About two weeks ago I was in Wigan for the Gods and on the Friday a few of us went to Manchester to see Maiden and Halford......it was wierd........like stepping into a timewarp....there was one girl that looked like Doro (every single curve) and had a hand painted Manowar jacket along with spray painted spandex ...there were also plenty of Magnum, Priest and Purple t shirts on view but the important bit......a HUGE number of kids with combats and puffy jackets, spikey hair that I would have assumed were either modern rock fans or rap fans...but were they into their Maiden...were they what......they knew every word and rocked out with the best of them.....I know it's a bit of a rant but the point being .....Metal is alive and well......the kids are diggin' it even when it gets no tv/radio support..it's underground, but eventually it will come back above ground......How many remeber the NWOBHM in 1980.......it forced it's way into the mainstrem despite labels/tv/radio not wanting anything to do with it because people wanted it......maybe while we all still want it to happen , it won't happen on it's own and it needs everybody pushing......jesus could you imagine having Firehouse/House of Lords/Ten/Hurricane/D2/Journey/Kansas/Whitesnake/Gotthard etc.etc. on tv for a two hour programme every week......well if enough people act you would be surprised what might happen.Right now the music industry is looking for the next big thing....we have had boy bands/girl bands/rappers/grunge/dance/house/rave/britpop....whats next......why not metal?? but remember even though we all want it we have to be prepared to work a little for it...no pain ..no gain.Queensryche have already hit MTV with a 100,000 + signature petition so I can tell you right now they are fed up to the back teeth with assholes like us telling them what we want.....I realise it is only a small drop in the ocean , but if there are enough drops the bottle will eventually be full......rock on.....Kieran