2013 Belgian Invasion, PPM Fest Day 2

Day 2, and one of the \m/ HEAVIER \m/ days of this leg of the invasion. The sad reality of some Metal Festivals is that you have go make that executive decision of which bands you want to see, and as I say it before and often, if you have seen "X" band 20x times versus "Y" band 0x times, its best to go with "Y" band as seeing "X" band has already been on your previous agendas for some time and "Y" band probably has not played in your country (yet...).

The beauty of the PPM Fest is they have the 2 stage set up, which allows one band to go at a time, and with this configuration, you are not put in that executive decision making process. Than there's the dilemma of how the bands are spread out, and the majority of the bands on the first day, with respect to all of the bands that went through the process of coming over to this awesome festival, were not on my agenda to watch as I haven't had a chance to check out their material and while this festival would have provided that opportunity, there's the concept of the "burnout" (not the Scorpions song), meaning, you can only watch so many performances before you get tired and eventually need to lay against a wall/sit down/or sprawl yourself on any random floor and sleep/be inside your tent and sleep and before you know it, your itinerary is ruined. This is why the importance of resting during a festival cannot be underestimated, coz before you know it, that one band you came all the way from thousands of miles will be missed because you're sleeping off the first 5 bands you decided to mosh/crowd surf/headbang.

The first band in my itinerary was Seven Kingdoms, and coincidentally, they happen to be my neighbor to the north (Near Daytona Beach, Florida). Power Metal coming out of the Original Death Metal Capital? Welcome aboard my different subspecies brethren.

2013 Belgian Invasion, PPM Fest Day 1

The first official day of the PPM Fest. Its days like these that have the heaviest anticipation of whats to come, and especially if it's a Metal festival one has never been to before. So far, everything has gone perfect as having my tent right next to the venue was a very unexpected but pleasant surprise.

Remember the circus-style tent that Musca brought yesterday? The Wind Gods has cast down its judgement on Musca's tent (among many others, more on this later) and cast it down to the layer of the bowels of earth (aka floor). After several attempts to save the tent, the circus left the town (sort of).

2013 Belgian Invasion, Day Before the PPM Fest

As the Brussels leg of my tour is wrapped up, I woke up in the morning anticipating what's to come as I prepare my bags for the departure. In retrospect, I'm still surprised by everything I managed to do in Brussels, Antwerpen & Leuven in the span of 2 days, leaving me with a heavier appreciation and admiration for a city and country I have the privilege of knowing intimately.

As the hotel shuttle bus arrived, I took one last long look at the hotel I called "home" during my visit to Brussels before departing on the next leg of the tour.

2013 Belgian Invasion, The Day Before Departure and Brussels Day 1

Here is the newest series for Metal Trek, the 2013 Belgian Invasion. In this series, you get a first person perspective on Brussels, The PPM Fest, and even a night in Düsseldorf, Germany.

I feel I need to explain why the blog has been delayed as I tried to get it up and running earlier. For starters, when I came back, I had a lot of schoolwork to catch up on, as well as launching a new series for Channel 13 called Spurious Harmonics which has been long overdue. Also, I had a number of technological delays as my computer and my cellphones Micro SD Card were not on speaking terms, and Blogger.com and Firefox were having a similar quarrel.

I will try my best to update the blog as much as possible, but as always, there might be delays due to life's usual obstacles.

For the first post, it will will be about the day before leaving for Europe and the first day of travel. Onward, to the 2013 Belgian Invasion \m/

A tradition I have before embarking on major trips is to go to Rock N Roll Ribs. It is located in Coral Springs, about 1 hour north from where I live in Miami. For those who don't know, one of the owners of Rock N Roll Ribs is Nicko McBrain (if I need to mention who this individual is, you are reading the wrong blog), and as one can expect, it is a Iron Maiden Theme Restaurant. While themed restaurants have a tendency to draw a red flag, this one is a MAJOR exception to the rule, as the food is excellent, with a degree of quality that place it in a league beyond majors. UP THE IRONS FOR GOOD CHOW!6!6!6! \m/

To give you a first person perspective what this rib-house can deliver, here's a photo of a plate I ate some time ago. Forgot to take the recent one, sorry =C . The primary purpose for the traditional part of my exodus to Rock N Roll Ribs is in case something happens to me during my trips, at least I got a good final meal.

I6Z6A6N Inerview by Mons Television

During the 2013 PPM Festival, I was interviewed by Mons Television about the people who visited the festival from outside of Belgium. I gave my feedback on the festival and if you want an idea of my reaction to this interview, it is just like my reaction to Belgian Beer \m/

Click here for the interview

Many thanks Sabine Dupont and the camera guy (sorry I forgot your name) of Mons Television for the opportunity and the chance \m/

Channel 13 and Metal Trek Temporary Hiatus

Good evening Metal Fans of the Internet within the scope of my texted message. Channel 13 (http://channel13metal.blogspot.com) and Metal Trek are going to be on hiatus as I take on 2 very tough months (March & April), making it difficult to update both blogs with new posts.

The month of March is gonna see my internet time being dedicated to researching and putting the final touches on my upcoming trip to Belgium for the PPM Fest (http://www.ppmfest.com).

As you can tell by the aforementioned festival, I will be on the other side of the great pond (aka the Atlantic Ocean) in April to attend the PPM Fest in Belgium as well as visit Brussels and other parts of the country (mainly the tourist attractions and Metal night clubs). As some of you who know me, this trip also means taking advantage of this great country finest offering; its beers \m/

I also plan on visiting Emden, Germany, where my best bud and his awesome family lives & Düsseldorf, Germany, the city that has hosted my entry and exits in my last 2 trips, but never had the chance know.

There may be new posts, but this more on the "maybe" side of the fence, but for the time being, I have updated Channel 13 with a new post to say sorry for the upcoming, grinding halt.

The countdown has begun to the 2013 Belgian Invasion \m/