If you talked to me three days ago I wouldn't have even been able to tell you this show was happening here in Buffalo (check that, Darien Center) tonight.  I then fielded a phone call from a friend who won two tickets to the show on 103.3 The Edge (yes, people do actually win things on radio contests).  Now I sit here this morning, still in disbelief, that I am going to see Slayer this evening.

That is fucking ridiculous.

I had reserved myself to the belief that I was just never going to see Slayer.  I am a casual fan that happens to have a very strong personal connection with one of their songs... from what I can remember my editor telling me I can and cannot talk about via this blog I would say that I am most definitely not allowed to get into that story on a public forum such as this... so I'll leave you to wonder.  That wasn't enough for me to ever pay to go to a Slayer show... plus they usually were playing with bands I didn't really care for at all.

Well none of that matters because I will be trekking to Darien Lake Performing Arts Center for the third time in as many weeks to Reign in Blood this evening.

I'm also pumped to see Motörhead.  They are another band that I am a casual fan of but, regardless of what I (or anyone else) think about them, you can't deny how influential Motörhead has been for heavy music.  On a personal level, Lemmy has been influential on my facial hair choices... what started as a Halloween costume ended up being a life choice for about 5 months and something I break out from time to time to this day.

As far as Anthrax goes... I know they covered "Phantom Lord" by Metallica.  I also know that Scott Ian has a ridiculous goatee... and chances are that you will see him if you turn on ANY television program that interviews rock musicians.

I'm not going to pretend to know a goddamn thing about Slipknot.  I know they have quite a large following.  I think I heard one of their songs once due to it being in the soundtrack for the original Resident Evil movie.  They were a little after my time... maybe they weren't... whatever... they wear masks (in case you were unaware).  They are the last band to go on tonight, I will probably give them 3-4 songs to impress me, otherwise I'm beating the traffic.

Holy shit, I'm going to see Slayer tonight... my neck is going to hurt tomorrow.