Leaderboard

Many of you know I'm a practicing metal musician. Nothing professional by any means of the word, but had my share of limelight over the last 20 years. I'd wager most every musician has a shortlist of inspirational talent that drew them into the instruments they love/learned to play. Well last night I not only met, but got to sit and hang with one of the few players that originally inspired me to play guitar way back when. Anyone even semi-fluent in 80's/90's metal will know of a band called Testament, and their original lead guitarist Alex Skolnick. If you're not into the metal scene, then he'd be known more commercially as the guitarist for Transiberian Orchestra over the last 9 years, as well as other independent projects in acoustic guitar works. He was in Dayton these past few days putting on guitar clinics at the University of Dayton, but I sadly missed out on those sessions. BUT a fellow bandmate of mine ( Neil Hixson ), who's also the club owner of Oddbody's Music Room, hosted a local metal show last night where Alex would make an appearance and join in on a metal-fan-favorite rendition of Black Sabbath's War Pigs with Dayton area band Engine of Chaos. After the show was done and the club closed up for the night is when the best part happened, some after-show personal time with Alex and his crew. We all sat at the bar and had some drinks on the house as Neil and I revelled in our company and shared music scene conversation for more than an hour. It will be a night we'll never forget, and being exposed to Alex on a more personal level was truly interesting. Neil has been a good friend for over 20 years, and a bandmate for 15. His corporate contacts and business sense has allowed me to meet quite a few of my mentors over the years, and last night was definitely a huge, cap worthy feather for me. I'm surely indebted to him for enabling me to meet a lot of my favorites in the music industry. Pics to follow...

So I've been gone for a little over three years now and think it is time to move back north. Some of you will remember me. I imagine a few of you bought your motorcycle from me at Independent Motorsports(Cycle Search). I'm lookong forward to being back in Columbus and with a cool group of riders. Looks like things are lining up for me to be back at Independent Motorsports again well. I plan on building the IndMoto/OR relationship to where it was when I left. See you in the spring people!

Yea, "Find my iPhone" is about the best of it, and it's up to the owner to work that out. You could report it to the cops or wherever you found it, wait a month and then sell or trade it if nobody claims the phone.

Sorry if I came of as a dick. It is something that is debated and discussed all the time throughout the training community. Keep in mind also when learning from military and law enforcement they have a very specialized view on how they teach. Military have their spin and law enforcement have theirs as well. Armed citizens are very different than mil and Leo. Armed citizen walks through life waiting for the ambush moment. Leo and mil have missions to perform and most teach from those angles. Are there good ones who have learned to adapt to the difference? Absolutely. But we have had state patrol attend our CAC class and have said it relates totally to every situation he has been in. I'm not trying to preach. I am just trying to offer that alternative way of thinking and a different view point because it is often drowned out by all the high speed stuff on the internet.

If Ohio changes it requirements pertaining to the chl I hope people are responsible enough to seek out proper instruction. Just like Saturday, I think it was the first time anyone had ever thought about after the shoot. Training for violence is fun, it is flashy. I like to tell people that training for the events that lead up to violence and the events after violence are almost more important than the violence itself. We carry a gun to protect oue lives, we know the laws to protect our way of life.

I agree with that. A picture with the both of you on stage shredding would have been priceless.

It's nice if you make a day of it and hit some other points of interest like west side market, great Lakes brewery, market garden brewery, hoffbrau haus....

They are awesome...I know Steve still does special back stage packages which are totally worth it if you are a fan. He's a super nice guy. Below is a pic of me holding Evo before it was retired... Uli Jon Roth is playing with Vinnie Moore that night too. Not too shabby,

Apologies for the hack shit cel quality photos

Vigo(ala Ghostbusters II) LOL

Very skilled pilot landing in the middle of the woods! http://player.vimeo.com/video/99490998