We’ve got some excitement for you next week …

Check out 0:44 … very interesting … you don’t even have to spin the record backwards to hear it … LOL, I love the specificity of “red wine,” obviously Bruce Dickinson knows his stuff …

Speaking of which, have I shared this nugget from Wikipedia’s entry on Bruce Dickinson? It goes on about how Dickinson is not only the singer for Iron Maiden, but also a fencing enthusiast and a pilot and all this other stuff, where you’re like, “Damn, this dude is the toughest man of all time,” and then you get this:

“The most recent television programme (Dickinson) has presented was a show on spontaneous human combustion for Sky One called Inside Spontaneous Human Combustion with Bruce Dickinson, in which he investigates the phenomenon of this occurrence by enlisting the help of several experts and performing various experiments to determine its possible cause.”

GAME OVER. Bruce Dickinson WINS. Everyone who is not Bruce Dickinson LOSES.

Things are getting hectic at the wine store … two sales within a minute … you know what they say when I’m working the register: “Gone in sixty seconds — OF WINE.”

Come and get it … “666, the number of the beast.” Merlot for life.

Reader YB chimes in re: my brief mention of the “Somewhere in Time” cover:

your blog post wherein you contemplate the cover of Somewhere In Time is cool, but I think you’re missing out on the fine detail and trivia stuff in that cover — here’s the cover … and here’s the scoop on trivia …

Hmm … looking at the trivia page (“To the right of the clock is a neon sign that reads ‘Ancient Mariner Seafood Restaurant,’ a reference to the song ‘Rime of the Ancient Mariner’ from the Powerslave album”), I just have to wonder … do you think any teenagers ever got stoned on marijuana and spent hours looking at the “Somewhere in Time” album cover? LOL, hmm, I wonder if that ever happened … no, no, it’s just too crazy, that could never happen. What was I thinking with that incredible flight of fancy I just imagined? What teenager in 1986 would ever run home with his brand-new copy of “Somewhere in Time” and then go into his bedroom and put the record on and then roll the fattest joint ever and then open up the album cover and start looking for all the hidden symbols and references? Nobody would ever do that in a million years, because that would definitely not be very fun at all.

In this photograph, I have paired a 1984 Iron Maiden Powerslave ($1.00) with a 2005 Morey-Saint-Denis Burgundy ($84.99).

Come and get a taste if you’re man enough …

Back in the store for a special Thursday edition of “Wine Store Mondays.”

From what I’ve heard, Thursdays are busy for buyers-of-wine-who-come-to-the-store.

It will take all my concentration and focus to serve these customers with the professionalism they have come to expect.

No worries, though … as I always say: “You take my life but I’ll take yours too.”

Let’s do it, people. Let’s buy an insane amount of wine.

Reader AF fully supports my Iron Maiden awakening … the loss of my Iron-Maiden Maidenhead, so to speak:

Just writing to wish you well on your journey to Iron Maiden Superfandom.  I am a recent convert as well.  It is way more metal to get into metal now; starting in 1986 would have been taking the easy way out.  I don’t think they even knew how to use the word “metal” as an adjective back then.

That’s right! I only wish I had been metal enough to hold out until I was 70 … but no, the siren call of the Maiden was to tempting … I couldn’t resist … she called out to me, her breath sweet with the taste of iron … Iron Maiden, I am here now … I am here …

Ten thousand thank-yous to reader TR, who sends along this version of “The Trooper.”

Watch. Learn. Love. Know hope.

Due to an amazing set of circumstances, I’ll be working in the wine store tomorrow afternoon. Yes, that’s right, you people get *TWO* WINE STORE DAYS this week …

God is good … know hope.

I’m gonna get back into performing live. Why? Because I miss sharing my insights and feelings with people.

Two gigs next week! Please tell your friends who live in the appropriate geographical areas!

Thu, 1 October 2009
Variety Shac
UCB Theatre
New York, NY
9:00 PM

Sat, 3 October 2009
Open Space Gallery
Beacon, NY
8:00 PM
NOTE: I will deliver my infamous “Lottery Lecture;” opening act is Sam Anderson! (Reading selections from the Lost Symbol, we hope!) Anyway, this is a HOMETOWN THROWDOWN!!!