The interesting part about his chain emails is that instead of sending interesting messages or text from some website, he usually writes a long and rambling email on the story of his "Life Story". Most of the time the story is usually depressing - lots of serious things to ponder about.
Opposed to most other chain emails I've received, this time, Sajid sent me a very interesting email. Though most of it was about him rambling about meeting one of his idol bands - Metallica - he summarizes the whole story nicely by leaving a big question for all the serious file swappers to ponder about.
Since this leaves interesting questions regarding copyright issues, I've asked permission from to author to post parts of the email. I've decided to post the email as it is to preserve the integrety of the message. There are certain profanities that may upset some of our more sensitive members. If you are one of them, feel free to browse elsewhere.
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I MET MetallicA!
jeezuz h christ. and i 'snuck' into one of their secret gigs as well.
i didn't have a ticket, just knew where the show would b. it was a filming for channel 4 and also cd-uk (itv). the cd-uk one is probly next week, it wasn't today. ****. the channel 4 show is probly in october.
anywayz, so i didnt have a ticket, so i went there at 10.30 am to try and blag/buy a ticket. but i failed. so bcoz i thought this was a great opportunity for me to hopefully meet the band, i took my yearbook with me, to show them that i put their name in my yearbook. anywayz, at around 11 say james hetfield (singer, guitar) goes into the cafe opposite us. the security guard didnt let us in, no probs, some fuckers spoilt it by going in there. i mean, let the guy have his breakfast. but jeezuz h christ, thru the window i saw mr. hetfield having breakfast. i knew he musta been looking at us as well. anywayz, afterwards the security guy comes out, explains some things to us, no photos etc, only 1 item to be signed. whatever. i accidently had my harmonica in my bag as well from jamming w/ one of my bands the night b4.
so when it was my turn, the first thing i do is show james is my yearbook. he took it in his hands, and i think hopefully read the whole message, not just the metallica part. he looks at teh cover and was a bit stunned, and said 'pharmacy?'. anywayz, while he was reading it i got the chance to say 'thanks for everything' and he said no problem. so that was one of my lifes goals accomplished right there: thanking metallica, esp james anyway, in person. so anyway, i tell him i play harmonica to an acoustic version of for whom the bell tolls, i asked him does he want to hear it. he goes sure, do i have a tape of it? i go no, i got my harmonica w/ me, u wanna hear it? he goes sure, bring it out, lets get some background music. **** man, i droppped everything, threw everything out of my bag, whipped out teh harmonica, and played for whom the bell tolls. TO METALLICA. jeezuz. i couldnt believe i did it. not w/out hitches, but jeezuz christ. when i stopped i looked at teh crowd and yelled out 'YYEAAAAHHHH???'. then the crowd went 'YYEAAAHHHH'. jeezuz what a feeling, and they get it everytime they go onstage. or even walk for that matter. anywayz, i meant to say to james good luck w/ your family and metallica, but i just ended up saying see u in belgium. he said yeah. i think it was a great feeling for me to put a smile on james's face, after years of metallica doing it for me. anyway, i think james did spend a lot of time w/ me compared to everyone else, so i can't complain. man the guy was so relaxed, i think he's definitely found a peace now. i guess thats what st. anger is about. the song, don't have the album yet, i preordered it but it hasnt come in the mail yet.
going off track.
so i wait in the que, some guy comes out and basically i don't have a ticket so he puts me on the reserve list. said the place is overbooked and people's tickets have been cancelled. he said that he's going to give priority to people who have cancelled tickets. i said thats fine. he sends me to a different place to wait as well.
over there i met a girl who's tix were cancelld, and her friends didnt come w/ her. so she gave me one of her tickets.
but i waited in line from like 12- 6pm to get it. **** man. and it was scary, coz doors opened at 5.15, and by 3pm the place was already packed. the guy already told us that the place is completely full, and it doesnt seem like we're going in.
so anyway, while waiting in line, another of my favorite bands, apocalyptica, showed up. so i met them, got their autographs (on my fucking bnf, of all things. something only pharmacy people will understand. i didnt have anything else). at around 6pm the guy goes, well so many people from e.g guest lists havent come, so he's letting us in. **** YEAH.
