HI everyone! Let’s get caught up.
Breaking News!!! As I am writing this Ohio State announced that they have chosen an official hype song to be played during football games this fall at Ohio Stadium. As much as we all love “Hang On Sloopy,” the powers-that-be have decided it’s finally time to join other universities with something a little more contemporary to blast over the speakers to get the South Stands really rocking. Wisconsin is famous for “Jump Around” from House of Pain while Michigan plays “Mr. Brightside” by The Killers and Florida uses “American Girl” by local legend Tom Petty.
Makes sense, no? But… they have chosen the song “Ohio” by the local band Caamp. Don’t get me wrong, Caamp is an excellent band and the perfect choice for something like this. However, the song itself is better suited for a fishing rodeo than a Big Ten football game. And it’s no knock on the song. It’s a good tune for sure. However, there are no drums. Or even a beat. This makes it an unprecedented choice compared to other legendary stadium songs like “We Will Rock You,” “Thunderstruck,” “Hells Bells” and so on and so forth. In my opinion, there are plenty of Caamp songs from their catalog better suited for airplay in the horseshoe. Pick one of those.
Until then, why don’t we just steal “Jump Around” from the Badgers?
Comfest Recap
Well, dang. That might have been my all-time favorite gig. I get to play guitar with my hero Willie Phoenix and then stay right there to play a set with Watershed on a beautiful Friday night at my favorite local festival? Come on now.
While the band was solid, Biggie was the show MVP by hijacking the video screens and making us look like a major touring production all with only 15 minutes between sets.
Watershed Setlist Comfest 2025: Bleeding On The Blank Page / Self Motivated / Blow It Up Before It Breaks / Another Night In The Ruts / How Do You Feel / Suckerpunch / 5th of July / Anniversary / Can’t Be Myself / The Best Is Yet To Come / Black Concert T Shirt / Glide On
Oh Wait, Maybe Our Band Kinda Sucks
Just when I was feeling a little full of myself after an exceptional Comfest show, Blackberry Smoke quickly reminded me there is a reason Watershed remains the Crash Davis of minor league rock n roll and will never be the Aaron Judge in the show.
I have heard from many people for many years how much I would love Blackberry Smoke. I sorta gave them a listen here & there but was never moved to go check out a show. That all changed on Saturday August 2 when I finally caught them at Kemba Live in Columbus, Ohio.
Everyone was right and I was wrong. Again. Is this the best rock n roll band on the planet right now? Could be. I was smitten from the get go. I struggle to find the superlatives to describe how awesome Smoke is live. Frontman Charlie Starr is like a cross between Brandon Flowers (The Killers) and Rick Richards (Georgia Satellites) If you are familiar with those gentlemen you understand how preposterous this comparison is but it’s the best I could do.
Great vocals, even greater guitars and pretty damn good tunes. And this is a real working band, not a bunch of hired guns. It shows as they change up the set nightly and add interesting cover songs on the fly. This night they played “Midnight Special” (CCR) and “When The Levee Breaks” (Led Zep). See them as soon as you can. They are touring for the rest of 2025. I have my eye on Ft. Wayne or..gulp..Marietta, OH. Yup, these guys play everywhere.
Random Stuff!
-I have watched The Rehearsal episode one, season one, five different times.
-Adolescence had me on the edge of my seat for all four episodes and in the process made me embarrassed for season four of The Bear.
-I finally finished my treadmill re-watch of The Sopranos. Yes, it’s probably the best show ever. I am now grinding out The Last of Us and Celtic City while running & sweating.
-The Cody Rhodes interview on the Bill Simmons podcast was highly enjoyable. Which wrestlers would he choose in an actual bar fight? He answered Chad Gable and any of the Samoan characters.
-In a recent Bob Odenkirk interview he said Chinatown is his all-time favorite movie and he thinks the finest acting performance of all time was Ricky Gervais on the BBC version of The Office.
-The movie Eddington is incredible. And Superman is pretty good.
Comfest For Metal
My pal, former bar owner and current songwriter with The X-Rated Cowboys, Quinn Fallon invited me over to his swinging pad to catch the livestream of Back To The Beginning - The Final Black Sabbath Show.
The show, taking place in Sabbath’s hometown of Manchester, England, was likely the greatest metal lineup in history. Damn you, Sharon Osborne. I had to see this. Arriving just after Steven Tyler left the stage to rave reviews (ugh), I settled in and realized very quickly, I don’t really know shit about metal. Like real metal. Not that hard-rock bullshit.
