know that got into Def Leppard before arms fell off,synths were cranked and before there was song about Sugar! Muc too is also I guy I can talk about any band like Krokus(who we seen together live..haha) and he knows what the fuck I’m rambling on about…..                                                                                                                    

ROBBO- is a real cool laid back chill dude! Case in point Robbo was always so quiet and chill in our break room at work during coffee breaks he wouldn’t say a thing! I thought for a while he was a serial killer! Hahaha…but one day in our staff lounge i was  drinking coffee out of my Iron Maiden coffee cup and Robbo perked up and said he listened to Maiden as well! Boom instant rock  friendship was born and he also loves old Motley Crüe. You know the old Crue when Vince wasn’t slobbering and missing lyrics live! He tends to drop down some real good comments now and than check it out!                                                                                                          

METAL QUEEN- a real metal lady! She loves Pantera and Zakk Wlyde and basically loves things Metal! Too bad though she works mostly midnights! She’s a total hoot!

MR METAL- or Obi One Jacoby as I sometimes call him,loves Tool as well and likes the rock but man the dude is always on the go as he has  four young sons! I’m sure in no time they will be cranking right along with Maynard and company. 

Rockstar Supa Paulie- ha this guy loves the rock and also loves that Cohen guy as well! Rockstar is in the truest sense a Rockstar! The dude back in the day had a band in Tbay called wait for it…….Jackal! I have heard from his own trap the legendary tales of songs like Rock N Roll Meltdown!( great title for a memoir if you ever write one Paulie!) Rockstar loves Maiden and all the old school stuff that i dig! He upped and moved with his 25 sled dogs down to Southern Ontario this past December so all you bloggers down there flip him the Dio Horns if you see him sledding around in your neighbourhood!

More to be added…….