anyway, inside i was shocked. the front was packed, but the sides were so empty. i mean, i got to go into 2nd row w/out any probs. i guess i found out why. i was surrounded by posers. people who just occupied space. waste of time and space. so many people deserved those places.
anyway, so after a while metallica came on. they started off w/ a song i thought i'd never hear live, coz they never played it for so many years: blackened. what a hilight. the entire setlist was blackened, no remorse (extra heavy), harvester of sorrow, sad but true, frantic (my first time hearing the full new song- just gets heavier and heavier, fucking awesome), sanitarium, fuel, st. anger. **** man.
it was awesome being there, but i don't think it was their favorite show. a lot of fuckups, but james explaiend that theyre not used to doing tv shit so had to change their sound around and theyre not used to that. then people in the crowd started booing. i mean, waht the ****?? so james says, u wanna leave? and the whole crowd shut up. james said neither do i. anyway, lars had difficulty w/ his stuff, he was really pist off after the first song, but still had a lot of fun. at the beginning of frantic, james already introduced the song, then there was silence coz he was laughing. then he started, then stopped coz he was laughing. i swear that was fun. they had a lot of fun. rob, the new bass player, is fucking awesome. jeezuz. then theyre doing some sound check and rob starts breakdancing. so lars calls him up into the middle and plays a drum beat and rob starts dancing(fucking around). **** we all clapped along. it was just fun seeing them.
most of what i could hear was lars's drums, i was so close to them. only 350 people or so. this is teh band that is used to playing in front of like 10,000 people a night. i think it was a great relationship- the band and the fans having fun. they didnt take it as seriously as before i gather. they actually had to stop between songs, which i think even they were surprised w/. but they had probs w/ their sound, so.. bsides, its for tv, they can edit it.
anywayz, kirk comes over to me, points at me, and gives me a seriusly long thumbs up. **** man, awesome. eye contact and personal attention from someone in metallica. even during sanitarium when i was jumping around i had eye contact w/ him and we BOTH broke into hugge smiles. i mean, me smiling? when kirk gave me the thumbs up, i really had no idea what to do, i was just frozen w/ happiness i guess. even when i met james, when i met him i was kinda frozen. after he left i almost had a heart attack, coz thats when u realize it.
anywayz, the first 7 or so songs were for channel 4, to be aired in october for a program called headliners. then we had a break. then the cd-uk people set up the stage for them. cd-uk is a mainstream program, so when lars came out and was looking at the sign, people were booing. so lars starts kicking the sign. fucking funny.
its one of lars's traditions to spit water/oranje juice/ whatever he's drinking into the crowd (its a fun thing, for those who feel sickened), so when he came back on for cd-uk i yelled at him to spit on me and he did. then he calls me over, so i push past the people in the front row, and he gave me the cup. i was so stunned i didnt even say thanks. anyway, i went back to second row, adn all these people were reaching for the cup, i yelled at them to **** off coz i'm keeping the cup. they said they only wanted a sip. so i let them have a bit. i gotta say, when i drank it, i was expecting water. bcoz it was lemonade and i was expecting water, at first i thought it had piss in it, then realized its lemonade. anyway, i was so excited, and the glass was almost full, i was trying to drink but most of it ended up on my chest than down my throat. then i yelled 'that was a lars drink', and people were smiling at me.
anyway, for the cd uk thing i managed to get into front row. so that was good.
front row at teh sides though, kirk is the guitarist w/ shoulder length black curly hair. for those of u who can watch out for me on cd-uk next saturday at 11.30.(dont know the exactshow, but it wasn't today)
when the camera is on james's right side hopefully u can see me. if u r facing the stage i am on the right hand side.
anwyayz.
so i didnt know if i wanted to meet the rest of metallica, coz i thought man i've met james, do i need to meet anyone else? plus u know, what if i have a bad time?
oh b4 that i met apocalyptica again, by the time i finally got my harmonica back to play them a song of theirs i learned on harmonica they had to go. oh well. this was while i was leaving the building.
i also met big mick, metallica's sound engineer. for some of u u may understand why this was so special to me, and i'll have to explain the situation later to u. anyway, so i was speaking to a him a bit on metallica, i told him i played harmonica to james earlier, he said yeah james musta appreciated that.
