Passing

I think my sobriety (as of today, 4 years, 8 months, 2 weeks) is the only non-5 year anniversary I think about on a yearly basis. Over the weekend, surrounded by tailgating festivities at the UNI v. Eastern Washington game in Cedar Falls and seeing Megan marching on the football field during half-time of the game, I realized I just do not miss drinking booze. I don't miss being hung over or saying or doing or thinking or even writing the stupid things I did for all of those years.

It used to be that anniversaries were celebrated by 5s. Celebrations are often conducted on the 10th or the 15th or the 20th or the 25th anniversary of an event, whether it is related to death (so-and-so died 10 years ago) or life (so-and-so has been married 10 years). Compared to the 7th anniversary of an event, there was no hoopla and no celebrations. Personally, except for knowing the number of years I've been married to Karen (22),

That all said, it seems like the Loudwire website would be intentionally pulling out a random anniversary and writing about it because they need content. And, on the surface, this article about the 7th anniversary of the "Death Magnetic" release from Metallica would fit that generalization. Except this 7th anniversary is significant. Some Metallica fans are upset that the band hasn't churned out a release since "DM" as they grumble about touring overseas and playing festival shows instead of working on new material. They've released a movie, they've released 5 demos - a new tune called "The Lords of Summer" and demo versions of 4 tunes that didn't make it onto the album as "Demo Magnetic" in December 2011. To a lot of fans, they've done "nothing" in 7 years. Of course, as a fan of the band, I don't see it that way. I'd much rather have them take as long as they need than to churn out an album of songs that sound like they didn't need to be released in the first place.

I do wish that more tunes "Death Magnetic" would be played on a regular basis, specifically "All Nightmare Long" and "The Judas Kiss" getting into the setlist instead of (gasp) "Enter Sandman" and "Nothing Else Matters" and yes, I realize those two tunes are what a lot of fans come to hear. But for the fans of the band since hearing "And Justice for All" and earlier releases, I'd much rather hear "Harvester of Sorrow" than "Sad But True," which I like as a tune, but not at the expense of not adding "ANL" and "TJK" to the setlist. I do want to hear "Creeping Death" and "For Whom the Bell Tolls" but I don't need to hear "Fade to Black" at the same concert as "Nothing Else Matters" or "The Unforgiven" (or any of its sequels). All that said, I certainly do not envy Lars Ulrich when he is trying to determine what tunes to play.