Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Overkill

Me, Jepson and his friend Nancy went to see Overkill last night. We departed Wheeling around 6pm and went straight to the Southside. They were playing at this place called the Rex Theatre. I'm not sure what took longer - the drive or finding a place to park. After recycling around the block 4 times, I found a tight spot a few blocks up. I didn't want to go directly into the show so I convinced them to hit the bar next door - Mario's. It's a decent bar - I met my brother AJ there once back in the late 1990's and ate a smoked turkey sandwich. Although a distant memory, the sandwich was pretty good. This time there would be no sandwich - strictly Dewars and a Rolling Rock. We settled down at the corner of the bar. Eric and Nancy noticed this straggly dude sitting next to me. Turns out he was Bobby "Blitz" Ellsworth. I'll assume that 98.7% of the people who read this crap have no idea who Bobby Ellsworth is. He's the lead singer of the band we were going to see. We briefly exchanged pleasantries and Nancy got her picture taken. Jepson lamented that he would have liked an autograph. Unfortunately, the only thing available for him to sign was a menu. I doubt that would have gained much momentum on ebay. I asked him what they were going to open with and he replied "Deny the Cross." Kind of poetic.
We made our way into the "theatre." I was expecting a place like the Towngate in Center Wheeling. Basically, it was just a big open room with a bar in the back. Kind of small - probably had a maximum 250. Maybe it's just me, but the concert was way too loud and I'm getting way too old. The strange thing was that it looked like most everyone was in their 30's and 40's. These were old school metalheads, not a bunch of young kids. The band had to be in their 40's. Lots of bald men with long greasy ponytails were in attendance. Heavy tobacco presence as well. Smoking has not yet been abolished at the Rex Theatre. The band played for about an hour. I just kind of wandered off in my own isolated corner. I'm not sure how I ended up getting intoxicated, but somehow I managed. I hadn't eaten much all day.
On the way back, for some bizarre reason, I drifted left on 279 and ended up going home through Steubenville. Just wasn't paying attention. We stopped at Wendy's in Weirton on the way back and shoveled some food down our throats. Nothing overly entertaining to report. I think my days of "real" heavy metal are just about finished. Maybe I should stick with the lighter side of metal, except Slayer.

1 comment:

The Huge Spectrum said...

I ripped my favorite pair of pants in the Rex theater. It was at a Will Oldham Show. I too was pretty messed. It was an all age show , so I had to sneak a bottle in my jacket.