How did I end up at a Nazi show last night?

Don't ask me how this happened really. I went to go see what I thought was a metal show last night at Tantogården, which does usually hold metal shows (flyer to the left). Someone told me that Månegarm was a good metal band. So, I went.

Arriving there, I noticed something was a bit off. There were a few too many shaved heads for a metal show, if you know what I mean (if you live in Stockholm, then you know what I mean). I sorta blew it off, but the whole atmosphere was giving me a strange vibe. I thought "no, I'm just being paranoid" (I've been called that before, so it was nothing my brain couldn't justify).

But waiting to order at the bar, I got shoved out of the way by a shaved head. I squeezed my way next to him and said (in English), "Hey, that was pretty rude. Are you really that desperate to get drunk?" To which he replied yes. Then (and this was the strange part), he asked me what "race" I was. Usually (even in Sweden, with the Swedes broken but lovely English) when people want to know what my ethnic background is, they ask "Where are you from?" (or something similarly benign). But this was a strange way of asking. Then I had this Flashback™ (more on that later). I turned and said "Excuse me? Does it matter?". He of course replied with a yes. To which I replied "Well then, I won't tell you." (Hey, I think if you're gonna call yourself a good nazi, you should at least be able to pick out the whiteys from the non-whiteys). I walked off with my drinks (which I ended up getting before him anyhow), clearly mumbling some fuck yous and blew that guy off too - because - to be honest, racism in Sweden is quite common and outspoken.

Fast forward to later in the night when Månegarm starts to play, and I turn to see him and all of his friends sig heiling to the band. And the band didn't seem to mind! Fuck that. I was outta there! Gave me Flashbacks™ to when I got a wooden bar stool broken over my head by a bunch of nazis in DC who thought I was a gypsy. 10 stitches and a badly-healed lump on my head later, I wasn't about to get into another brawl. At least not at a bar with metal bar stools.

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-p2

Dave Mustaine teaches YOU to play guitar

As if you didn't get enough guitar lessons from the last post, check out a few lessons below from my one and only, Dave Mustaine. Brought to you by Guitar World magazine...

Its All in the Hands


Guitar Picks


The Spider Chord


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Learn to play guitar on YouTube

So, have you ever wanted to learn to play the guitar, or improve your playing, but not had the money/time/desire to search out a teacher? Then YouTube is the perfect place for you!

Will Kriski has a series of videos on how to master metal guitar. His videos are chock full o' information, and very thorough. He's got a great encouraging vibe about him, too. The great thing about Will is that if you post a question on YouTube, he'll actually answer it! And he takes lesson requests too! Doesn't get much better than that!

Here's a sample, on how to do pinch harmonics:


Check out his website with all his guitar lessons here.

Another YouTuber you can check out who has alot of great lessons is "Bob, from Toronto, Canada". He's got his own website with a shitload of lessons, and its really great (but watch out for all those popup ads!). Bob's got alot of newbie lessons,too and they're well organized on his site.

A sample on "the heavy metal scale", from YouTube:


Check out his website, with all his guitar lessons here.
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-p2

Death Metal in Iran

I went to Iran back in 2001 to see the motherland, get back to my roots and try to find myself. I didn't really find myself - what I did find, however, was metal. It didn't really hit me back then when I saw the scrawls of graffiti on the walls of back alleys exclaiming "Slayer" and "Metallica rules"...but metal...its big in Iran. Really big. And way fucking bigger than you think, whitey.

Now, if you can put aside all of the bullshit you see on TV about Iran - terrorist this, and nuclear that - watch this 3-part Norwegian documentary with open eyes (and ears). (Don't worry, the important stuff is in English.)

Part One:


Part Two:


Part Three:



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-p2