so then i was outside, waiting for the other members of the band. i met kirk as he was getting into his car. i told him i put him in my yearbook, he goes 'oh yeah? thanks'. he was smiling all the way at me. he only signed like 6 autographs, so i guess i'm pretty lucky.(there was 6 of us who ran to their cars another way) i can't blame them. so many people all the time. james came out at the same time as kirk, but this time he didnt sign anything. he just talked ot a few people though. considering he signed like 40 autographs in the morning, i mean give the guy a break. i wasnt pist off or anything, but some people were complaining, so i explained to them that when he came out in the morning he signed everyone's stuff.
on my way back i saw that rob came out. i couldnt get his autograph, but i shook his hand and he gave me the pen he was signing stuff w/. then the girl who gave me the ticket comes up to me and goes thats actually my pen. she may b tellin the truth she may b lying, but she got me in there so i gave it to her.
afterwards lars came out, he took his time w/ everyone. i showed him my yearbook, he held my hand in both of his and gave me a deep look. i wanted to give him a hug but i was too scared of frightening him away. i told him does he wanna hear for whom the bell tolls on harmonica, he goes YEAH MAN, FIRE IT UP, WE COULD USE SOME BACKGROUND MUSIC HERE. this time i was holding my yearbook and my bag, so i fucked up completely, except once. oh well. then i got a photo w/ him ,but didnt know i had to turn the flash on sepereately for this camera. ****. anyway, i tell him good luck w/ your family and metallica. he stops everything he's doing, turns around, again holds both my hands, and says thanks.
it was definitely very heartfelt. most people are like u're my favorite drummer, what drums do u use, hows james? etc. so i think i did make him feel very warmhearted.
of all teh people, no one mistreated the fans. i can see why lars has a somewhat bad reputation for his mouth, not with the fans coz he was awesome to all of us, but bcoz like mick said theyre perfectionists. i think the term for lars is more misunderstood. so many people hated him coz of the whole napster thing. one of the guys in my uni goes to me man he's such a **** trying to shut down napster, i turned around to him and said u're not doing pharmacy for free so why should he make music for free? the guy was stunned i guess that was pist off, then goes ''but still..'' jeezuz. anyway, since i'm someone who's against downloading music, unless its rare songs from e.g my childhood or whatever, anywayz i did support lars back then. what u didnt see on tv was guys like dr.dre and eminem also going anti-napster, just lars at the forefront of it all. and fred durst from limp bizkit, that poser. he first starts off by saying how great napster is and how shit metallica are, then ends up suing napster as well.
anywayz i didnt have any problems w/ the guys whatsover, none at all. and also i met some of the staff of metallica, which is very different for me coz i recognized them and i wouldnt know anyone else working for any other band. so i spoke to them for a bit and gave my ideas on some things, mostly the website anyway.
they were all nice to me, and for this i'm grateful. meeting apocalyptica after meeting james hetfield just didnt cut it, but apocalyptica are one of my favorite bands nonetheless. i told them how they inspired me to learn the sitar, and that i play one of their songs on harmonica. teh main songwriter was definitely happy.
anywayz, this means i don't ever have to bother meeting another band. my whole life i've so far met people like u2, iron maiden, slayer, sepultura, anthrax, james taylor, jewel, but now all that shit can stop coz i've met MetallicA.
and i've got lars's cup, now displayed on top of my tv, and a guitar pick from ministry of sound gig in 97. so now if i do go to a show i won't bother if i ever get another suovenir etc.
that was such a perfect day to die. anywayz, now i have to be careful, as is the way after having fun something goes wrong. i'll c some of u after my exams, adios hasta luego,
c yaz
saj
ps- i can say:
i met metallica
i performed to metallica
i went to 2 'private' gigs of metallica
i saw james hetfield having breakfast
my yearbook is signed by metallica
i have all of u to say this to.
if i could have my wasted days back
i would use them to get back on track
you live it you lie it, you live it you lie it
(don't know the full song yet- metallica's frantic)
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*My personal notes* At the current moment that I've posted this message, in Metallica's new album, they allow fans to download free stuff from their website - and unreleased material for free. It has been a complete u-turn from the initial stance the group had in the beginning. They figured that the Internet is a great marketing tool that people can reach the masses easily, cheaply, and effectively. The Internet is just another medium or media, and the record companies and artists will start to know that - instead of wailing that it will kill the industry. In this story, I hope that it has given alot of insight on this issue.
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