August 09, 2004
Jet
I had a pleasant time at Ozzfest. Judas Priest with original vocalist Rob Halford played some of the classics, like their epic "Victim of Changes," but to me the band sounded like Kiss...
What? You say? Well, they didn't sound just like Kiss, but you know how those old Kiss songs are fun memories and you know all the words and they're written with catchy sing-along hooks? The Judas Priest "hits" of old ("Breaking the Law" and "Living After Midnight") are slow clunkers that could really use some speeding up and a little bit of edge -- you know, that biting little guitar string bend at the tail end of a note? Well, the band plowed through their hits like they were recorded, but it lacked that energy, that pizazz, that passion. They didn't sound like a young or even an old band trying to prove anything. It sounded lazy to me. That's how Kiss sounded to me when I finally saw them all these years later on one of their recent reunion tours: lots of nostalgic fun, but certainly missing the urgency of anything young and relevant. I guess it's hard to motivate yourself to really get out there and bring it, but c'mon! That's what we want!
That's my Priest criticism. Black Sabbath didn't do much better. Their sonic heaviness (and having the loudest sound system mix of the day didn't hurt) was quite good. Nothing too exciting to watch, though. Ozzy, an amazing old geezer throwing buckets of water on the audience constantly was entertaining for awhile. His most endearing quality, like on The Osbournes tv show, was that he's got such a fiesty attitude at his ripe old age (how old is he, anyways?).
While eating a cheeseburger I noticed a few girls that allowed themselves to be painted at the "body painting" tent. Like the temporary tattoo booths, I figured this would be like butterflies on cheeks or symbols on the arms, etc. No, sadly enough it was like those Sports Illustrated painted on bikini tops. Many men oogled as they walked by, laughing it up and having a good time at the girls' expense, but the laughter didn't mask the sadness of it all, as these girls no doubt paid good money with the intention of attracting attention, even though it objectified them. One perspective that always seems to bring some clarity to this kind of scenario is to know that each of these ladies is someone's daughter. They probably grew up in innocence and never planned on willingly being treated like a worthless object. The lyric from "Youth of a Nation" by P.O.D. really says it well, "...too bad nobody ever told her she deserved much better."
Finished proofing all the pages today, making corrections where needed. The Sep/Oct issue should start hitting the actual presses tonight.
Posted by Doug Van Pelt at August 9, 2004 02:10 PM