Monday Maiden Metal

Six days till Middle Daughter's bat mitzvah and the girls are trying to teach us a daddy daughter Tik-Tok style dance. JFC, it's like I'm developmentally disabled or something.  

Monday Metal. Last Friday Iron Maiden put on a professional, workman like, splendidly executed show. All the toys and ques were there. Here's the set list. To be honest, we didn't love the list. Iron Maiden played too many songs from newer albums. To be even honester, we miss the 2008 Somewhere Back in Time Tour (which can be seen on the Flight 666 DVD) in which Iron Maiden recreated the mid-80s era. Not until their 4th song did Iron Maiden play something we really liked, Revelations, 'Revelations! Du-du-du: Hey! Du-du-du: Hey!' That song gives me chills. Every time.  We also thought the song order was weird. For instance, Aces High was the final encore. But still, lead singer Bruce Dickinson knows how to work a room and made us feel he was talking directly to us. A good show. Man, it was loud. 

It'd been 12 years since we went to an Iron Maiden concert. In 2010 the Metal revival was going strong and had yet to peak. Back then the concert crowds (we saw three Maiden concerts between 2008-2010) were mixed, with plenty of young people. We were interested to see Friday if the crowd was still mixed. Were delighted to report that yes, we saw plenty of kids, teenagers and 20 somethings. We were asked if we saw masks. Masks? At an Iron Maiden concert? Are you kidding me? Actually, Bruce Dickinson said because of the Wuhan Virus from Wuhan China* Iron Maiden had been away for far too long. Which was nice. And fuck social distancing, he said. Which was nicer. 

Here's some footage (not ours) from the concert. We're sitting mezzanine, top right of the stage:

Mrs. Stroock's Phillies are going to the World Series. She's thrilled and so are we, for her. We were at the neighborhood Diwalli party (see below), she was sitting in a corner watching the game on her phone. Last we saw there were two on and one out in the 9th and then...Mrs. Stroock stood up and jumped up and down. We told her the Phillies were a tough, fearless little team that we wouldn't want to meet in the playoffs. So we spoke. So it was. 

The Phillies will be playing the always deadly Houston Astros. We suspect Houston will take care of business. 

As for the Yankees...they've been to one World Series in 20 years. We haven't been really interested in a decade. It's been a long time since the Yankees were the Yankees. It's easy to win a lot of games when your payroll floor is $159 million. But it takes a visionary GM like Branch Rickey to win the World Series. Brian Cashman, you ain't no Branch Rickey, and never were. Those 90s teams were built by Gene Michael. Mr. Steinbrenner looks down from on high and shakes his head. 

Diwali last night. Rain? What rain. Rain will not stop Diwali. And rain will certainly not stop Diwali fireworks. We had lots of people, lots of food, and plenty of fun. 

Segui....to another Hindu. We see Rishi Sunak is the next British Prime Minister. We yawn. Breaking: must credit Stroock's Books. William Stroock formally endorses Labour leader Kir Starmer for British Prime Minister. 'The Tories can sod right off,' Stroock said. 'What a bunch of fuck-wads,' he elaborated. Developing...Okay, seriously. We wanted Boris back, and those tossers went and voted in this empty, metro-sexual pantload. No fate is too bad for the Tories. Charles' first PM appointment. In a way, he deserves this. 

Fun with words: We've no idea what to do about/with World War 1990: The Final Storm. Probably we'll work on the Georgia opener and put the MS in sit phase till we get back from Disney World in a few weeks. We shall dwell on proposed Georgian changes. In the meantime, we're preparing The Salvation of 1976 for the formatting. It will go this week. 

*From a bio weapons lab, probably released on purpose.