Today's regularly scheduled item about The Smiths has been pre-empted because I just got the greatest email that was ever emailed. It will continue to be the greatest email ever emailed until the day Rod Smallwood finally writes to tell me that I can have Bruce Dickinson's Somewhere On Tour costume. The costume seen in the video for Stranger In A Strange Land and that concert video from Paris that may not be an authorized Iron Maiden product.
Anyway, I just got an email from a regular and right now I can't even remember if he has a snazzy nickname because I am all in a tizzy. The regular was searching for news on the airline industry and hit on some news about my very favorite airline pilot. Try this on for size and then mark your calendars: Bruce Dickinson Anthology DVD! June 20! Three discs and six hours of Bruce Dickinson goodness! Commentary about the Bruce Dickinson videos by Bruce Dickinson! Let me reiterate: I am in a tizzy.
Mostly I am excited because one of the discs contains Dive! Dive! Live!, the long out of print Bruce Dickinson video from the Tattooed Millionaire tour that I want desperately. I look for it everywhere I go even if the store only has two used videos in stock and I can see that from across the room. I still run over to see if Dive! Dive! Live! is one of the titles. It's always Days Of Thunder and Pretty Woman but I keep trying.
Not so long ago I even put the word out to a certain fellow that I needed a copy of the video. This is the same fellow who provided us with the 1986 Paris concert so I felt confident that he would have one or two copies of Dive! Dive! Live! sitting around his house. He's a music and memorabilia pack rat but I haven't seen him in a month or two so I don't know if he made any progress. Now I don't have to hope for a tattered copy of Dive! Dive! Live! because on June 20th I will be able to get a shiny new DVD!
This is such a treat because just this weekend I was skulking around one of my favorite stores, wondering why there was no Bruce Dickinson DVD. Then I skulked and sulked because the store was out of stock on the Samson DVD. There does exist a Samson DVD (that the store used to carry) called Biceps Of Steel and it's a short film made when Bruce Dickinson was the singer. Bruce Dickinson in a white Freddie Mercury-style satin kind of outfit and white platform boots! Music videos do not get any better than that.
It sells new for about ten bucks and a couple of years ago LCG found it used for three bucks. Well, I found it and since I never carry cash LCG made the actual purchase. When we got back to his house we popped it into the DVD player and LCG left the room shortly after that. The movie is only fifteen minutes long but he just couldn't stand it. "This is soooo bad." "No, it isn't! ARE THOSE CLOGS?"
Suspiciously, the DVD has since vanished. He claims that it was misplaced and has to be around his house somewhere and I'd like to believe that, I really would. Just the other day I saw the Samson DVD case on his shelf and I opened it up, saw it was empty, and sighed. "Piggy ain't coming back Homer," he said and I once again accused him of losing it on purpose.
I know that if he had wanted to get rid of it for good he just would have given it to me because he would for sure never see it again. It still might pop up somewhere since it's just lost right now. Does that matter anymore? No! No it doesn't because the new Bruce DVD will also contain Biceps Of Steel. I am a very happy Bruce Dickinson fan.
The collection also has two or three other live shows from other solo albums and it contains his music videos! With commentary by Bruce! Little introductions where he explains the concepts and whatnot. That's good, because I have some questions about one of his videos from Balls To Picasso, I forget which one. Back when I worked third shift and didn't have anything to do I would browse the media section of Bruce Dickinson's web site and watch his videos. There were a couple from Balls To Picasso and I remember one of them as being really unfortunate. Unless that was also the one with the wind machine; the wind machine was working out for me.
Know what isn't working out for me? I am on the Bruce Dickinson mailing list and I have not yet been notified about this exciting new release. The other day when I was wondering why there was no Bruce Dickinson DVD it occurred to me that if one ever came out I would know right away because I signed up for the mailing list. It's the very first mailing list I have ever joined and I have not received one update. For a minute there I thought that maybe I had decided against joining; then I remembered the day about six months ago when I called LCG from work to announce my new mailing list membership. I could actually hear him shaking his head over the phone.
I could also hear him shaking his head over the phone a few minutes ago when I called to tell him about the hot new DVD. That'll happen, he prefers Bruce Dickinson with Iron Maiden and Iron Maiden only. I, on the other hand, prefer all Bruce Dickinson and cannot wait for the new DVD. It's going to kick ass.