31.10.2004 - London Mean Fiddler

[Susi]

Hi Axe

please tell us more ... I love to read your postings!

[Ax Slinger]

Hi Susi,

What can I say? I'm just an old Ax Slinger who's been around the block a few times. Maybe not as many as Saga, but I have been around. But since you seem to like my rambling... Er, I mean writing... Here's an old rocker story for ya. It's not about Saga, but it is about another of my favorite bands, Iron Maiden. (And do excuse me if I just copy and paste it in here from another forum, rather than type it again. Yes, I am lazy at times... But I will edit it for clarity.) This is a of a post I made during a discussion about being "too old to rock n roll, but too young to die".

I'm a bit of a heavy metal fan meself, and I like Iron Maiden. When I was 38 I was living in Bullfrog, Utah, (USA) a place on Lake Powell that is six hours by car (which I didn't have one of) to the nearest town. I was in my trailer one day on my day off playing guitar. It was 100° (37.7° C), so I had my door open.

So I'm playing along with this Iron Maiden tape, and this kid comes walking by. He hears me playing and walks up and stands in my doorway. I nodded for him to come on in, so he sat down. When the tape was over I put my guitar away and sat down and started talking to him.

He told me I was pretty good, and asked me a lot of questions about playing. The usual "How long have you been playing guitar?", "Are you in a band?", and that sort of thing. I explained to him that I had been in bands off and on since I was 10, and had almost 20 years of touring under my belt, and that I was working at the resort we were in (Bullfrog Marina) while I was taking a break from the road. I had another tour planned for later in the year, but for right then I was working as a Computer Technician.

We talked about playing shows and different bands we liked and such for quite awhile. Then the kid says to me "But aren't you a little old to be playing Iron Maiden?" I about split a gut laughing. He asked me why I thought that was so funny. So I said "How well do you know Iron Maiden?" He says "Not very well. They're a British band is about all I know."

So I said, "That's what I thought. Well, let's just say they are about the same age I am."

So there ya go. By the way, that was 11 years ago.

[Uschi]

Sadly though, Redwoods are getting scarce these days. What was once an area about 50 miles wide and about 500 miles long that was pretty densely forested with them has about 1% left. If you like photography, I have quite a few photos on my Webshots account. Ok, 966 is a few more than a few! But you get the idea...

Smashing pics, thanks We human's don't need anyone else to destroy our world, we can do this all on our own.

But castles are right up there on my list of favorite things too, and I know Scotland has lots of them, so if you by any chance have a digital camera, by all means show me some photos...

I haven't done pics of my own of castles, but there is a good page of the castle trail:
http://www.castles.org/Chatelaine/index.html

That is a route that visitors can take when they want to see all the castles in our area. In west Scotland not many castles survived the wars of the clans but the Grampian highlands built a natural barrier that protected the east from the wild west, subbsequently many castles survived. And of course they all have their own ghosts

[wilkie UK]

Cool photos, Ax. I particularly liked 'the real me'

[wilkie UK]

Thanks for link Uschi, I will check that again, just before we come to visit

[wilkie UK]

One of the many t-shirts for this tour: -

[Uschi]

Thanks for link Uschi, I will check that again, just before we come to visit

After Beverungen we should talk about these things a little more detailed, there are a few things here that is particular fantastic for kids

[wilkie UK]

I'll make sure of that

[Ax Slinger]

Cool photos, Ax. I particularly liked 'the real me'

You did understand that photo is not real, I hope. Photochopping is one of my "hobbies". That is actually Adrian Smith of Iron Maiden, with some old Ax Slinger's face painted in. I can't imagine who...


And my compliments to Ross Halfin, the photographer who took that photo.

[wilkie UK]

Cool job, Ax, that had me fooled for sure

[Ax Slinger]

Here's the original... I believe it is from the 2003 Dance Of Death Tour. (I'm not sure though...)