Sure, I know all the band names and logos. I felt like I knew them…..but put all these dudes on a stage and I have no idea who anyone is, or what song they are playing.
A quick rundown of what I saw…..
Pantera - Obviously I think of Dimebag Darell being shot onstage at the Alrosa Villa in my hometown of Columbus, Ohio. And that he ordered a KISS coffin. I think. And Lou Brutus wrote in his excellent book Sonic Warrior that Panterra had the most stereotypical metal backstage experience he had ever been a part of. And he has been backstage with everyone.
And I think of Rob Harvilla’s excellent book 80 Songs That Explain the 90’s. The Panterra v Metallica chapter made me laugh out loud.
But after watching them play, I realized I cannot name a single song or band member. They were tight. And very metal.
Next up was Tool. Who do I think everyone loves? Once again I didn’t know any songs but they were really good and heavy and very serious and all that. The singer gave off vibes like he might be a dick in real life but maybe the Mohawk just unnerved me.
At some point Zack Wylde was playing with somebody and that dude looks like somebody who would suckerpunch you in the teeth with an empty shot glass at Johnny’s On Glenn. Which is to say he has a great metal look. And EVERY band looked old and worn out. In pop music this would be a kiss of death, but on this bill, it just made everything more metal. I couldn't even imagine these bands as young and healthy looking. That would be so NOT metal.
And the guitars….nobody plays Gibson or Fender or Gretch. The type of guitar Willie Phoenix told me to buy when I was still a teenager so people would take me more seriously.
All the guitars were purple or fluorescent green and were weird shapes and brands I had never heard of. If anyone I knew played one of these they would be mocked into oblivion, but in the metal sphere they looked completely respectable.
Slayer came on and I leaned up in my chair. These dudes were bringing it. As they screamed the chorus of their opening number “God Hates Us All” (very metal) I turned to the person next to me. “So Slayer is like the most metal of all the metal bands right? Like all the other bands know it?”
“Yeah, Slayer is probably the most metal. You don’t enjoy a Slayer show, you just try to survive it.” And while the subject matter was appropriately and unreasonably dark, unlike the bands before them, they seemed to be having fun taking us all to hell.
I almost bought a Slayer shirt by the end of the set but I couldn’t pull that off any better than a purple 4-pronged dragon guitar.
Guns N Roses were up next and I was looking forward to a band with actual hits laying waste to this stadium. No matter how heavy Pantera, Tool and even Slayer were, GNR had a record that sold more than all those bands combined x 100. Is opening with “Jungle” too obvious? What about “Nightrain”? Or gulp…”Rocket Queen.” The crowd would tear each other apart and riot in the streets.
So what does dumbass AXL do? He drags a fucking grand piano onstage and they open with some pretentious Sabbath cover that not only isn’t metal, it just plain sucks.
See, AXL isn’t a musician. He can’t even really play piano. It was so lame. Lame under any circumstances but when you are playing between Slayer and Metallica it might be best to leave the white-trash Elton John fantasies at home. Slash and Duff played along as good company men but their body language couldn’t hide their displeasure with this turn of events. They looked like two cabinet members at a Trump press conference exchanging confusing looks with each other followed by polite clapping.
They ended the set with “Jungle” and “Paradise City” but the damage had been done. It was fine but it could have been epic.
Metallica came out and ignored every song from the Black album which I can only assume was done out of respect to Slayer. Selling billions of records is so not metal.
Finally Ozzy came out and did his thing and then Black Sabbath. It was cool.
What do Hulk Hogan, Michael Jordan and John Williamson all have in common?
All of them sided with management against their co-workers.
Hulk sold out his locker room to Vince McMahon when Jesse Ventura was secretly trying to unionize fellow wrestlers before Wrestlemania 3. WWE performers still have no benefits to this day. Thanks, Hulk. RIP.
Michael Jordan sided with management when teammate Scotty Pippen wanted to re-negotiate his contract after contributing to multiple titles for the Chicago Bulls. Like Hulk, Jordan was making 100x what Pippen was earning and still publicly said he should just honor his contract. And then when Pippen held out and the team struggled, Michael blamed Scotty for not being there. GOAT my Ass.
As for John…..
Colin Gawel wrote this at Colin’s Coffee and will be playing with his band Watershed at Natalie’s Grandview on Friday August 15th.