Contact us
Back to All Posts

Will she be Bridezilla? Possibly. But for luck even worse than a wedding gone amok, go ask Iron Maiden, and their hero/villain the Ancient Mariner, about that bitchy albatross

This was a meeting of marriage, Maiden and Mariner:
Is it just a coincidence that at a time I was finally, and a bit obsessively as far as time, getting into streaming the cautionary-tale-tune told in a wedding setting in Iron Maiden’s anthem Rime of the Ancient Mariner, that the latest woman became by marriage a princess in England’s royalty.
If you think wedding days can go very badly, check out the horrific plight of the mariner after he is cursed to ride the seas forever when killing an albatross. (Maybe this type of thing is why they are now extinct). The 13-minute song starts with him as a wedding guest and offering to regale his tale to the bride, then taking ten-minutes-or-so to go through it, the redemption of which leaves all at the wedding sadder but wiser. The song is vintage Maiden, taking a lengthy classic poem from about 300 years ago and rewriting it in shorter form.
This at a time when there are all things Maiden going on locally. To wit:
— A semi-trailer truck has been periodically parked and taking up four spaces in front of the Wells Fargo Bank, and the side of it gives a pitch for a Twin Cities restoration company along with art that suggest the huge stage backdrop of many a Maiden concert, conceived from the tombs of ancient civilizations such as those of the Egyptians and very recently, the Mayans.
— In a video for the Mariner number, there was rare footage of the drum kit taken from the arena ceiling, and even showing the foot pedals being played simultaneously. I’ve always thought one way to gauge the aptitude of a drummer is the size of his drum kit, and this one was just as large as the living rooms of their just-turning adult fans.
— I have first noticed that the longest tenured guitarist for the band, if you make him a bit younger and thinner, might as well be local rock guitarist Bob Schillinger. And another resemblance starts with the hero-villain in one of the videos for Hallowed be Thy Name by Maiden; there is an occasional patron at Dick’s who has much the same look, right down to the furrowed bridge of his nose. Dick’s, of course, is the venue where Bob and the boys for years hosted their open mic night. And then there was the guy from the other night who looks just like the Maiden drummer, (also slightly balding, like the guitarist).
— Also in Dick’s, this time tucked away in the back of the dining area, is an actual Iron Maiden, which is an interesting choice since you would think it might take away your appetite. This one has a poor, tortured soul, (from their latest CD Book of Souls?), trapped inside, and you know its from centuries ago because the guy is only five feet tall, a typical height in those days where you didn’t have to worry just about evil overlords, also the bad nutrition and lack of food that stunted your growth and took away inches of your height.
— But this is now, and one-man-bander Jeff Loven was just wearing one of his favorite Maiden T-shirts, promoting the 1981 album Killers. And how many royal weddings have there been since that time?

Share the Post:

Related Posts

  • Oops, I did it again! I yes slipped up, as did Facebook, on teasing my last couple of posts. So read well past the two headline(s), down below, to get the whole football picture and put it on your grid, Facebook aside …
Thou protesteth too much?!? That be me. Computer geek? Can’t see. Omniscient? I am not He. If you are reading my attempted Facebook teaser, it was supposed to be All About The Football, or even futbal, in freeze frame or infinite loop, but that Alleged Giant, of social media, clipped off the wording top and bottom, front and back, fore and aft, day and night, (that last part is important), then sent the post anyway, a yammering of names! I tried to fix it, and must own up to my own part, but I was just shown more ads. I...
Read More
  • I hope these jokes fly well, by the zillions like the Brazilian goal keeper, and a stand-up comedian at night, I met downtown, who gave me her birdie! To keep. not a bogey. THat’s Seriously folks, not over par. But on par. I deed, I deed. Wait, that was Bugs Bunny, I think. But the birdies, and their owners and much more football and its related names, were plentiful during the Loony Tunes full and harvest moon, as just experienced in Hudson, as they were jumping from the rooftops after climbing up!
But seriously, folks … There is a moral to the story, if you read to the very end. Last weekend, we combined a full moon, along with the day and evening entering into it, with a harvest moon and its day-into-night when the applicable seasons change. If you go out on the town, the Hudson downtown, you go less than a block before you see it’s different, and skewed in a crazed direction, even more on Friday — and others reinforced this — the night before the full moon, when the seconds ticked away into Saturday. Bar workers will tell you...
Read More
  • Fall has it all, only starting with football. So this ref’s unofficial call, have a ball with it all, across the width of the valley. Because as you trek east or west, the two teams you’ll encounter are perhaps the gridiron’s biggest rivalry. (Some would take issue with me.) Prepped nationally well in advance. ESPN just for starters. In the long haul, the Vikes smacked the Pack, whose attack is not yet back, as word play scores better. And to paraphrase Motorhead, ‘don’t forget about Alary’s.’
The autumn season, just started officially, is now far enough along to bring the pro football season to an (extra) point where a team as of this weekend could have, conceivably, faced all the other rivals in their division. Depending on which one we’re in. If the division consists of five (teams), they’re still possibly alive, although Black and Blue. So I continue my nightlife writing anew, even though my favorite NFL team was not showing up as faithfully. So, maybe for now just amble over to the apple orchard and pick some (forbidden) fruit … Or: In our case, up in...
Read More
  • Had enough of the 9/11 hubbub? Making holy those who fell, quite literally, in the horror? (Not to disparage anyone’s loss.) Want some music instead? Tom Morello is offering a star-studded ‘day of peace, love, justice and music,’ in early October. Guess an Ozzy show wasn’t enough. And now there’s yet another side project …
Listen to your rock stars, not your politicians. And not those at wholesome or not, rally-around-the-flag hometown fests. Or seen on the city streets and federal freeways when Old Glory is shown in all its glory everywhere. And I walk and talk, and bawk and squawk, gingerly among them all. This as 9/11 is still all the rage, and at times being used not for glorifying the many fallen, but for gain, mostly political, whether in online forums or the hallowed halls of government, or by those who will take the opp to make a racial or culturally based point....
Read More
  • I went to the fair, thinking it would be another ho hum affair. But there she was, I knew her, an area artist, now painted as the fairest of the fair. But I do declare, if only the rest of the Fox fair, was of the same caliber of affair. But going rarin’ for bear, there will be another opp come October, but well before Halloween is the scene.
Being a Wisconsinite, west side, I’ve seen a few people I know pop up at the Minnesota State Fair, now and then and again, but not like this time, with a pop-up-stand artist at a talk show.I was with a friend and we sat down in the bleachers, and a guest was brought up that turned out to be — someone who I knew from back in Hudson, an artist with a co-op gallery she owned set up in the middle of the downtown a few years ago. When I had moved to that part of town, I crossed paths...
Read More
  • ‘Urban Table’ reopens after five months, minus the olive and vine name, but keeping the same old ambiance. It adds a coffee and wine bar, $3 premium drinks prepared under the eye of a barista and the advanced eatery knowledge that comes from the new owner, Ben Jung, a face you’ll recognize from nearby Hudco To Go, who says music is on the way, too, back to this staple Hudson venue.
They’ve added a coffee bar, so you can have a foray of seating for four on stools in front of it, a wine bar and a petite table for two directly in front of the southwest window, and plenty of inexpensive drinks, but other than that The Urban Table as it is known is much like the former Urban Olive and Vine before it. The man who is the brains behind Hudco To Go has brought those $3 premium drinks and more to the restaurant that is kitty-corner to the, again, southwest when you take Locust Street and venture onto...
Read More
Scroll to Top