I wanna ROCK!
A few years ago (ok more than a few) I was asked if I wanted to go and possibly see Twisted Sister. This was way back when they had reunited (even though that wasn't supposed to happen) and they were playing without the makeup and insanity as a band called Bent Brother. I figured, what the heck!
The thing is, when I grew up, I NEVER expected to see 99% of the bands I have seen. I figured they'd all be too old, retired, or dead. The possibility that I might grow up and see my icons seemed totally impossible. Luckily, for me (maybe), in the late 90s Poison reunited and we saw the development of these summer "shed" tours in which little old Jugs got to see nearly every band she ever dreamed of seeing. It was my childhood dream come true. And I'm not joking. I cried when I saw KISS. I really did. Ask my sister.
That's me when I was little by the way! I don't know how Ronnie James Dio knew it, but he did.
Anyhow, 5 or 6 or 7 years ago, my friend Sean (http://themetalfiles.wordpress.com/) and I drove up to Richmond to go and see Bent Brother. Or maybe Twisted Sister if we were lucky. We saw them in, literally, a shed. Because if you've ever been to the Innsbrook Pavilion, it's like someone's back deck with a car port on top.
I was blown away, almost literally because of the insane thunderstorm that blew through midway through the show. But there was Twisted Sister, in their crazed, tranny glory. Full makeup, full costumes, full on rocking the fuck out. I walked away that night, completely soaked and exhausted but so incredibly stoked. That was fuckin rock n roll!!!! That was the kind of thing that pissed off fathers, and teachers, and preachers, and everyone else! To witness it was just incredible. To stand 3 feet from Twisted Sister was incredible. To eat at Waffle House afterwards with a bunch of hookers with 3 teeth was also incredible.
A few years later, my old man and I went to Rocklahoma (you know, the first one, where it was actually good). Twisted Sister headlined, and I thought once again "eh." You know, I enjoyed it the first time, I was amped to see them again....but not as amped as I was to see Dokken, Great White, Slaughter, or the Faster Pussycat trainwreck. Seriously, Dee Snider needs to come to Virginia and bitchslap me for being so stupid. Once again, they blew me away. Half way through their set, they cut the lights, and lit up their amps with trailer park style Christmas lights...and in the middle of July, in some Oklahoma field, it began to SNOW!!!!!! And there was Dee Snider in a Santa hat throwing out candy canes and singing Silver Bells. And there were thousands and thousands of people just like me (ok, definitely NOT just like me) all cheering and screaming and clapping and going insane. That's my favorite part of a show by the way, to see just a few dudes on a stage make thousands of people go absolutely bonkers. If I didn't hate chick bands so much, I'd want to be a rockstar! The exceptions are of course, Nashville Pussy (take a drink!), Vixen, Betty Blowtorch, and Lita Ford. Seriously, chicks in bands annoy me. Go figure.
It was one of those occasions where I rocked out so hard, i probably fell over. I was tired, exhausted from the heat, and three days of rock n roll excess....and that band was so balls to the wall it was just incredible.
Twisted fuckin Sister!
Anyway, we're seeing them again this summer, at the M3 festival in Columbia, MD! And once again, I'm more excited to see Ratt and Kix. But the thing about Twisted Sister, I know that I won't walk away disappointed. I know I won't walk away saying "eh" i've seen them all before. I know that I'll spend 10 hours in the heat rockin out, and I will STILL rock out harder than I ever have before once they hit the stage.
So thanks Dee Snider, you make REALLY crappy horror movies, but I love you. I always wanted to you to come to my house when I was a kid, and I would tell my dad "I WANT TO ROCK" and then he'd fly out a window. That would be awesome! I'm 25 now, but you can still come to my house and we could make it happen!
She really did cry at her first KISS concert, I was there, and made fun of her.
Jugs' sister
That Twisted Sister show in Richmond is easily in the top 5 best concerts I have ever seen. Throw in the storm and Waffle House afterwards and it was even better. And the way I forewarned the people in front of us that when You Can't Stop Rock and Roll gets played, someone will get hurt...and it won't be me. Too bad it rained though because otherwise we wiould likely have hung out with them after the show. No matter, they were great. That was my 3rd time seeing Dee. First time was with Widowmaker in Va Beach and the 2nd was with his solo band SMF. I met him both of those times and he was always a prince.
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