The Writer's Poke

Do your music interests change over time? Looking back over the past 20 years, I'd say that mine have, although every group that I've liked in the past I tend to still like today. If I had to pick the top four or five band most important to me, though, here's what the past 20 years of preference looks like. What's yours? 2009 The 69 Eyes H.I.M. Iron Maiden Rammstein 2005 Lacuna Coil Lullacry The 69 Eyes Charon 1998 Megadeth Iron Maiden Scorpions Type O Negative 1993 KISS Megadeth Iron Maiden Scorpions 1988 KISS Winger Warrant Europe

The 69 Eyes may not be the most popular rock band to come out of Finland, but if not, they're right up there. And what does all of that success translate to in terms of mainstream American recognition? Zilch. Of course it's not surprising that commercial radio doesn't play their songs, and granted, their Gothic style and vampire-themed songs have a built-in limited audience appeal. Nevertheless, when I recently attended a concert in Minneapolis promoting their latest album Back in Blood , I was more than a little shocked to see the venue. It was just a hole-in-wall bar in a very generic-looking strip mall. I hadn't ordered advanced tickets, but when I arrived just before show time, maybe 100 people were there for the concert. On the other half of the bar, people watched the World Series and played pool. They didn't seem to know that the Helsinki Vampires had flown all the way to America to play for just us. So, one of the most popular bands from Finland, a band tha...

In 2 nd grade, it was a big honor, of course, to be allowed to run the film projector. Mrs. Brandt made us earn the privilege by handing out tokens for good behavior. Being in charge of the film projector might be worth 25 tokens, and it took a LONG time to earn 25 tokens -- maybe as long as two weeks or more, depending on how naturally naughty you happened to be. Those of us that hadn't yet learned the benefit of deferred gratification might elect, then, just to man the film strip, turning the crank every time the accompanying record beeped. Film strips weren't nearly as sexy, but at 10 tokens, they were quite the second grade bargain. So what kinds of things did we watch? It's been nearly 30 years, but I still remember Rosey Grier singing "It's Alright to Cry." How unusual was Rosey , a big, African-American football player, singing a song about how it was okay to express your feelings. And as far as I remember, none of the guys immediately started cryin...