It's gotta be a sign.

So we're less than two weeks away from the dreaded and feared poker party; the place where calling pot on a 4-King split either ends in high-fives from the boys or an apologetic phone call home to the wife. The weekend will be filled with cold beer, good friends, trash talking, the occasional punch, maybe a fight followed by a probable hug and other random acts of immature idiocy that would lead most to believe upstanding citizens who are responsible adults charged with raising our children to be wholesome and contributing members of society we are not.

But the weekend could also be filled with a killer show at the Cotillion Sunday night. And Casey, you won't believe who's gonna be in the neighborhood when we're back in town.



That's right, my Austin friend filled with Pride & Glory. The man's gonna be less than five miles from our beer 'fridge. Are you thinking what I'm thinking?

For those members of our loving public who aren't familiar with Zakk Wylde, he's considered by most to be rock's saving grace. Just how good is this guy? At age 19, he was already playing lead shredder for some guy named Ozzy. He also played on two studio albums with Ozzy before leaving to form Pride & Glory, a southern fried power metal trio that he considers "the bastard son" of his three favorite bands (Black Sabbath, Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Allman Brothers). From there he shocked the rock world by releasing Book of Shadows, his first solo album that is dominated by countrified acoustic guitar and moody piano work. "Sure the stuff is acoustic but it's still heavy", he once said. "It's not fluffy ballady shit but stuff you can really drink to."

This is also the same guy who played the lead guitarist role in Rock Star, the Priest-based movie with Marky Mark and Jennifer Aniston (we're pretty sure Zakk had a large roll in writing/performing the original tunes for the movie, too). To calm the heavy beast, Zakk later formed Black Label Society, a band that applies screaming guitars with serious, fret-shredding lead work. Now on tour supporting their latest release Mafia, Zakk and his band are walking tributes to just how far a love of drinking beer and playing killer music can take you.

But get a load of this:

4/21/05 The Backroom in Austin
4/22/05 The Granada in Dallas
4/24/05 The Cotillion in Wichita

Fate is completely screwing with us here. Thursday night in A-Town. Friday in Big D (the day we're headed off to the poker party) and Sunday in, believe it or not, Wichita when we'll be southbound once again. Or...will we?

Makes you wonder why it's such a big deal to be in the office on a Monday morning. By extending our "We're Not That Mature Yet Damn It" tour an extra day, we could see one hell of a concert. Chances are good the BDS North will cut outta town as soon as possible on Sunday and portions of the BDS South would prefer to do the same thing. So Casey, weigh in here at any point and make sure you're listening to Book of Shadows when you do. It'll make things easier for you.