2011 F-U 2012 Bring it on

Dec 30,2011 For those of you that never knew this blog existed sniff around there may be some cool stuff to read. Today however it's time to bring back a yearly tradition. Every New Years I make a big ol list of tasks I want to accomplish in the upcoming year. I even put thought into the list and made guidelines. I urged many of you to do the same and it was pretty cool to hear about some of your accomplishments that were a result of the list.


    I can tell you 2011 was quite honestly a shit year for me and many of my goals were not attained. I lost Badger (my dog). Gayle and I separated, I had foot surgery which ended my running  and I found myself in more stressful situations than I had been in prior years. I feel I aged more this year than I have in the past 10. There were many changes in 2011 that I may or may not go into in a future blog. I also went to college for the first time. I got an A for the first time. I ran a marathon plus rode my motorcycle in excess of 10,000 miles. Followed through on my goals of creating 2 tv shows and I am hoping to have one of them sold before Feb.


The point is it's the dawn of a new year. Time to look back but only for a short time. Time to think ahead and get your shit together. Here are some guidelines I made last year that I feel really help in making your list


 If your still having trouble coming up with your own here are a few guidelines that seem to help I urge you to post your list in the comment section of this blog so you know it is always here. I may update the status of my list every month or so. I really am stoked some of you are into this and because of your comments and the  fear of coming off like a total hypocrite  I now have even more incentive to fulfill my 22 list. What  about the mysticism of number 22. Cmon you know I don’t buy that Hippie crap. If your still having trouble coming up with your own here are a few guidelines that seem to help 

It is important to include several no-brainer fun things. Make Pancakes,Play guitar hero,go to a movie alone, watch a foreign film. Most important  is to

Be specific !!!! 

Example : I want to find true love......First of all you cant go find it  and usually what you thought was true love wasn’t in the first place. too vague. You could put  go out on five dates. / 

PLay guitar 7 hours a week. I would change that one as well. What if you cant play one week or only manage 5 hours. Dont set yourself up for possibly making a mistake. I  would put play guitar 1000 hours in 2011 and just mark off the hours.  I didn’t put  run 20 miles a week, sometimes I run more what if Im riding across the country and dont run for two weeks. I didn’t want to look at that list and make an asterisk by a certain week. I put run 611 miles  that way I will check them off as I go.  I would stay away from putting tasks that are beyond your control. I’m all for positive thinking but as I’ve said before I don’t fall for that “Secret” stuff.  I would like another TV show, I would like to be working in NASCAR next year on TV. I put on my list  pitch a show create, new ideas  and put the tools and tasks  it would take to achieve those goals on the list. It is also important to make a list that you realistically will complete... 

Remember I made that list a year ago. The point is be specific. Avoid things like "I will lose weight" too vague instead put I will weigh XXXX at the end of June or July etc. Expand my record collection go to more races,eatless fudge. They need to be more specific. Cook 6 meals, read 3 books, go on 1 tri state killing spree.

Here is a boring video recap of my list from 2011

Ok I'm done for a bit. Start thinking about your list but this year. Let's make it 12 things you will do in 2012. You've got some time

Diamond in the Rough- 7 years ago we lost Dimebag

I know that I have not posted anything on this blog page for many months. I was going to post something about this day on Twitter but there was no way 144 letter would convey my feelings.

       7 years ago today was the darkest day in rock. Legendary guitarist Dimebag Darrel of Pantera/Damageplan was murdered on stage. I won't go into the details of the story because you probably know it and I would rather focus on the good stuff and with Pantera there was a lot of good stuff.

    I have a lot of great memories with the band and Dime. A few of these stories I should probably keep to myself but I will share a few here.

    I met Pantera in early 1991. It was Phil and Dime. MTV insisted that I call him Diamond on camera not Dimebag due to the drug reference . They had a great time correcting me every time I said Diamond.* for all the idiots that loved to post on message boards that I didnt even know his name. He used to be referred to as Diamond . I was a huge fan of Pantera and still think of them as one of the top 5 metal bands period.....hmmm maybe top3. The other thing I appreciated was that hanging with the guys was pretty much like hanging with my bro's at the time. It was wild wreckless and we always had a blast.......ALWAYS.  We ended up shooting several specials with Pantera on Headbangers . We would go on the road with them, hang out in the studio even spent a week in Texas which to this day was one of the craziest, decadent and by far most ummmm entertaining of shoots on MTV.
If you ever go back and read any interviews I've done in the past I always mention Pantera and Alice in Chains as my favorite guests on the Headbangers Ball because they never took it to seriously and were always down for a party.


    Dimebag in particular was one of the most unpretentious rockers I've ever worked with. He could shred on stage for 2 hours in front of 15,000 people then be sitting in the back of a van pounding beers with fan's.No he really was that guy. D.D was the peoples rock star and never copped an attitude. He was upbeat very down to earth and exactly what we want a rock star to be which is not acting like a rock star.
In Texas we hit up a few bars, kicked a football at Dallas Cowboy stadium and even kicked it at his mothers house. That whole band,every member of Pantera was good people. That's who you wanted to party with.

         I played in a punk rock band called "Battery Club" for a few years. One night we played in Dallas. Dime and Vinnie were there bought our tape and a t-shirt. I don't even think they liked the band they were just supporting the group. After the show they asked us all to go back to the studio to listen to some new stuff and of course "party" with them. Take note my band was made up of various musician's from punk bands like Social Distortion,DI etc and really didnt know much about metal at all. I also don't think the guys in my band understood that when it came to having fun and getting fucked up these Dime and Vinnie were professionals. The drinks flowed as I'm sure the weed did too.
I remained sober so was able to observe


  Several hours later a few of the guys in my bad were so drunk they were fighting each other,quitting the band and telling the van driver to just leave without them. The Battery Club Boys could not party on the Pantera level. Few could.

It sounds cliche for me to tell you that Dimebag ws good people or how he really cared about his fans but it's true. As much as he was the guy with one of the most unique guitar tones in metal he was also the guy doing shots of Jack talking to fans about Kiss. He was honestly one of the realest mother fuckers there was.

He didnt od or do something stupid. He was taken away from us by some asshole with a gun.
 WHAT WAS DIMEBAG LIKE ?

If you want to hear something nice said about the dude all you need to do is ask ANYONE that met hin