marinelli's miscellany

Two things:

1. If you thought the person (known variously as “Randy,” “D. Randall Blythe,” and “D.,” among other monikers) responsible for the Cookie Monster vocals on a series of recordings in a hardcore metal genre couldn’t also have a great deal of serious thoughts in his noggin, you were wrong, as the 7000+word below-linked post indicates. (Also, see Lamb of God play live before you go about your judging.)

2. I still remember the time, ca. 2004, when D. texted me from the LOG tour bus as it rambled through some far-flung part of the country (or emailed, or blog-commented… I forget which) thanking me for some thing - now long-forgotten - I’d written on my then-blogspot-hosted blog - because he was homesick, and needed a bit of RVA-related goodness to carry him through, and he could barely access my site via whatever cell phone he was carrying then. The band was just beginning to “blow up” (as the kids say), but wasn’t yet (to my recollection) a Grammy nominated, gigondo ‘phenomenon,’ - to his friends back home, he was still, for the most part, just Randy - but at that time, he believed in my writing (he, alone, gave me shit if I had no new posts for a long time), and it made a huge difference to me.

3. Okay whatever, make it three things. Whether, in the future, this band continues to “blow up” or slides, somehow, into obscurity, the guys in it (Randy and Mark, especially) will continue to be like brothers to me, and I will never not love them.

randonesia:

Ah, the internet. That fabulous land of free information, free expression, and convenient online bill paying. It’s a tool that has radically changed the lifestyle of anyone residing in an area with a minimal telephone line system. It makes things possible that existed only in the realm of… [full text here.]