I REPOSTED THIS HERE FOR THE FEW WHO ARE NOT ON MY FRIENDS LIST YET!

 WOW....I have never been so overwhelmed, humbled, and astonished in my life. That was by far the BEST party I have ever been to and ever had. The out-pouring of emotion got very heavy at times with many of you and a few times I had to just sit back and look at all of you and think about what times were like 'back in the day' when there was a handful of us thinking how cool it would be to have a scene of our own...a place to commune and just be. Well....we have achieved that people. This scene is thriving and I mean it when I say there is no reason I can think of to do all the things I do if it wasn't for each and every one of you. YOU ARE THE SCENE PEOPLE...you are the ones who make it and change it and keep it alive...all I do is try to remind everyone that it is supposed to be fun.

   I saw so MANY  people I hadn't seen in 10, 15, and even 20 years...the only thing I regret from the whole evening is that I wasn't able to spend more quality time with all of you. Hey, you do the math....700 people with lets say only ten minutes...well...still not enough. I tried....and well...after running bat shit ape nuts for 11 hours...a few fell between the cracks and a few I got less than a minute with...I will try and contact you when I get outta the hospital. I will get my time with all of you soon enough and I completly and whole heartely want to thank all of you for everything that was done there that night, befor and after. Words of thanks will never be enough to show my appreciation for all your efforts. The money is going to be so damm helpful. I will be unable to work at all for over a month or two and everything I have already been thru all summer and fall really set me back. I also have no idea what time frame recovery is gonna be for this....my doctors have told me to expect anything from 3 to 6 months....now...I know my energy level befor all this bullshit and I am guessing about 2 weeks (ha)....oh well....however long it takes.....you can rest assured I will be back in full force and ready to rock.

  I have to give a special extra huge giant metal horns and iron fists to all the oraganizers...Nese, Melissa, Kim, Swordlord, Scotty, Raven, Station 4, all the bands and all the volunteers for their extra time and effort....I have done a few of these large event things and I know how stressful they can become and how difficult it is to make it go sorta right (if at all). All I can say is all the effort was not in vein and the end result is what we were all looking for. EVERYONE had a GREAT time and we way exceeded our goal. CONGRATULATIONS to all of you for this....you truly do RULE!

  Speaking of the bands.....goddamm...everyone TOTALLY ROCKED!  From the opener TNT to the closing chaos that was the S.H.I.T. band and all the Motley Tuesdayers.....wow....great seeing Matt Batchelor and Marko rock out in Vicious Violet, the Rev Poky Bunge retardation and infectious plague of idiocy, Dying Euphoria and Si6ks slammed in a most metal way, Impaler annhilated and destroyed all in its path, Avian completly shredded, and an extra nod to my sister of rock Felicia and thier doom prog thing Sirens of Titian....man....what great tone for Sam and such Sabbath overtoned tunes...man...love it. Then of course our Slack Babbath debacle...we thru that together the night befor with me not being able to play my guitar for weeks prior and Dustin not knowing a couple of the songs at all. I was happy and amazed we made it thru it with minor defects (Heh Heh). It was so much fucking fun to do that for you all and I have wanted to play ANYTHING with Jonathon for so long....god....I love Black Sabbath, like I said ....if it wasn't for Black Sabbath, there would be NO Heavy Metal, at least not the way we know it. I remember buying most of those records when they came out....begging my Mom to take me to the record store the day it came out so I could get one befor they were gone...ect.... Anyhow, I could reminise for hours on all this but I just want to say how much fun I had the whole night and jamming and just all of it. Hopefully we can do it again just for the fucking party....this time we'll play Wheels of Confusion, Tomorrows Dream, Lord of this World and Sleeping Village/Bit of Finger/Wall of Sleep.....cool?

  OK....more about whats coming up for me....I am back in the hospital on Monday for round three of phase one. I had some crap bullshit waste of time tests yesterday (they had to stick me three times....hey bitch...learn your job!)....anyhow....even without those money in thier pocket tests...I can tell you so far the insanely nasty shit they are giving me is working. My tumors are all but gone and my pain factor has decreased form a 9.5 to about a 3. I actually stopped taking my oxycottons about 2 weeks ago and I cannot tell you how fantastic it is to NOT have to take that crap. It has been 6 months of pain and walking around in a clouded haze...not cool and no fun. I actually feel sorta like myself for a change and I am close to 80%....a bit slower and I tire easly but it will not last. My arm is still all fucked up but I can get that back at the gym in time. Can't wait til this is all over so I can get back to the gym and playing my guitar and working and well...you know...living.  I will fill you all in on phase 2 and the dreaded phase 3 when they get here. . .dammit.

  Another thing.....the Lymphoma people.....they were awesome....I learned even more about what I am going thru and even met 2 different people who have the same thing I do and have survived and look marvelous. They were all very giving and informative and also told me how impressed they were with all of you and how much fun they had. We (the organizers and I) will be walking for them in the early summer for the March Against Lymphoma or something like that and I would urge all of you to come out and show your support and get sponsered, pledged what ever....more on this as it happened....I will DEFINETLY be there.

  ONE MORE NOTE: I want to get as much footage I can from this event for a DVD compilation for me and whomever. So far I have only seen a few bits on www.sheddle.com. Go there and see our drunken stupidity for yourself. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE if you have ANY footage at all...send it to me or upload it somewhere so I can download it.

  Again....I will never be able to thank everyone enough for all of this. I truly am the luckiest person in the world to have so many people surrounding my life and part of it. I never set out to be a big deal or  whatever....but then again....I did not wake up on day and I was the'Root of all Evil'. I have passion for what I do and I am not driven by money or material BS. I do what I do because I choose to do it and I love it. Not everyone can achieve this and I have been so damm lucky (and I have worked my balls bare...literally...ok...I know...T.M.I.)....I guess the American dream is different for each one of us and I do feel that even tho I am successful in some ways...I still have plenty to do and many things I would like to see different in my life and I will make all of those things happen befor I go. Right now, I have no plans on checking out or going anywhere. Life is worth living and true happiness is hard to achieve.....I will still struggle and try everyday and so will all of you. There will be glorious moments and depths of despair...it is how we deal with BOTH that makes the calibar of who we are. If you all can actually realize how short life is......man......dude.....it was yesterday I was in my first cover band and then the Disturbed days....seems like last week.....and it goes FASTER as you get OLDER. If you can all really see that for what it is...today is today....MAKE SOMETHING OF IT....do not settle for 'I'm too tired' or 'I'm bored' or 'I wonder whats on TV'...DON'T PLAY THIER GAME....DON'T SIT IN FRONT OF A BOX (either one)...do something for yourself....do something for your brother or a loved one....do something for your band or your neighborhood. Remember....even tho nobody 'remembers' second place (like that fucking matters), second place still kicked ass and had a fucking BLAST doing it. It is not about status or fashion or cool-osity...it is about spirit and heart and passion and honesty to yourself. If you don't like what you are doing...CHANGE IT. Nobody is gonna do it for you and you all have the power to do whatever you want to make you happy.....it can be done...I know....I am almost there!

Keep it Metal!

Earl Root aka ROOT OF ALL EVIL