A NOTE ABOUT THIS PAGE  
There is no order of importance on this page. All "Heroes and Heroines" are chosen for their contributions to the metal scene and/or their personal aid. This photo gallery is by no means complete.

Dawnowar. The Ultimate Maiden of Metal and all things Manowar. I believe I've seen her at almost every Manowar show I've ever been to. If it wasn't for Dawn and others like her, metal would still be in the stone age.

See another pic of Dawn on the Army of Immortals page.

After a Manowar show at the Vic Theater in Chicago, I came out to find my Jeep Cherrokee missing from the parking lot. I freaked out at first because I thought it was stolen. I had left my wallet, leather jacket and cell-phone in it, not to mention the possibility of getting lost without my maps as I was about 6 hours from home in unfamiliar territory.

Well thanks to Jason Yohe (above) and George Tavoularis (no pic) I got my jeep back - it had only been towed halfway across Chicago. The whole incident is recounted in the Fourth Crusade of Leather Knights.
THE MIGHTY VALGORTH. He recently came to my aid when Legendary Kingdoms was under assault. Previously he created and donated the cover artwork for the Steve Rolbiecki cancer benefit CD as well as providing almost all the artwork for the last two issues of Leather Knights (the precursor to Legendary Kingdoms). He has also turned me onto more metal bands than I can remember. Let me tell you he is a total badass as well. I've seen videos of him tossing Judo opponents to the ground as if they were nothing.

Wes House. An awesome drummer (his primary instrument) and the first drummer I ever played with on stage. Unfortunately he was cursed with Progressive Multiple Sclerosis and can't play music at all anymore.

He has recorded at least a cd of originals (playing all instruments and singing) of which I used to play select tracks from on KRPR 89.9 FM's the Metal Storm (R.I.P). I also used to play the Reality (Wes' band) song "Born To War" on the show.

This picture was taken at my youngest brothers wedding reception where Reality along with Total Strangers played for free beer. It was a hell of a party and wouldn't have been as much of a success if not for Wes and bandmates.

Wes recently died from Multiple Sclerosis on Thursday July 5th, 2007.

Mike Liebenow - Bass player for Schizopathic. He has saved my sorry ass too many times to list and has helped me out more times than I can count. What else can I say?
R.I.P.

Memory of this guy's name is long gone but he saved my ass from becoming one with the brig when I was getting discharged from the Marine Corps.

Immediately after receiving my Honorable Discharge I smarted off to the First Sargent who had reluctantly given it to me. I don't remember exactly what I said but it had something to do with telling him that he couldn't do anything to me because I was a civilian now that I had my discharge. His response was that I had exactly a half hour to get off base or he would have me arrested, my discharge ripped up and that I would go to the brig for disrespecting a NCO (non-commissioned officer).

Now I didn't know if he could actually do this but I wasn't about to stick around and find out. Unfortunately, I didn't have any of my stuff packed let alone have a vehicle to get off base. Thankfully this really cool metal Marine you see to the left loaded my stuff into his car and drove me to the bus station before the First Sargent had a chance to carry out his threat.

I was in such a hurry that I never thanked him properly or even gave him gas money. And so I post this posting with an attitude of gratitude.

My neighbor Joe French has been the soundguy at the Northstar Bar for practically forever. He's here because anyone who suffers a stroke and heartattack in the name of openjam very definitely deserves it. : )

Not totally enthusiastic about having his picture on this page he didn't wanna give me one so I cropped him out of a photo at the Whatever website.   : )

Brent Samman - I met this crazy left handed drummer in my Audio Production class and we proceeded to start jamming and havin' a lot of fun. He soon enlisted in the Army and was sent to Afghanistan where this picture was taken. Last I heard he is preparing for Kosovo.

The Lawless One-legged Stage-diver

Will Lawless. A very cool Metal Warrior who unfortunately passed away from cancer a few years ago. This pic is from a trip a few of us took to see Metallica in LaCross on the tour for their 'Black' album. And yes, he has only one leg in this picture. The other leg is artificial but that didn't stop him from being as crazy as the rest of us.

Swordlord - This guy is responsible for bringing a lot of cool bands to the Twin Cities area. Hopefully one day soon he will be able to bring Manowar. There is a pic with him on it on the Local Wildlife page.
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Shadow. The best family dog I ever had growing up and probably the best dog anyone could have. She was always there for me making me laugh and feel better when my parents were on my case and screaming at me about this and that. R.I.P.