I laugh, looking over my rather plain appearance of a Black Label Society t-shirt and jeans, wondering how many laughs I would get wearing leather and give a clearly sarcastic "yeah" answer.

She looks clearly offended by my nature and explains that she thought that's what us "metal people" wore. How we should have rings piercing every available piece of flesh on our heads and that we all wear black, even in summer. She goes on further explaining that we're all Satanic, that the music is "too loud," and that we are crazy.

I listen, somewhat interested in her assessment of the heavy metal community and think about the people I see around at the concerts I've been to. Soccer moms, computer geeks, hippie types, and others who don't seem to "fit the mold," they're there right beside the goth chick and the leather clad anarchist, loving the music all the same. I wonder to myself if I should explain to her the community of heavy metal, how many people th

He extends his hand, "Hey my name's Jake, where you from? Every see these guys before? And, who are your favorite bands?"

I step into line at 7:30, only to find out that it's being held back till 8:30. No one's particularly mad or upset though, because the guitarist of Ultraspank and the vocalist for Mudvayne are walking up and down the line chatting with fans and signing autographs. The guy in front of me is about 6'6" 280 pounds at least, he's wearing a Megadeth t-shirt and black jeans, his hair a dyed blonde and a perfect length for the headbanging to come.

"Cool," I reply. "I've seen Ultraspank, but not Mudvayne, how are they?"

After the drummer hands it back, a crowd forms around, all wanting to check out the "tix." Others pull out a bundle of their own, trading them to see where they may have been before, the trades of "I was there" and "you were like three rows away from me" overwhelm the circle. For the following half hour the discussion focuses on those ticket collections, centering on whom some of the bands are and why some bands "suck" or "sold-out."

We are joined by an unexpected guest, the drummer from Mudvayne walks over, hearing us discussing Union Underground. "You guys into double-U?" He continues, as we nod our head, "Well you'll like Non-point then, they're opening tonight, a great band, a lot like UU."

I sit back, mainly listening, as I usually do, only throwing in my two cents when bands like Biohazard, Black Label Society, Pantera, and Nashville Pussy are debated. I make

Some common words found in the essay are:
I've Soccer, Boiler Angelcorpse, UU Cool, Label Society, Union Underground, READY ROCK, Mudvayne Ultraspank, Tattoo Earth, Mudvayne Oh, People Oh, heavy metal, union underground, metal death, hand hey, black label, metal people, black label society, label society, drummer mudvayne,
Approximate Word count = 1030
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)